Wonsiir IN a AVEN’ AND ov EARTH. J. G. NORTON. THE UNIVERSITY _ OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY PENT. N 823w POOR CONDITION ALERT This book is very fragile. Return > it by hand to a person at the Stacks circulation desk. Please DO NOT PUT IT iN A BOOK DROP, as this would cause further damage. oe, Return to: Fe Central Circulation Desk (Stacks) LG é Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. A charge is made on all overdue books. University of Illinois Library L161—H41 Digitized by the Internet Archive — in 2021 with funding from : University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates httos://archive.org/details/worshipinheavenoOOnort — - WORSHIP IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH. | ISy JAIN A Ft é * ,* i 4 ' 4 ' e > ’ » - ‘LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP H1m.”—/ed, 1. 6. *‘THEREFORE WITH ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS, AND WITH ALL THE COMPANY OF HEAVEN, WE LAUD AND MAGNIFY THY GLORIOUS NAME; EVERMORE PRAISING THEE, AND SAYING, HoLy, HOLY, HOLY, LorpD GoD OF HOSTS, HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE FULL OF THY GLORY: GLORY BE TO THEE, O Lorp most HicH.”—Communion Office in the Prayer Book. ‘‘ ALL THE EARTH DOTH WORSHIP THEE, THE FATHER EVER- LASTING.” —TZe Deum. | “GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS: BUT IN EVERY NATION HE THAT FEARETH HIM, AND WORKETH RIGHTEOUSNESS, IS ACCEPTABLE TO Him.”—Ac?s 10. 34, 35. “THEY SACRIFICE TO DEVILS, AND NOT TO Gop.”—1 Cor. 10. 20. WAY (QO) iets tealdl Ie Pee AVEN AND ON” E ART EL: RESPONSIVE, CONGREGATIONAL, REVERENT, MUSICAL, AND BEAUTIFUL. BY THE REV. J. G. NORTON, M.A. RECTOR OF MONTREAL, CANADA ? SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN: AUTHOR OF ‘HEARTY SERVICES,” ETC. London: WELLS GARDNER, DARTON, & CO. 2 PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS. : fMlontreal: DAWSON BROTHERS, S. JAMES STREET. [Ad Rights reserved, | LIBRARy SCHOg, TO THE - AA Y) eg REV. GEORGE SALMON, D.D., REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY, TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED, WITH MUCH RESPECT AND AFFECTION BY HIS FORMER PUPIL, THE AUTHOR. 2 SIONI74, / 6C61 : RGEC AC E. THIS work was written in the City of Durham, England, in the humble and earnest hope of giving some assist- ance and guidance to the great and necessary Ritual Revival which is now in progress in the Church of England. I shall be glad if it prove to be in any way worthy of the attention of Canadian Churchmen. The worship of no one age or country can ever be, in all details, an absolutely perfect model for any other. Allowance must be made for the circumstances of time, place, and usage; and national Churches must use their freedom. But if the conclusions at which I have arrived in these pages be substantially correct, the ritual of the Apostolic and Primitive Catholic Church, as distinguished from the later Medieval cu/tus, is the true standard to which our worship should, in the main, approximate; and we ought to spare no pains to make our Church’s Services in reality what they are in theory, Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful. But while pressing for these ritual improve- Vill ; PREFACE. — - Se ——— re ments on account of their devotional importance, | ave felt constrained. to again and again remind the reader that the spiritual principles of the Gospel are of infinitely greater moment than any ritual questions whatsoever. J. G. NORTON. THE RECTORY, CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, MONTREAL, CANADA, Jay 1884. CAD IN AD daniel Geo Part I. PRINCIPLES: THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP. eee CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION . og . The Spirituality of True Worhip 2. The Externals of ore 3. The Problem . : : ‘ ‘ : F 4. The Method of Enquiry . ; : ; . CHAPTER, Ii. THE INsTINcT oF WorRSHIP—analyzed . I. Its Nature 2. Its Power 3. Its Authority . CHAPTER. UT Tue INstTiINcT oF WoRSHIP—znterpreted 1. Two Opposite Errors: Hyper-Spiritual Worship and Sensuous Worship . ; . First Rule or Test: Breadth of peed ed Man’ s Nene . Second Rule or Test: Worship in Heaven : Third Rule or Test : Worship in Heathenism . Fourth Rule or Test: The Old Testament Revelation . Fifth Rule or Test : The New Testament Revelation and the History of the Christian Church AnPwNn 11-22 II 17 19 23-31 23 26 27 28 29 390 x CONTENTS. rr * * . CHAPTER IV. PAGE SUMMARY OF FACTS ILLUSTRATING THE APPLICATION OF OUR ARGUMENT TO THE CASE OF MUSICAL AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP . : - 32-42 1. Facts bearing on the Ist Rule, with reference to Breadth of Appeal ‘ , 7 32 2. Facts bearing on the 2nd Rie with efereneen to Worehin in Heaven ‘ ° Beets 3. Facts bearing on the 3rd ee Aa ecerstiee to Heathen Worship . ; fle 4. Facts bearing on the 4th rial with eeterenee to the Ola Testament Revelation . : aekse 5. Facts bearing on the 5th Rule, with ceeeenee ns che New Testament Revelation and the History of the Chris- tian Church . ; ; ‘ . ; : ; .1 gO 0 swore “ * Part {z. . WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. CHAPTER V. THE SERAPHIM’S WorsHIP (Isaiah 6.) » 43-50 CHAPTER VI. THE SERAPHIM’s WorsHIP— Spiritual Characteristics See 1. A Holy Worship . : ; : ; : : : 51 2. A Loving Worship . : : : : ; : ; ak 3. A Willing Worship : : ; : : : : Serco.” 4. A Perfect Worship . , ; : ; : , 6 5. A Joyous Worship . : : : : : : - 50 6. An Impressive Worship . 5 4 : ‘ : ey] CONTENTS. xi Pa CHAPTER VIE. PAGE THE SERAPHIM’S WorsHIP—Ritual Characteristics . ak 5 I. Intelligible Worship ‘ : ; ; - ? : 65 2. Responsive Worship ; ; ‘ j : ‘ ; . 66 3. Congregational Worship . ‘ : i : i ; ay 4. Reverent Worship . 3 ‘ F ; : ; ‘ . 68 5. The Ritual Use of Incense. ‘ : ; P ; ae 69 6. Musical Worship . : F : : : : : eee 7. Beautiful Worship . ‘ : é , ; : - - 74 CHAPTER VIIL THE Four LivING CREATURES AND THE FOUR AND Twenty ELDERS WorsHIP GoD DySRSY. A) 76-88 ae |< Ae Pa . : ; : ; Pee 2. Ritual Charactétistics ; : ; : ; . 86 . CHAPTER IX. « Tue Lamp WorsHipPeD (Rev. 5.) . . . ©. 89-103 es The Lamb Worshipped ee 5) ; : r . 90 2. Adoration . ; ; , , aA 3. Ritual Gisretariatics , ; ; ‘ - : ; . Io! CHAPTER X. WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT IN HEAVEN (Rev. 7.) Se ee eas nt heh; 104-115 1. The Time and Place . ; é ‘ é . , ¢, 105 2, Rey. 7 9-17); ‘ ‘ ‘ ' < . : ‘ . 108 3. Ritual Characteristics . : : . ; : , - Pi4 CHAPTER XI. OTHER ALLUSIONS TO HEAVENLY WORSHIP . 116-128 I. The Creation, Job 38. 7 ; : \ i ; , a 536 2. The Nativity, Luke 2. . : : d ‘ P 5. EI6 Su key. 1ieis-1S . ; ; ; ; ‘ ; y e A1IS xii CONTENTS. ¥ PAGE 4.MRev. 14. 1-3 . ; , : ; wf : 20 5. ReVand be 24. : : ; ; : : : y mes O. SKeV, 10. 1-7. . : ; : : : : ; sates CHAPTER XII. THE OBJECTIVE REALITY OF HEAVENLY WORSHIP 129-144 Part LLL. WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. "CHAPTER XIII. HEATHEN WorsHIp—Principles . . &. «. «145-159 1; Lxprarion 95. eee ae Leh E REPS SS ieee mee 2, Prayer 7. ° : : : ; : é ; ob “IST 3. Tithes and Gaerne , ; . . ; : ae 4. Formalism . : : : 3 : ‘ ‘ : & 156 CHAPTER XIV. Hours, PLAcES, AND DIRECTION OF HEATHEN WoR- SHIP ; ol Ei; dee yee 160-174 . Hours of Heathen Wort ; ; : ; ‘ = 100 2. Places of Heathen Worship . : : ; : @ eft 3. Westward Direction of Heathen Wont } ; : . 164 CHAPTER XV. aaa DEVOTIONAL RITUAL ... 175-199 . Sacrificial Ritual and Devotional Ritual aatngui nen ; oo al a 2. Circumambulation of Altars . 5 ; : : : RE 3. Religious Processions . : ‘ ' : , : -aio1 CONTENTS. xiii : ' PAGE 4. Religious Dancing : : ‘ : : , . SB. 185 5. Religious Gladness : . , : : ; EPEC ¢: 6. Dress of Heathen Woruitners - : : : . 194 7. Dress of Heathen Priests : : - { , ; Haars 39 CHAPTER XVI HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL (continued). 200-220 I. Responsive and Congregational Worship. : ; 200 2. Reverent Worship : ; : ‘ ‘ , 20% 3. Musical Worship . : t : . 208 4. Beautiful Worship - , : P « 212 5. Worship in Unknown EOh atts : : ; ; ’ eeelG CHAPTER XVII. HEATHEN RESPONSIVE AND CONGREGATIONAL WoR- SHIP richie hoes Le 221-250 I. ine Bible: .. ‘ ; ; i : : x 221 2. Homer . 3 : : : ; ‘ ; ; 224 3. Horace and Viteil ‘ ; a 225 4. Ancient Assyrian and Babylonian Ritonta aia Liuareries 5. «227 5. Ancient Egyptian Records . , y ‘ ‘ : « 239 CHAPTER XVIII. HEATHEN Responses—Modern . . . 251-261 r. Africa . ; ; . ; , : : . ‘ ett Beret Fm 6 , : : ‘ ; : : ; ; ve asT 3. Europe . ; ; , ; ‘ ‘ : ; ¢ . 259 4. America ; : : : : : . 259 5. New Zealand and Oiaheite : ‘ : é 3 : . 261 CHAPTER XIX. er. WoRSHIP AND LITURGY . . . 262-276 . Buddhism. ‘ ; : ; ; : ‘ ‘ . 262 2. Buddhist Worship : ‘ <0 263 3. Buddhist “ Liturgical a ee of the Gusat Ce ircsaision ate Saviour” (Kwan-yin) . , 3 ; ; , #200 »* xiv CONTENTS. % CHAPTER XxX. PAGE ARCHAIC IpoLs. Dervit-WorsHip. HEATHENISM ATHIRST FOR GOD | SNE ana 277-294 1. Archaic Idols : ; : : : ; : . ey yf 2. Devil-Worship . : : : : : - “200 3. Heathenism * Athirst for God Oe a : : : . eae Bart LV, TE WAS HOV ORS oie: A—OPEN-AIR SERVICES. CHAPTER XXII. sei OpEN-AIR SERVICES .. ; 205-307 . Threefold Division of Jewish Wiotehiats ae Open-Air Services; B, Temple (and Tabernacle) Services ; C, Synagogue Services . ; : ; : ; 2205 2. Patriarchal Worship. : . 207 3. Thanksgiving Service at the Red Sea (Exod. 15. ) : » 300 CHAPTER XXII. JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES (continued) . . pas Ig 1. The Solemnity on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal : ; 308 2. Barak’s Victory . : ; , : : : ene 3. Jephthah’s Victory 4 : . : : : : MEH) 4. David’s Victory . ‘ : ‘ eet a 5. Judith’s Thanksgiving Sane for ictory : , ; Pato CHAPTER XXIII. JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES (continued) . . 320-329 1. The Schools of the Prophets : : é I ; : Baa 2. The Removal of the Ark to Jerusalem . : ‘ : a2 . * ’ CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIV. JEWIsH OPEN-AIR SERVICES (continued) I. The Founding of the Second Temple 2. The Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem 3. “ Songs of Degrees,” or Pilgrim Songs 4. The Samaritan Passover on Gerizim CHAPTER XXV. JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES (continued) 1, The Dedication of the First-fruits . 2. A Singing People 3. Christ’s Triumphal Entry ay pees B.—FEWISH TEMPLE SERVICES. CHAPTER XXVI. INFLUENCE OF THE Mosaic LAW ON THE DEvo- TIONAL RITUAL OF HEBREW WORSHIP 339-339 XV Pe PAGE 339 331 336 337 349-354 340 345 346 - 355-367 i, This Subject much misunderstood in Modern Controversies . 355 2. The Contents and Omissions of the Mosaic Law . CHAPTER XXVII. THE JEWISH TABERNACLE AND THE DRESS OF THE 359 JEWIsH HIGH PRIEST, PRIESTS, AND LEVITES 368-384 The Tabernacle 5 Plaga Ps CHAPTER XXVIII. THE TEMPLE OF SoLOMON Preparations for Building the Tabernacle Dress of the Levites, Priests, and Hivh Priest ‘ ; Westward Direction of Jewish Worship in the Tabernacle . 383 368 372 380 385-407 I. King David’s Preparations for the Building ofthe Temple . 385 2. The Platforms and Principal Gates of Solomon’s Temple 3. Further particulars respecting Solomon’s Temple . 4. The Dedication of Solomon’s Temple . 390 392 399 xvi CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIX. THE SECOND TEMPLE AS IT WAS IN THE TIME OF 1. The Platforms and Principal Gates ouR LorpD JESUS CHRIST. 2. The Court of the Gentiles 3. The Sanctuary 4. The Holy House . GROUND PLAN OF HEROD’S ape CHAPTER XXX. THE DEVOTIONAL RITUAL IN THE JEWISH TEMPLE I. OI AK HP wh a FESTIVALS IN THE TEMPLE 2. 3 Fragments of the Temple Liturgies reveal the Char- acteristics of the Temple Worship . Ceaseless Public and Private Worship in the Tenple . The Public Daily Sacrifices . Responsive and Congregational Wrorhin’ in Ave Temple . Reverence in the Temple Services Musical Worship: the Temple Choir . Beautiful and Dignified Worship . . Silent Worship : CHAPTER XXXI. . The Passover The Great Day of i ponemaent The Feast of Tabernacles C.—SYNAGOGUE SERVICES. CHAPTER XXXII. SYNAGOGUE WORSHIP : is . The Structure and Arrangements of a Synagogue . Synagogue Worship Beautiful, Musical, and Reverent . . Responsive and Congregational aVorsti . Silent Prayers and Adorations . mb Ww WN Synagogue Worship contrasted with that of the Church 408-420 440-460 PAGE 408 410 416 418 AZO 421-439 421 423 424 428 430 435 437 438 440 444 451 461-479 461 - 464 468 470 473 CONTENTS. xvil PAGER 6. Zhe Various Means by which Responsive aud Congregational Worship is maintained in the Synagogue : _— (1) Rubrics . : : <— 434 (2) Responding ona fone Rratieal: Note ( (F). . 475 (3) Occasional Silence of the Reader and Choir, while the Congregation continue the Chants without assistance . ! 475 (4) Central Position of the Reedex oh Choir , - 476 (5) Early Training of the whole Congregation: a JEWISH CONFIRMATION . : . : ey] Part D. CHiis.iaw ov OR SA IP: CHAPTER XXXIII. PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. . . 480-500 I. The Primitive Christian Synagogues . . ° ~ 480 2. Primitive Christian Worship Responsive, Couerend: tional, and Musical . ? ° : ; - . 486 3. Laodicean Music ‘ . : , : : : . 491 4. Primitive Christian Liturgies P : : : » 495 5. Silent Prayers and Reverent Worstip . : ‘ - 499 CHAPTER XXXIV. IDOLATROUS HEATHEN WoRSHIP WAS WESTWARD: PRIMITIVE CATHOLIC WORSHIP, EASTWARD: ROMAN AND DISSENTING WORSHIP, IN EVERY Mer CirOne ee ae) eek a ay 5 a hOI—5 23 XViil CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXV. PAGE THE DRESS OF PRIMITIVE, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIPPERS AND MINISTERS 524-538 1. Christian Secular Dress, Primitive and Medieval . : Hey ert 2. Christian Sacred Dress, Primitive, Medieval, and Modern . 527 CHAPTER XXXVI. PRIMITIVE, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP . . . , 539-572 . Primitive Christian Worship was Bite and Bendis Medi- eval Worship, Florid, Idolatrous, Irreverent, and Unedi- fying ‘ - ; ‘ ; ° - F : 52539 2. (1) Paintings, Mosaics, and Coloured Glass: (2) Flowers: (3) Lights A ; ; ; ne 3. Veils, Altar Cloths, Altars, Gortatnss logan é 547 4. Primitive Evangelical use of the Sign of the Grosse and Medieval and Modern Roman iia of Crosses . - 549 5. Worship of Relics . : : . 2 : 55 6. Worship of Images ; : : . ahs 7. ‘Vain Repetitions :” Parestory occa. Tuduloenees gor 8. Worship in Unknown Tongues . - - 566 g. Readers and Choirs removed into deep Medieval Chatesis 4. 570 CHAPTER XXXVILI. MoDERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. ; 573-606 1. Partial Revival of Congregational Eons since the Refor- mation . . : . . : : : ‘ ~ 2578 2. Musical Worship . / ; : : ; ; ; . 583 3. Beautiful Worship . : 588 4. Loss of Silent Prayers and Processional Wea a he Reformation . : 4 . : . . - 590 5. Loss of Reverence . ; 592 6. Conclusion: ‘ The greatest a there is Later (1 Cor, £. “4 595 MOEN ke ea es ie # WoO boo et LP IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH: RESPONSIVE, CONGREGATIONAL, REVERENT, MUSICAL, AND BEAUTIFUL. 7 PART I. Principles. 9g i Sd Bl) Ss INTRODUCTION. 1. The Spirituality of True Worship.—2. The Externals of Worship,— 3. The Problem.—4. The Method of Enquiry. 1.—The Spirituality of True Worship. “IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This earth, and the wide universe, and the deep heaven of heavens, which “eye hath not seen,” and all things material and spiritual, visible and invisible, that are in them, are God’s: He created them all, and they are His; and we, especially, although made “a little lower than the angels,” bear His image, and join with the angels in His worship and service. The Creation, the process of becoming out of nothing, was not a mere mechanical act, an arbitrary manifesta- tion of lifeless and loveless power. The universe is not A 2 INTRODUCTION. a cold mechanical product, It never issued in grave- clothes from the stony heart of Eternal Death. It came forth into being, radiant with ten thousand glories, from the heart of Eternal Creative Love. ‘God is love ;” and in the beginning He created the universe in love. And the same Infinite Creative Love, shining through all His works, still keeps sweet angel watch over all the fountains of being, and rocks the cradle of all things that are becoming, from eternity to eternity. The mother decks her unconscious babe with many pretty things, and they are all expressions of the mother’s love. The universe is, if I may so speak, God’s babe, unconscious, but infinitely loved. He has lavished an infinity of beauties on it, and every one of them, even the smallest, is a manifestation of His love. All natural Beauty is a Sacramental expression of the highest spiritual mystery, the contact of the unconscious creation with the Conscious Uncreated Love. God has willed to superadd to the glories of the unconscious universe, the glories of conscious life. He has formed ws, His rational and intelligent creatures, especially for Himself: to behold His glory: to be conscious of His love: to be infinitely blessed: to be, in the highest sense, His “Sons and Daughters,” His delight ; and to delight in Him, being, in our measure, like Him, and holding sweet communion with Him, loving and serving Him continually. To lead us to Himself—the end of our being—our true, eternal fruition—He has placed in our spirits “eyes ”1 that we may see Himself, and in our deepest heart of hearts a tendency of our nature towards Himself, so that we cannot rest but in Him. “The pure in heart see God.”? This mystical percep- 1 «The eyes of your heart,” Eph, 1. 18 (Revised Version). * Mat. 5. 8 THE SPIRITUALITY OF WORSHIP, 3 tion of the spirit, and this deep zmpulse of the heart towards God—which are together the very foundations of the Instinct of Worship in our race—are above the senses and above reason, although in harmony with the senses and with reason. They are aided by, and yet they supplement, and greatly surpass our lower faculties, rising far above them, and embracing them all, as the blue arch of heaven embraces the earth, and is its glory. The first beginning of sin is spiritual departure of the heart from God. This is the first downward step of the soul. There are many second steps, and many third steps in sin. Innumerable as the paths of death, are the downward courses of evil; but they are all alike in being preceded, and entered upon, by that fatal first step—the departure of the soul from God. The spirit of the creature, formed to delight in the Creator's love, which gave it being, forsakes His blessed Presence, and seeks tainted joys elsewhere. This is the beginning: the end, unless God’s grace interpose, must be the ultimate fall and tragedy of the soul. Such being, in its very initial stage, the nature of sin, it follows that all true recovery of the soul must involve a return to God. The steps of departure must be retraced. “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God,” ‘return now, ‘return quite up to Him’? The Prodigal, in the Parable, returned: “I will arise and go to my father. ... And he arose and came to his father.” The departure of the heart from God, in sin, is an inward and spiritual departure; and the return of the heart to God is, equally, an inward and spiritual return. The spirit of the creature, stained with guilt, enfeebled 1 Hosea 14.1. Pusey, 27 Joc. 4 INTRODUCTION. with vicious habits, weighed down with a sense of unworthiness and evil desert, and with accumulated sorrows, approaches, in humble contrition, the Eternal Purity, the Omnipresent Love, the Spirit of the Creator, —to find welcome, absolution, comfort, strength, restora- tion, joy, glory. All this is evidently spiritual. As man, in his higher nature, is consciously a spiritual being, and as God is a spiritual Being, it follows that all true approach of man to God, in penitence, in prayer, in communion, in thanksgiving, in praise, in adoration —in a word, all true Worship—must needs be spiritual. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 2,.—The Externals of Worship. Worship itself being essentially a spiritual act, the Externals of Worship are obviously of very secondary importance as compared with the spirit of Worship. They must be regarded, within limits to be considered hereafter, as non-essential and mutable. But although the Externals of Worship are only of secondary importance, we must not, therefore, hasten to the conclusion that they are of zo importance. This would be a serious error. A secondary importance may be, and in this case is, a very real importance. All things are so mysteriously interdependent, so wondrously knitted together by the Creator’s wisdom and skill, that, often, things which are apparently most trivial, and subordinate, receive a glory, not their own, from their ministering to things of the supremest dignity and consequence. So it isin worship. God does not despise things outward and visible. He weds them to 1 John 4. 24. THE EXTERNALS OF WORSHIP. 5 things inward and spiritual, and causes them to sub- serve the holiest work of the Holy Ghost. As He has united spirit and body in man, and the inward spiritual grace and the outward sign in the Holy Sacraments, and the invisible Godhead and visible Humanity in the Sacred Person of Christ, so He has also willed that, ordinarily, the inward and spiritual act of worship should be united to an outward and visible form of worship, and should express and sustain itself by the ministry of that outward form. To overlook, or to deny, the importance of this outward form, would betray a careless or a shallow philosophy, and an amazing and disastrous ignorance of the whole religious history and nature of man. In almost all things, the outward form has an im- portance second only to the importance of the inward essence or principle. Illustrations of this truth lie thick around us. TZought is much more important than its outward form or expression in language or art; /ife, more important than its outward expression in the mode and activities of life; and in the same way, spiritual worship, the inner devotional life of the soul, is more important than its outward expression in the form of worship: and yet, the expression of thought, and the mode of life, and, equally, the form of worship, are of unspeakable consequence. Thought and its ex- pression, life and its expression, worship and its expres- sion, act and react upon each other. Each has its own perfection, which can hardly be attained without the perfection of the other. God has joined them together, and they are not wise men who put them asunder. The inspired writers of Holy Scripture do not regard the outward form of worship as unimportant. On the contrary, in almost every account which they give us of worship in heaven and on earth, they lovingly and 6 INTRODUCTION. reverently record, for our instruction, some at least of the ritual characteristics of the worship. And if further evidence were necessary to prove the importance of the outward form of worship, and its intimate connection with the spirit and essence of wor- ship, surely we can find that evidence close at hand, and in painful abundance, in the ecclesiastical history of the last three centuries and of our own times. Burn- ing controversies have raged, churches and sects have been rent asunder, congregations and families have been divided, the most conflicting theories have been earnestly and ably advocated, devoted men have been cast into prison, and tens of thousands of pounds sterling have been lavished in angry and interminable litigation, and all about outward forms of worship. Contentions about forms of worship have for genera- tions been, and are to-day, the most numerous, most obstinate, most passionate, and most confused of all religious contentions. Some of the disputants declare that forms are important in themselves: others declare that they are important only on account of their acquired relations and significance: but all are prac- tically agreed in the opinion—undoubtedly a true opinion—that, from whatever cause, forms of worship always have exercised, and always will exercise, a subtle and mighty influence upon the religious life and history of mankind. 3.— The Problem. A narrow view of a great subject is ever a fruitful source of error and unprofitable contention. No great subject has suffered more in this way than worship. Next to God Himself, the great Object of Worship, it occupies almost the first rank among subjects which THE METHOD OF ENQUIRY. 7 are worthy of a thoughtful and reverent consideration. But of late it has been, on all occasions, remorselessly dragged through the soiled and angry conflicts of party interests and passions. 7Z/zs devotional usage, it is argued, favours those to whom we are opposed: there- fore, down with it, revile it, discredit it, make it an object of public hatred and ridicule. Zatz other is the mainstay and badge of our sect or party: therefore, laud it, maintain it, make it a test of orthodoxy. We hear a great deal of this kind of reasoning. How many there are who never think of considering, independently, whether the devotional usages in ques- tion are, or are not, a true following of the Divinely implanted Instinct of Worship ! An altogether more serious treatment of this subject is necessary. We want a wider and deeper knowledge of it. We want to know whether, in connection with the Externals of Worship, there are fixed and eternal principles, which, however free and elastic in their appli- cation, are as high above the arena of religious strife as the heavens are above the earth? And if there be such principles of devotion, we want to know what they are ? 4.—The Method of Enquiry. Worship is not a new subject. Its facts are as old, and perhaps as wide, as the universe. Angelic beings have worshipped God for countless ages in heaven- and God Himself has at times drawn aside the blue curtains of the sky, that we may see their worship. Men in like manner have worshipped for thousands of years on the earth. The phenomena of both heavenly and earthly worship lie open before us, and are worthy of our careful study. By collecting and arranging other kinds of phenomena, men improve their know- 8 INTRODUCTION. ledge, and trace the hidden laws which run through creation. The same method may be applied to our present subject. The phenomena of worship, collected and classified, will form the basis of a true induction, and will reveal to us the great central principles of true worship. They will show us, at least in outline, what is normal, and what is abnormal in the systems of wor- ship around us. And I may add, they will leave upon our minds a strong conviction with respect to the power of the Instinct of Worship, and the general muzz- formity of its action, so long as it is free. They will also lead us to see that any arbitrary interference with the free and legitimate action of this Instinct—as by the use of a long extemporary prayer in Public Wor- ship, or of an unknown tongue, or by the exclusion of music, or of chaste ornament, or of outward reverence —must necessitate a damaging loss and waste of the devotional powers with which the Creator has endowed our nature. And further, we shall learn that the In- stinct of Worship is not a power to be trifled with. The religion, or sect, or party, which wantonly runs counter to the living principles of this Instinct, is en- gaging in a mad and ruinous conflict—a conflict with a mysterious power which no force on earth can destroy. Following out these lines of thought, the present volume is an attempt to apply the principles of a sound inductive philosophy to the discussion of some of those questions connected with the externals of worship which are too often determined hastily by local acci- dent or prejudice. Its pages will be occupied, for the most part, with descriptions of Religious Services, or acts of Worship. These Services are representative of the entire range of devotional activity in heaven and on earth. It will be found that the instances of worship which must pass THE METHOD OF ENQUIRY. 9 under review are not only very numerous, but very various in their character. Belonging to such widely separated regions of devotional activity—worship in Heaven—worship on this earth in every age and country in the dark, bosom of Heathenism—worship in the Jewish Church—and worship in the Christian Church—they may naturally be expected to differ widely from each other. At first sight, they appear to differ in every essential characteristic, to have hardly a single feature in common. But upon a closer exa- mination, it will be found that all these so various acts of worship have certain common features. It is the object of this volume to draw attention to these common features, and to deduce from them the primary laws of Devotional Ritual. For example, all these religious services will prove to be instances, more or less perfect, of Responsive and Congregational Worship, like our own worship in the Church of England. In whatever points they differ, they are all alike in this. The worship is, in every instance, joined in Resfonsively by the whole congrega- tion. We shall also note other common features which are deeply interesting to us. These religious services are, in almost every instance, J/uszcal; they are also, in their measure, Reverent,; and, excepting in the fear- ful and abnormal instances of Devil-Worship, and the worship of vices and evil principles—in which /zdeous ugliness is ordinarily deemed essential to the symbolism of the worship—we shall find that worship is usually as Beautiful as the worshippers can make it. Where these common characteristics are wanting, their absence is due (as in the case of Devil-Worship) to some cause evidently abnormal, local, and temporary—to some false principle, or narrow prejudice, or interest, or acci- dental obstruction, which, for a time, thwarts and {0 INTRODUCTION. impedes the onward movement of the mighty flood of human devotion, and produces a little eddy or counter- current. Taken together, all the acts of worship which will be sketched in the following chapters, seem almost to demonstrate, as by a connected argument, or series of inductive proofs, that there is an instinctive tendency in all intelligent devotion, when earnest, natural, and free from capricious and artificial restrictions, to exhibit the characteristics which I have named. In a word, true devotion appears to seek, as by the operation of an all-pervading law of nature, to express itself, and to stimulate and sustain itself, by a JZusical and Con- gregational rendering of Responsive Formulas of wor- ship; and by acts of outward Reverence on the part of the worshippers; and by chaste Leauty in all the sym- bolism and circumstances of the worship. In so far as the following pages establish the existence of such a law or tendency in true devotion, they will justify our Church’s system of worship, which is essentially Resfon- sive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful. T GON S. GILES’ VICARAGE, DurHAM, All Saints’ Day, 1883. ChHAPLER IT THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP—analyzed. I. Its Nature.—2. Its Power.—3. Its Authority. THE investigation upon which we are entering is greatly complicated, and the difficulty of rightly con- ducting it is much increased, by the fact that the Instinct of Worship is not always true to itself. It is not an infallible, nor even a consistent guide. In common with other Instincts, it has been disordered by the Fall. Wecannot accept a// its products as genuine products of its original and higher self. We must test them ; and we must devise some means by which this testing may be done effectually; by which spurious and corrupt products of the Instinct of Worship may be eliminated from those which are true and good. With this in view, I shall, in the present chapter, describe briefly the Mature, Power, and Authority of the Instinct of Worship. This will, I trust, clear the way for a further step, namely, the /nzterpretation of this remarkable Instinct: which I shall discuss in the next chapter (III.) Then our Argument or Method will be illustrated in another short chapter (IV.), by applying it to the case of Musical and Congregational Worship. 1.— The Nature of the Instinct of Worship. It is not my intention to attempt an exhaustive analysis of the Instinct of Worship. There may be 12 THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP. several parts in it. There are, however, two of its con- stituent elements which are so much more prominent than the others, that, speaking in general terms, we may describe its Nature as, in the main, twofold. The Instinct of Worship is, in part, an intuitive spiritual perception of God; and, in part, a blind but mighty zmpulse of the heart, which superadds to our joys and sorrows, to our hopes and fears, and to almost all our higher emotions and aspirations, something of infini- tude, transcending this world, tending towards God, and expressing itself in worship. To illustrate this twofold character of the Instinct of Worship, let us consider, for a moment, the obviously duplex nature and action of some of the other instincts. They each contain an element of perception, and also an element of impulse, emotion, craving. (2) For example, omitting minor points, the Instinct of Nutrition may be described as made up of two parts: first, the craving of hunger and thirst; and, secondly, the perceptzon that certain external objects will satisfy that craving. We see this very clearly in the lower orders of creation, whose perceptions of suit- able objects for food are often as intuitive, or automatic, as are the cravings of their hunger. ‘These two parts of the Instinct codperate for the same end. The per- ception of the object stimulates the craving, and the craving stimulates the perception; and both together constitute a powerful and necessary instinct, The Will and the Reason, with Education and Experience, develop and guide this instinct ; but they do not create it. (6) So, again, with the Instinct of Language. It is universal in mankind, and is dual in its nature. First, 1 The Will, which is the great Executive Power, is set in motion by the Instincts, and to a considerable extent it controls them; but it is not one of them, nor a part of any of them. ITS NATURE. 13 there is the strong impulsive desire to communicate with our kind. Secondly, there is the intellectual light which guides the impulse in the use of expressive signs, ‘The child crying in the night’ marks the automatic beginning of this Instinct. It grows with his growth: it is developed and perfected by circumstance and education ; and how intellectual it ultimately becomes we all know. (c) The universal instinct of Ornamentation lies dor- mant for a time; but, sooner or later, it makes its presence felt in every human being. Here, there is the strong instinctive desire to be noticed, to be beautiful, to be attractive. There is also the intellectual per- ception of beauty, grace, art. These two, the desire to be attractive, and the perception of beauty, are not altogether wanting in the lower animals. They appear in the human race at a very early period of infancy ; and they are afterwards developed rapidly, and fill the worlds of civilization and barbarism with ornamenta- tion, of various degrees of rudeness or excellence. Education does much for this Instinct, but does not create it. (a2) Education itself—which is the School Master of all our other instincts and powers—is_ instinctive. Education is now, in civilized countries, so scientific and elaborate in its methods, so completely in the hands of professional experts, so diligently fostered by multi- tudes of Schools, Colleges, Universities, Acts of Parlia- ment, and Red Tape, that we are apt to forget that this elaboration of instrumentalities is but the livery of a powerful instinct. The element of intellectual light in this instinct is obvious. The impulsive element is not so obvious until we pass beyond the boundaries of civilization, or study the habits of the lower animals. Among Negro, Red Indian, and New Zealand tribes, 14 THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP. the instinct of Education is as really at work as amongst ourselves, although in simpler fashion. Savage men teach their children, with no small care, their own rude arts of domestic life, war, and the chase. So in the lower ranks of creation. The hen ¢eaches her chickens to pick up their food: the cat teaches her young to catch their prey: the eagle ‘eaches her eaglets to fly. Here the automatic or impulsive element in the instinct of Education is prominent; although the element of perception is not wanting. Some instincts exhibit a remarkable independence of experience. The Gallinaceous Birds are well-known instances of a wide range of instinctive impulses and perceptions, before experience. Some species of these birds come forth from the egg perfect miniatures of their parents: their bodies fully equipped with feathers, and their minds with parental and other instincts, Prior to all experience of injury, they exhibit fear, and not only fear, but fear of the proper objects. They will flee when they see a hawk, and they will carefully avoid a stinging insect. In Europe, the young of the Wood- grouse are able to fly from the moment they break the shell It would be easy to multiply instances of instincts prior to education and experience in the indi- vidual. Such instincts are evidently not caused. by education, although they may be ripened and perfected by it. The instincts, equally with the vital organs and limbs, are fundamental and original parts of the complex nature which God has given to His sentient creatures. Education (itself an Instinct) is, I repeat, the School Master, but not the Parent, of itself and the other Instincts, 1 The Duke of Argyll, 7he Reign of Law, p. 298. * ITS NATURE. 15 To deny the existence of instincts, because, in many instances, we can trace their development, would be like denying the existence of a flower because it was once a seed, or of a man because he was once a boy. Instincts cannot cease to be instincts, any more than men can cease to be men, by being developed and matured. The Creator has filled our bodies with automatic or involuntary contractions of the muscles. Such are the motions of the heart, lungs, and many other organs, upon which the most vital processes in our animal nature depend. We have no difficulty in believing that these movements are independent of the will and of experi- ence. There isabundant evidence that the Creator has also impressed upon our minds and hearts automatic per- ceptions and emotions—intuitions and cravings—which we call Instincts. The noblest? and most wonderful of these Instincts is the Instinct of Worship, to the con- sideration of which we must now return. The Instinct of Worship, as stated above, is, like so many other instincts, twofold in its nature: it is, in part, intuitive spiritual light; and, in part, automatic spiritual heat: in part, a perception of God; and, in part, a blind impulse of the heart, guided towards God by the light of that perception. Education and experience may develop and perfect the Instinct of Worship: or they may dwarf its growth, and cripple and mislead its action: but they cannot create it, nor can they altogether destroy it. It may seem to be destroyed, and yet be only slumbering, in full power, and ready to make its power felt. Some of the most earnest worshippers that 1 The animal instincts are given for the preservation and maintenance of the animal life. The religious instinct, which is peculiar to men and angels, ministers to the sfzrz¢wal life. It is the noblest instinct, and has the noblest function. ¥ 16 THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP. ——_—_—_——. I have known, have been persons in whom atheistical theories and evil lives seemed to have quenched the Instinct of Worship for ten, twenty, or forty years. But an hour of deep sorrow, or a kindly word spoken in season, or some other means blessed by the Holy Spirit, has liberated the soul from its long bondage; and immediately the religious instincts have flamed forth with sevenfold energy, after their long repression ; the Divine Light has shone in the dark mind, and the Celestial Fire has glowed in the cold heart. The intuitive shining light, though often pale and dubious, and the automatic craving of the heart for God, though often dull and languid—which are the most prominent parts of the Instinct of Worship— may be readily verified by experience. The yearning heart opens doubtfully to receive and to worship God; and immediately its doubts vanish, in the fulness of the experience that He zs as living waters to the thirsty soul. The vational faculty, also, confirms and supports the intuitions of the spiritual consciousness. Reason builds up irrefutable arguments for the existence of a Supreme First Cause, a Supreme Personal Will, a Supreme Designing Intelligence, a Supreme Righteous Lawgiver and Judge; and readily accumulates convincing evidence to prove that these are not many but One,—the One Creator and Lord and Father of us all. These rational arguments point heavenwards, like so many Church spires; and by spiritual vision we see Him towards Whom they point. The perception and the emotion, the light and the heat, which are the main constituent parts of the Instinct of Worship, are easily separable in thought; but they are—or they ought to be—united in fact. In true and perfect worship, they act and react upon each ITS POWER. 17 other, until the light gives heat, and the heat gives light, and the whole soul is aglow with the spiritual Presence and Love and Fulness of God. Then nature and all natural knowledge are transfigured before us. “A bright cloud overshadows” the whole universe, and its glory falls upon the floating traditions of a Divine Father, upon the cold theistic deductions of the rational faculty, upon the vague inarticulate cry of the human heart, and upon all the broken fragments of our know- ledge and experience; and, in that mystic light, they all contribute, in their measure, to our cognizance of the Presence and Glory and Love of God. “The heaven” and “the earth,” with ten thousand sweet voices, “sing together,” and “declare” His praise. The visible creation, with all its golden architecture filling the depths of infinite space, is evermore a living anthem in praise of the Most High. In this ceaseless song, man joins in his measure by worship. 2.—The Power of the Instinct of Worship. The spiritual and moral perceptions and forces of our nature appear, at first sight, to be ordinarily more feeble and uncertain in their action than the coarse secular perceptions and energies which fill the world with the uproar of daily life. We should be mistaken however were we to imagine that noisy obtrusive forces, which are always attracting attention to themselves, are really more powerful than those which are more silent and unobtrusive. The greater forces of nature are in part veiled, and are often quite silent and unper- ceived in their action. A hundred generations of men have lived and died amidst the ceaseless and mighty operation of these forces, without discerning their pre- sence. Notwithstanding all the recent discoveries of B 18 THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP. science, it is certain that there are still many undis- covered forces constantly at work around us and within us. But they act silently, and behind the veil of nature. The ear cannot hear them. The eye of the professional observer has hitherto failed to detect them. But we know by their results that they are present. It is often so with the “ still small voice” in the spirit and heart of man. Although apparently very weak, and often on account of this seeming weakness, “ despised and rejected of men,’ it has the might of the Almighty: it proves itself in a thousand ways stronger than the strongest things we know—stronger than old inveterate bad habits, and corrupt associates ; stronger than fear and shame; stronger than gold; stronger than passion- ate love and passionate hate; stronger than fire and sword ; stronger than life and death; and it “turns the world upside down.” The Instinct of Worship, although disordered and enfeebled by the Fall of man, and by the continual presence of sin in every department of human life, is still one of the most powerful and ineradicable instincts in our nature. Its action is incessant and coextensive with humanity, although ordinarily it is silent and unobserved. All through the Heathen world religions, like empires, rise and fall. They flourish, and pass away, and their once crowded temples become desolate ruins. But the Instinct of Worship remains: transfers its services to whatever new religion is presented: covers the land again with magnificent and costly temples; and fills them with crowds of worshippers, with altars and sacrifices, with prayers and hymns, with white-robed priests and choristers, and with acts of adoration and reverence,—in short, with a solemn ritual hardly distinguishable from that which had pre- vailed from the beginning around altars now neglected * ITS AUTHORITY. 19 and dishonoured. This mysterious Instinct works to- day, as of old, in every branch of the human family. England and America and Australia are not the only countries which are rearing up temples by hundreds: their activity is but a part of a wider world-work in which all nations labour incessantly, although often blindly. Were the outburst of some mad revolution to fill the whole world with a paroxysm of atheistical fury, and to sweep away, with a sudden and universal destruction, all the religions and temples that are on the earth, and all the memory of them, the Instinct of. Worship would, with the return of order and freedom, begin its won- drous work again, with redoubled energy, and would, in a few generations, fill the world as before with altars and sanctuaries and worship. 3.—The Authority of the Instinct of Worship. The reader will have observed that although I have claimed Power for the Instinct of Worship, I have not claimed Infallibility for it, nor for any other human instinct. No such claim could be maintained. The religious history of mankind shows that, amid the abounding corruptions of the Heathen world, this In- stinct has often been misapplied and perverted, nay more, has often been degraded from its high position as a ministering angel in God’s Presence, to be the dark accomplice of evil spirits and evil men, in hideous acts of Theft-Worship, Murder-Worship, Lust-Worship, Devil-Worship, and base Idolatry. Why then, it may be asked, should we, in an enquiry like the present, appeal to the Authority of an Instinct so fallible? What is its Authority worth? Can we find no better guide? Would it not be simpler and ® , 20 THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP. safer to go direct to Holy Scripture, and to humbly accept as our guide, in the matter of worship, the teaching of Divine Revelation ? Would not this be the course most consistent with the deep self-distrust which we ought ever to feel, and which right-minded persons do feel ? The answer to these questions is not far to seek. Jf Revelation had given us a System of Devotional Ritual —z.é.,a Divine Method for offering up our Prayers and Praises and Adorations in Public Worship—it would clearly be our duty, and our wisdom, to follow that Divine Method. But Revelation has not done so. Revelation has not given a Devotional Ritual to the Church. An elaborately typical Sacrificial Ritual, obligatory in the Jewish dispensation, and a very simple Sacra- mental Ritual, obligatory in the Christian dispensation, were indeed appointed by Divine Revelation; God Himself having instituted them, and having categori- cally commanded their observance. But, obviously, the naked Sacrificial rites of the Old Testament, and, no less obviously, the extremely brief and simple Sacra- mental rites of the New Testament, required, as their envelope and enrichment, and for the fuller expression of their meaning, and of the devotional feelings con- nected with them, an accompanying Devotional Ritual of prayers, praises, sacred readings, exhortations, and acts of worship. Such an envelope they required, and such an envelope they always found: but Revelation did not supply it. The important task of providing a suitable Devotional Ritual for each Sacrifice and Sacra- ment, and for Public Worship generally in the Church, was, in God’s providence, left almost entirely to the free exercise of the Instinct of Worship. Occasionally, indeed, Revelation gives commands 4 ® ITS AUTHORITY. 21 with respect to a few of the prznciples, as distinguished from the liturgy and ceremonial, of Devotional Ritual. We are to maintain Public Worship: we are to pray, sing, and give thanks: we are not to worship idols: Public Worship is to be conducted zzze/ligently (that is, in a known tongue), appealing not only to the senses but to the understanding and conscience: all things are to be done “decently and in order,” reverently, and to edification :—such are the commands given in the New Testament as to the £zzd of worship which was to surround the daily, or weekly, celebration of the Holy Communion, itself the centre and crown of Chris- tian worship. But neither the outlines nor the details of a Devotional liturgy and ceremonial are given to the Church, The imposition of an obligatory Devotional Ritual forms no part of the scope and object of Reve- lation. Beyond enforcing the elementary principles mentioned above, the Christian Revelation leaves the Church free in this matter. The J7Zosatc Revelation, although full of precise instructions respecting typical Sacrificial rites, was as silent as the Christian Revela- tion upon this point. And from the analogy of these two Revelations, taken in connection with the meagre records in the opening chapters of Genesis, we may infer that the Primitive Revelation to our first parents —although probably enjoining the observance of typi- cal Sacrificial rites—gave no obligatory Devotional Ritual. Then, as afterwards, the development of a Devotional liturgy and ceremonial appears to have been left to the Divinely implanted Instinct of Worship. The Creator made heaven a “temple,” and He seems to have filled it with worship by implanting an Instinct of Worship in the angelic beings. Ina laterage, He cre- ated man; and He endowed him with a similar Instinct of Worship, in order that he might fill this earth with 22 THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP temples like the infinite temple in the skies, and repro- duce in them worthy echoes of the heavenly worship. As in heaven, so on earth, this Instinct seems, from the beginning, to have everywhere developed a Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful Wor- ship. Long before the oldest book of the Bible was written, a Devotional Ritual, bearing these character- istics, appears to have prevailed in every branch of the human family. In a word, the Bible found the Public Worship of mankind like that of the angels—Respon- sive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful —and the Bible left it so. Revelation corrected gross defects and corruptions which had surrounded religion: but so far as the Instinct of Worship had acted truly, its products were respected, and its freedom and authority were maintained. Notwithstanding its many infirmities, this Instinct has been placed in high authority over the public devo- tions of mankind. Sanctified and blessed by God’s Spirit in the hearts of holy men, it has been from the beginning of the world—and will be to the end of the world—the main producer, guide, and regulator of our Devotional Ritual. We need not be surprised at this being so. It is a prominent part of God’s method of dealing with us, that, in many matters of the greatest importance, we should be guided, for the most part, by fallible but mighty Instincts, whose leadings we must follow warily, with tentative steps. CHAPTER ITI. THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP—zzlerpreted. 1. Two Opposite Errors: Hyper-Spiritual Worship and Sensuous Worship. —z2. First Rule or Test: Breadth of Appeal to Man’s Nature.—3. Second Rule or Test: Worship in Heaven.—4. Third Rule or Test : Worship in Heathenism.—5. Fourth Rule or Test : The Old Testament Revelation.—6, Fifth Rule or Test : The New Testament Revelation and the History of the Christian Church. 1.—TZwo Opposite Errors: Hyper-Spiritual Worship and Sensuous Worship. WE have seen that the principal constituent parts of the Instinct of Worship are (1) a Spiritual Perception, and (2) a blind Impulse of the heart, guided towards God by that perception. A misunderstanding of the twofold character and action of this Instinct has often led to one or other of two opposite misconceptions with respect to the nature of worship itself. I. First. Too exclusive an attention to the import- ance of Spiritual Lz¢/¢ in Worship, has led many serious persons to ignore its other side. They see nothing in worship that is merely impulsive and rooted in the deep systemic emotions of human nature. According to their view, worship is altogether a thing of the mind and spirit, altogether perceptive and contemplative: it is virtually regarded as beginning and ending in spiritual mindedness and spiritual illumination. Pressed to its logical conclusion, as it sometimes is, and often is in 24 THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP INTERPRETED. part, this defective theory shuts out one half of our nature from its due share in devotion; and finds little or no place in worship for those external acts, symbolic circumstances, architectural graces, and sweet melodies, which appeal to and stimulate the higher senses and religious emotions. Puritanism amongst ourselves is deeply tainted with this error. But it is in the religious systems of India and the East that we find the doctrines and practical results of hyper-spiritual contemplation in their most advanced developments. If we would preserve devotion from being, first, denuded, and, then, paralyzed by hyper-spiritualism, we must adopt a truer and more generous philosophy. We must recognise that spiritual 4gz¢, although the most important part, is not the oly part of worship. There must be feat also, the deep strong zzpulse which is rooted in, and stimulated by, the sanctified senses and emotions of our nature. 2. Here, however, we are confronted by an oppo- site error with respect to worship, Sessuous Worship, which practically ignores the religious functions of the understanding and conscience, has many and strong advocates. The zwzpulse of devotion in our nature is so obviously instinctive, so like a mere animal passion, so blind, so irrepressible, and sometimes so furious in its action, that, in all ages and religions, men high in authority, accustomed to govern, and to look at mankind in the mass, have been too ready to regard man as a mere “worshipping animal,” possessed by a blind passion for devotion, which must be gratified somehow, it matters little by what means. Rulers have again and again, without providing any adequate instruction, altered the religions of nations, confident that the stream of worship, if not too rudely obstructed, would TWO OPPOSITE ERRORS. 25 continue to run on, with sufficient blindness, hardly per- ceiving the change in direction. In almost all heathen systems it was regarded as a settled principle that spiritual Light and religious Devotion were, in a great measure, separable. It was believed that the masses of mankind worshipped as well in the dark as in the light, Illumination on spiritual subjects was reserved for the select few, the inner circle of the initiated; and there was no attempt to convey religious truth to the people. The same tendency to regard ardent devotion as necessary for all men, and spiritual light as the pre- rogative of a few, is plainly traceable in many of the ancient, and in some of the modern, corruptions of Christianity. Even in the midst of the civilization of the nineteenth century, the Church of Rome is content that her people should worship without understanding one word of her Mass. It is an undoubted fact, abundantly illustrated both in Heathenism and in Christendom, that spiritual light, if only it be not absolutely extinguished, may be reduced very low indeed—may become little better than a glimmering phosphorescence in the night—without destroying the fervour of devotion. The light may be almost gone, but the mystic fires will burn still with an intensity of heat which no statesman can ignore. Even under the lowest Fetishism, on the one hand, and under the virtual atheism of the Buddhist Philosophy, on the other, Religious Worship has held its own, and has reared glorious temples, and filled them with solemn and beautiful rites. “It is incredible,” says Professor Max Miiller, “in how exhausted an atmosphere the Divine spark within us will glimmer on, and even warm the dark chambers of the human heart.” The error of the Hyper-Spiritualists is not excess of spirituality ; for there cannot be too much spirituality 26 THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP, INTERPRETED. in life and worship. Their error lies in the exclusion of the rich emotional forces of our nature from their due share in worship. Without the ministry of these forces, devotion is chilled and starved. _ Again, the error of Roman Catholics, Persian Fire- Worshippers, New Zealand savages, and others, who use unknown tongues in worship, is not that they appeal too strongly to the senses and religious emotions: but that they appeal to little else. These, and other advo- cates of a Sensuous Worship, do not make foo wide an appeal (as is often supposed), but they make foo narrow an appeal, to our religious nature. They erclude the understanding and conscience from their proper place and pre-eminence in worship. ' 2.—First Rule for Distinguishing between Genuine and Spurious Products of the Instinct of Worship. From the above considerations we derive our FIRST RULE for the Interpretation of the Instinct of Worship : viz..— That no form of worship ts a true following of this Instinct, which does not appeal to, and unite in God's service, the WHOLE of the devotional resources of our nature, both perceptive and emotional, in their due proportion and subordination, so far as circumstances will allow. True worship can hardly be too rich and compre- hensive in its appeal to the higher parts of our nature. Almost every erroneous form of worship is contracted and weakened in its appeal to our complex spiritual organism, by ignorance, or by indifference, or by some narrow prejudice. Such influences have no legitimate place within the Church of England. Her Worship, which is not only intelligent, but Responsive, Con- gregational, Reverent, Musical and Beautiful—as far as circumstances will allow—appeals to our whole nature, SECOND RULE. 27 and satisfies the first rule which I have ventured to lay down for testing a true worship. The understanding and the conscience, the affections, the imagination, the sentiments of sympathy and mystery, awe and reverence, tenderness and devotedness, holy love and godly fear, contrition and penitence, faith and thanks- giving and aspiration—the eye that in the resurrec- tion will “see the King in His beauty ”—the ear that will hear the melodies of heaven—in short, all the higher parts of our nature, and all the approaches to them, are engaged, in due order and proportion, in our Church’s Worship. 3.—Second Rule. We find in our Church a certain type of Devotional Ritual; and we want to know whether it is a true and eternal product of the Instinct of Worship, or whether, on the other hand, we must regard it as a spurious pro- duct, one of the many mistakes and perversions of this Instinct. We have seen that it satisfies the /zrst Rule for testing true worship. But other tests must be applied. Our SECOND RULE is,—Compare the worship in ques- tion with the eternal and perfect worship in heaven; and if it be found to possess the same characteristics as the heavenly worship, or any of them, tt ts, so far, a true following of the Instinct of Worship. The reasons for this Rule may be briefly stated here, although we have already touched upon them. Countless ages before men worshipped God on earth, more perfect orders of beings worshipped Him accept- ably in Heaven. In the fulness of time, man was created, “a little lower than the angels,” and was en- dowed with a devotional Instinct, which, we can hardly doubt, was designed by the Creator to fill this world 28 THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP INTERPRETED. with a worship similar to that with which He had pre- viously filled the skies. Wherever, therefore, we find men modelling their worship, however unconsciously, after the manner of the angels’ worship, we infer that the Instinct of Worship is there fulfilling its mission truly. And this inference is confirmed by what Holy Scrip- ture tells us, that hereafter we ourselves shall be com- panions of the angels, and shall be “as the angels,” and sharers in the angels’ worship. Our own worship here on earth is a preparation for the perfect worship in heaven; and it ought, therefore, as far as may be, to resemble it: for ake does not prepare for wulike: pre- paration implies similarity. Our Saviour appears to make the worship and service in which angels engage a pattern for our worship and service on earth. “ Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.’ And both the Old and New Testament Revelations disclose to us—in a magnificent series of visions—the worship around the throne of God, and intimate to us that these things “were written for our learning.” Although these visions of heavenly wership do not come to us as so many positive precepts in matters of Devotional Ritual, still we can hardly doubt that they were intended to stimulate and to guide the Church’s worship on earth. In future Chapters we shall find that the worship in heaven is Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful. Our Church’s worship, there- fore, having each of these characteristics, is, according to this Second Rule, a true following of the Instinct of Worship. 4.—Third Rute. THIRD RULE.— Compare the Worship in question (viz., that of our Church) wth the various forms of Heathen FOURTH RULE. 29 devotion, in all countries and ages: and in so far as it and they possess common features, which bear the test of our other Rules, we may infer that these common features are true and genuine products of the Instinct of Worship. In the vast field of Heathenism we shall find the Instinct of Worship busily at work, without the aid of supernatural. Revelation. And we shall find that this wonderful Instinct appears to have everywhere, and from the beginning, filled the world with a worship which (putting aside the obvious corruptions of worship in an unknown tongue, Devil-worship and Schismatical departures from the worship of the Church) is in every instance, and in a more or less perfect degree, Respon- sive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful. These common features are also characteristics of our Church’s worship; and asthey bear the test of our other Rules, we conclude that they are true products of the devotional Instinct. 5.—Fourth Rule. FOURTH RULE.— Test the Worship in question by the Light of the Old Testament Revelation. The bright and searching light of the Mosaic Revela- tion fell upon a Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful Worship which had prevailed amongst the forefathers of the Jewish nation. Had this kind of worship been displeasing to God, Revelation would have condemned it, as it condemned polytheism, idolatry, and other corruptions of religious devotion. Or had the prevalent Devotional Ritual been innocent, but not excellent; adapted for a low and temporary condition of spiritual attainment, but not adapted for the full and perfect expression of the Church’s maturest 30 THE INSTINCT OF WORSHIP INTERPRETED. worship ; the Hebrew Revelation would have dealt with it as it dealt with the Sacrificzal Ritual of the time; it would have used it, and would at the same time have pointed out its imperfect and temporary character. But the case was wholly different. Moses and other inspired writers and rulers found this type of Devo- tional Ritual among the. Jewish people. They found no fault with it. They themselves delighted in it: they used it continually ; and they spared no trouble and expense to maintain and perfect it. They had evidently. never heard, or thought of any objections to congrega- tional responding, musical services, acts of reverence, white-robed priests and choristers, and a beautiful wor- ship. Under the full light of the Old Testament Re- velation, we find this type of Devotional Ritual every- where in the worship of the Jewish Church—in her Open-Air Services, in her Tabernacle and Temple Ser- vices, and in her Synagogue Services. It not only bore the test of that light, but attained perfection under it. 6.—Fifth Rule, FIFTH RULE.—Test the worship in question by the Light of the New Testament Revelation and the History of the Christian Church. In the Jewish Temple and in the Synagogues, Christ and His Apostles constantly took their part in a Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful Worship. They chanted the responses: they bowed their heads, or prostrated themselves, in every service, at the time appointed for acts of reverence to the Eternal Name: in their best and whitest robes, and bearing palm-branches which they waved to the time of their processional chants, they year by year joined in the great festive Processions which added so much FIFTH RULE. 31 to the beauty, dignity and popularity of the national worship. Our Lord Himself rebuked many of the evils of the time—He twice rebuked the ministers of the Temple, not for personal acts of irreverence, but for permitting the irreverence of others who desecrated the outer. Court—but He found no fault with this method of Worship: He saw nothing to rebuke in it: on the contrary, by His Presence, by His participation, and by His watchful Reverence, He abundantly honoured the world-wide and world-old Devotional Ritual which has since become the heritage of His Church. Nay more, He opened the gates of heaven itself, and revealed to His servants that this Devotional Ritual is but an echo on earth of the eternal worship around His throne. We cannot wonder that this Devotional Ritual passed direct from the Jewish Temple and Synagogues into the recular worship of the first Christian assemblies, and of Catholic antiquity. It may well claim our reverence and affection. It has borne every reasonable test of excellence and genuineness. It will certainly continue to be the worship of the Church on earth—in so far as the Church remains pure—until the Last Great Day ; and it will, as certainly, be the worship of the Church Triumphant in heaven, and of the Angel hosts, through- out eternity. OiS BW NEE SUMMARY OF FACTS ILLUSTRATING THE APPLICATION OF OUR ARGUMENT TO THE CASE OF MUSICAL AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. 1. Facts bearing on the Ist Rule, with reference to Breadth of Appeal. —2. Facts bearing on the 2nd Rule, with reference to Worship in Heaven.—3. Facts bearing on the 3rd Rule, with reference to Heathen Worship.—4. Facts bearing on the 4th Rule, with reference to the Old Testament Revelation.—5. Facts bearing on the 5th Rule, with reference to the New Testament Revelation and the History of the Christian Church. AS our subject and method have hitherto been some- what abstract, I shall now give a summary of facts illustrating the application of my Argument to the case of Musical and Congregational Worship. It will not be necessary here to repeat the argument itself: but, for the sake of clearness, I will enumerate the principal facts of the case in the order of the Five Rules, or Tests, explained in the preceding Chapter. 1.—Ffacts falling under the ist Rule (with respect to Breadth of Appeal). Musical and Congregational Worship has, in many ways, a great breadth and catholicity of appeal to man’s religious nature. Readers of Hecker’s Epidemics of the Middle Ages will recollect phenomena which show that, under certain FIRST RULE. 33 conditions, /Zusze (and also Colour) may dominate and control the whole of our being, with a terrible and irresistible power. Music may be employed either to strengthen and elevate, or to disorganize and degrade, the moral nature of man. In the abnormal phenomena recorded by Hecker, we see, in enlarged proportions, as through a magnifying-glass, the reality of the power which Music exercises over that part of our nature which brings us into contact with things spiritual.? We have all felt this mysterious influence. Music, the handmaid of devotion, prepares us for, and aids us in, worship. As there are certain reverent postures of the body which assist us in devotion; so there are, if I may so express it, reverent postures of the mind— tenderness, reflection, recollection, aspiration— which are produced by pure and sweet Music, and which pre- dispose us to worship, and aid us init. On the other hand, there is a debased Music which vice employs for its own purposes. But whether Music be employed to raise men above themselves (its proper object), or to degrade men below themselves (its perversion), it is always a mighty power with which the Church must reckon. We cannot drive it out of the world, even if we would. We must know it either as a friend ministering to religion, or as an enemy fighting against religion. ‘To exclude Music from Public Worship, and to limit it to the service of worldliness, pleasure, intem- perance, impurity, would be a suicidal policy on the part of the Church. A musical rendering of our Liturgy, if reverent melodious, and appropriate, has a sweetness and power of devotional expression which cannot otherwise be obtained. Congregations which simply vead in the 1 Hecker’s Epidemics of the Middle Ages [Sydenham Society], pp. 119-123. Cc 34 MUSICAL AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. natural voice our grand poetic formulas of devotion, Jose many of the finer shades of meaning, and of the more sublime outbursts of religious thought and feeling. Plain congregational reading of our Services is edifying and good, where music cannot be had: but it is not the most perfect kind of worship. In the many tender and plaintive parts of our Liturgy, and equally in those parts which are mysterious, or sublime, or joyous, plain reading is like translating poetry into prose. There is a doss which few can express, but which all can feel. In the religions of the East (notably in Moham- medanism), confession of sin, penitence, and prayer, are made very suitably in a low soft plaintive chant. One sometimes hears this kind of music in Cathedrals, when the Litany is sung: also, in the Prayer-Hymns at After-Meetings at Missions. As a whole, how- ever, English congregations are ignorant of this great resource: the General Confession, the Lord’s Prayer, the Litany, and the most jubilant Psalms, are sung through in the same uniform shout; and great is the devotional loss of expression which this occasions. The worship which we have in view in this chapter, is not only Musical, in the best sense of the word, but also Congregational. To close people’s lips in worship is obviously a dangerous experiment. It leads to inattention; and inattention leads to the closing of the understanding and heart. Well does our Church teach us to pray, **O Lord, open Thou our lips ; . And our mouth shall show forth Thy praise.” While we pray with our lips, we can scarce forbear to pray with our hearts. _ The Church’s system of worship invites us to use our FIRST RULE. 35 voices. Further, it invites us to use our voices fogether, . at the same time and in the same tone, and (if we will) in musical cadence. By so doing, the Church engages Sympathy as an ally of worship. Sympathy is one of the greatest powers with which God has entrusted us; and it may well be employed in His service. Education has not overlooked it. If we want to see the power of Sympathy (allied with Music) in arresting and holding the attention—in awak- ing the heart and mind, and in keeping them awake— we have only to go into the nearest Infants’ School. There we see the little dull child whose attention can- not be secured in a solitary lesson. So long as it is alone, it can understand little and remember little. But see the same child in the Infants’ School: the face full of interest; the eye bright; the attention and memory awake, as the voice joins, in musical cadence, with the voices of some fifty other little ones in the same class. Here is a great power at work, the power of Sympathy, stimulated by Music. Well has the Instinct of Worship engaged this great power in the Public Worship of God, by a musical rendering of congregational and responsive formulas of devotion. Many pious men have, during the last three centuries, believed that they could best serve God by devising forms of worship, studiously unlike those which have prevailed from time immemorial in the Church, and among mankind generally. Among the many oddi- ties of modern ecclesiastical history, none has been more conspicuous than this—that men have thought that they might do whatever they liked with worship, and that worship would not suffer. They forgot that Devotional Ritual has a nature of its own, and fixed . principles, which, although highly elastic, cannot be 36 MUSICAL AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. strained or broken without devotional loss. A system of dumb and unsympathetic worship—whose only merit is that it is the ‘extreme opposite of the Church’s system—will hold its ground only so long as it is sus- tained, and men’s natural feelings repressed, by the strong coercive force of sectarian jealousy or party spirit. But when heart-religion becomes strong, and sectarian animosities languish, congregational and responsive worship will burst forth afresh. If deprived of the legitimate responses of the Church, worshippers will, in times of great religious emotion, make responses for themselves—as the Methodists and Salvationists have done—and will often answer their responses together, in loud outbursts, sometimes in unison, and sometimes with an evident approach to antiphony. The irreverence and unsuitability, as regards both the occasion and the language, of some of these unpremeditated responses, are well known. This must have been so in all enthusiastic religious movements, from the beginning, Hence there has arisen the necessity for eliminating the bad responses from amongst the good; and for restrict- ing the use of the good responses to good and suitable times. And thus fixed, responsive and congregational formulas of worship were developed ages ago in all lands. Did they not already exist, they would very soon be produced by the action of strong religious feelings, coupled with a reverent consciousness that those feelings ought only to be expressed, during public worship, in an orderly and reverent manner, It is hardly possible to imagine any assembly, either of men or of angels, as rendering to God the highest worship of which they are capable, except by a musical rendering of congregational and responsive formulas of devotion. This method of worship appeals most widely and most deeply to our religious being. It is in perfect SECOND RULE. 7 harmony with spiritual and reverent and sympathetic natures, And it isa most suggestive fact, in this con- nection, that, of late years, some of the most important congregations of Dissenters in England have discarded their own crude and artificial system of worship, and have adopted in its stead (not without mutilation) the noble Liturgical Worship of the Church. 2.—Facts falling under the Second Rule (with respect to Worship in Heaven). The heavenly worship of the Seraphim (Isa. 6.) was musical and congregational. Such was also the angelic worship which the Shepherds of Bethlehem saw and heard on the night of the Nativity : “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,” in antiphonal chant, ‘* Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom He is well pleased.”’? The worship of the Four Living Creatures and the Four and Twenty Elders before the Throne (Rev. 4.) was musical and congregational. The worship paid to the “ Lamb standing, as though it had been slain,” in the heavenly world, was musical and congregational (Rev. 5.); and so was the worship of the Church Trium- phant (Rev. 7.); and so, again, was another act of worship by the Four Living Creatures and the Four and Twenty Elders (Rev. 11.) The worship of the heavenly hosts, heard by S. John (Rev. 14.), was “as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder,” and “as the voice of harpers harping with their harps.” And the worship of “them that came 1 Luke 2. 13, 14 (Revised Version). 35 MUSICAL AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. victorious from the beast” (Rev. 15.), “standing by the glassy sea, having harps of gold;” and the worship of the “great multitude in heaven” together with the “four and twenty elders and the four living creatures,” and all God’s “servants, the small and the great” (Rev. 19.), were also instances of musical and con- eregational worship.} 3.—Facts falling under the Third Rule (with respect to Heathen Worship). Descending from Worship in Heaven to a survey of Worship in Heathenism, we find the same devotional phenomenon.? The earliest dawn of human history reveals musical and congregational worship as universal and long established in the heathen world. Before the giving of the Mosaic Law, the forefathers of the Jewish nation, emerging from heathenism, worshipped in this way upon the eastern shore of the Red Sea. The ancient Egyptians, the ancient Greeks, the Trojans, and the Romans worshipped similarly. The same mode of worship has prevailed for ages, and still prevails, amongst Hindoos, Malays, Chinese, Mohammedans, The Tartar tribes of Central Asia, the aboriginal tribes of Northern and Southern America, and the Kaffr, Bechuano, and Negro tribes of Africa, worship their gods by a solemn and pathetic chanting of responsive and congregational formulas of devotion. Such also is the worship among the aboriginal populations of the South Sea Islands, of New Zealand, of Australia, and of the extreme northern latitudes of Europe and America. 1 See below the Chapters on Worship in Heaven. 2 See below, the Chapters on Worship in Heathenism, with the autho- rities given there, FOURTH RULE. 39 It is hardly possible to realise, without a special study of the subject, how vast and multifarious the religious life of the Heathen world is; and yet with what wondrous uniformity, in the midst of diversity, the devotional Instinct has everywhere produced a Musical and Congregational Worship. 4.—Facts falling under the Fourth Rule (with respect to the Old Testament Revelation). The Open-Air Worship of the Jewish Church was Musical and Congregational. Such was the great thanksgiving Service held by Moses and Miriam and the whole nation of Israel, on the eastern shore of the Red Sea, to celebrate Jehovah’s victory in the deliver- ance of His People from Egypt. Such was the Solemnity on Mounts Ebal and Gerizim. Such also were the Celebration of Barak’s Victory (Judges 5.) ; and the Celebration of Jephthah’s Victory (Judges 11.); and the Celebration of David’s Victory (1 Sam. 18.); and the Celebration of Judith’s Victory (Judith 15. and 16.) The Open-Air Worship of the Schools of the Prophets was Musical, Congregational, and, in part, Processional. Of the same character were the Open- Air Services which accompanied the Removal of the Ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6., and I Chron. 13., 15., 16.); the Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem (Neh. 12., Ps. 147); the annual Goings-up of the People to the capital at the great Festivals; and the beautiful cere- mony of the Dedication of the First Fruits. The Open- Air Service at the Founding of the Second Temple was musical and congregational; and to this day, the celebration of the Samaritan Passover on the bare top 1 See below, the Chapters on Worship in the Jewish Church, and the authorities given there. — 40 MUSICAL AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. of Gerizim is so. The Triumphal Entry of Christ into Jerusalem was a notable example of Musical, Congrega- tional, and Processional Worship. Passing from Open- Air Worship to Jewish Worship w2zthin Sanctuaries, we again find the same Devotional Ritual. The Zabernacle and Temple Services, at the Passover, the Great Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and on all other occasions, were Musical and Congregational; and the Synagogue Services were so too. 5.—facts falling under the Fifth Rule (with respect to the New Testament Revelation and the History of the Christian Church.) We have seen that the worship of the Jewish Church was Musical and Congregational. Such was the worship which our Lord and His Apostles had learned to love from their childhood, and in which the New Testament records represent them as constantly and reverently taking their part. Such was also the worship of primitive Catholic Christendom.} Our Lord did not bequeath a Liturgy to His Church: but He gave a Prayer intended for Congregational use —‘‘ Our Father,” “‘ Give ws,” “ Forgive us,” &c. He refused to silence the multitudes on Olivet, and the Children in the Temple, who chanted His praise in the words of Ps. 118. He turned the last Passover into a Christian Communion; and He and His disciples, notwithstanding their deep sorrow, made it a Musical Celebration by Chanting the Hallel. Immediately after the Descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, “a great company of the priests” and Levites “were obedient to the faith;” and they doubtless took 1 See below, the Chapters on Worship in the Christian Church, and the authorities given there. FIFTH RULE. 4I their part as trained chanters and musicians in the first Christian assemblies. Fragments of a primitive Chris- tian Liturgy are found in the New Testament. In suc- cession to S, Peter, the first Bishop of Antioch, and to Euodius, the second, Ignatius, a disciple of S. John, became third Bishop of Antioch in A.D. 70. He is described as promoting antiphonal chanting, in order to make the Church’s worship on earth like the worship in heaven. Pliny, A.D. 103, described Christian worship as antiphonal and congregational singing. Tertullian, born A.D. 160, tells us that in his time the Christians chanted the Psalms responsively ; the writings of S. Basil, S. Cyril of Jerusalem, S. Chrysostom, and S. Augustine show that, in the fourth century, Christian worship was Musical and Congregational; and the Primitive Christian Liturgies are as responsive and congrega- tional in their structure as our own. In the Middle Ages, the use of a dead language in Public Worship made Congregational chanting and responding impossible. But the responsive structure of the old Latin Liturgy still remained as a silent pro- test against the exclusion of the people from their ancient privilege of joining in the Church’s worship. At the Reformation, happily for this country, the leaders of thought in the Church of England were men of great learning, who understood and reverenced the pure worship of the Primitive Church, and determined to labour patiently for its restoration in England. In 1554, Archbishop Cranmer translated the Litany into English, and adapted it to music. But that age, trained in the dumb worship of the Church of Rome, was deeply prejudiced against Congregational responding. At first, Cranmer did not venture to do more than invite “the people” to read the responses “quietly and softly to themselves.” Five years later, when the people had 42 MUSICAL AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. become familiar with the responsive structure of the Church’s worship, a further step was taken. In the Prayer Book of 1549, ove rubric was inserted in the Com- munion Office inviting the “ people” to “answer” audibly in conjunction with “the clerks.” Again, in 1554, a further advance was made, by the insertion of a few more rubrics directing “the people” to respond audibly. But it was not until the final revision of the Prayer Book, in 1662, that the principle of Congregational responding was adequately established in the Church’s worship. Altogether, it was a long and uphill battle. The old medieval prejudice against Congregational worship had reappeared after the Reformation in the cuise of Puritanism, and had struggled hard to keep “the people” silent during the Church’s prayers. Even Richard Baxter could not bear to hear the voices of the people. He regarded their responses as “ interrup- tions” to public worship! and he fought desperately to have the Litany turned into one long prayer, and the Ten Commandments into one long recital, by the omission of all the people’s responses! From 1544 to 1662, the history of congregational chanting was very similar to that of congregational responding. In truth, the shadow of Medieval Rome rested upon the worship of the English people. The influence of many centuries of dumb devotion was not to be shaken off in one or two generations. Even still it is upon us, and its effects are visible on every side. The respond- ing in our most carefully taught English congregations is still beyond comparison inferior to the responding of the native congregations at our foreign Mission stations, where the whole populations have been accustomed for ages to the congregational and musical worship in the heathen temples. (m2437") sped wd beagle i Worsbip in heaven. Cele al, THE SERAPHIM’S WORSHIP (Isaiah 6.) “IN the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts : The whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the sera- phims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched 44 -WORSHIP IN: HEAVEN. thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me,”—ISAIAH 6. 1-8. “In the year that King Uzziah died,” the Jewish people were, for their sins, given up to hardness of heart; and God’s decree went forth devoting the king- dom and country to devastation by the imperial world- power. Isaiah was about to be commissioned to bear these heavy tidings to disobedient rulers and a proud people. Preparatory to his arduous mission, it was necessary that he should learn, by the solemn teaching of a heavenly vision, how poor and weak all earthly glory seems in the light of the eternal glory of God. Judah’s King des; Judah’s God sitteth “a King for ever,’ upon His high uplifted throne, above the wrath, and blindness, and folly of man. Verse 1. “In the year that King Uzziah died.” Uzziah had been one of the greatest and best of the kings of Judah. His reign had been long and prosperous. He had occupied the throne of his fathers for fifty-two years, and had carried out several success- ful campaigns. Under his rule, the nation was over- whelmed with manifestations of the Divine love and blessing. There had been no sovereign so glorious since Solomon. But as with Solomon so with Uzziah: creat prosperity and power had smoothed the way for a great fall. It is hard to be prosperous wed. Prosperity—however much it may seem to improve people at first, making them, apparently, more thank- ful, generous, pleasant—is, in the long-run, a trial which not one man in a hundred can bear without sustaining some great physical, or intellectual, or moral loss of THE SERAPHIM. 45 power. Prosperity tends to deteriorate character. The Psalmist says, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.”4 It would have been good for Uzziah, also, had his prosperity been more tempered, and his heart more humbled, by trial. For “when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.” He usurped the priest’s office, and, with unbecoming violence and self-will, attempted to burn incense before the Lord. “And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death.”? So easily is earthly glory turned to shame! The fine gold of this life soon be- comes dim! “In the year that King Uzziah died ”— the memorable year in which Judah’s transgression was full, and in which a great and prosperous royalty ter- minated in the person of a poor, loathsome, dying leper —in that year there was vouchsafed to Isaiah, and, through him, to us, a vision of a very different Royalty. Verse 1. “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.” The Prophet says, “I saw” the Lord. This was more than natural vision. Man is easily capable of a vision beyond nature: for in his present imperfect state, he is full of undeveloped and half-developed senses and intuitions, which, by the mystic touch of the Divine Creative Spirit, can be in a moment quickened, and made directly cognizant of the supersensuous. The veil of spiritual darkness which covers “the face of all nations” can easily be penetrated by the quickened vision, and things spiritual and eternal clearly seen. So, “in the Spirit,’ and by the Spirit’s power, the Prophet’s ears heard the sounds, and his eyes saw the glories of heaven. “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a high and exalted throne.” ae Use iiGe 7 1: 2 2 Kings 15. 5; 2 Chron. 26. 46 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. Verse 1. “And His train filled the temple.” This “temple,” with its high uplifted throne of glory, is the heavenly temple, God’s holy habitation, the eternal sanctuary in the skies, of which all earthly temples are copies and symbols. David often sang of it “in| inspired’...strains:. “ The. Lord ‘is’ in yHisaholy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven.” The Lord “sitteth in the heavens.” ‘He heard my voice out of His temple. . . . He bowed the heavens also and came down.”2 This “temple” is heaven itself, as we understand the word heaven. It is the home of “all the angels” and of the “great multitude which no man could number,” the royal hall and presence- chamber of the Great King, the Holy of Holies of the universe. “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His ¢emple.” The Prophetic Seer is represented as standing in the Porch of this heavenly temple. He is not zz the temple, but he sees into it: he stands, as it were, upon the threshold. But where, in point of space, is this Porch in which the Prophet stood? God knoweth! Perhaps you, reader, and I, are standing in it! These painted heavens are perchance the walls and roof, and these solemnly shining stars the golden nail-heads, of the Porch. The temple itself is beyond; but full in view to those whose eyes are opened, as Isaiah’s were. We learn from S. John, that, in this vision, the Prophet saw Christ's glory: he “saw His glory; and he spake of Him.”? It was a vision of the Eternal Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Only Begotten Son, on the throne of the universe, in the glory which He had with the Father “ before the world 1 Delitzsch zt loc.; Cheyne’s Prophecies of Isaiah, p. 36. a°Ps, 2.43 11. 43°18. 6,.0, - ‘See also Hab, 2° 20; > 8 John 12. 41. THE SERAPHIM. 47 was.’+ Although not yet Incarnate, He was in Human Form. So He has ever revealed Himself to angels; and so He has also revealed Himself to men, who, in the fulness of time, were created ‘in His image, after His likeness.’2 In this vision, Isaiah beheld Him seated upon a lofty throne, and wearing a royal robe, with a train whose flowing borders, descending upon every side, and spreading far and wide, covered the entire floor of the temple to its utmost bounds, if bounds there were. The infinite sanctuary was everywhere re- splendent with the dazzling folds of this glorious robe; whose vast extension symbolized that Christ’s glory, as the Head of His Church, should hereafter fill “all things” and become co-extensive with the creation. Verse 2. “ Above it stood the Seraphims.” “ Above tt,” that is, adove the outspread train of the robe which “filled the temple.” Not oz the robe, but flying above it—stationary upon the wing—“stood” the radiant choirs of the Seraphim, circling the lofty throne and Him who sat in glory on it; as the planets seem to “stand still” in their brightness, circling the sun. “The Seraphims.” According to the orthodox Jewish view, there are nine choirs of angels. The highest choir of the nine consists of three separate orders of heavenly beings: first and highest, the Seraphim; second, the Cherubim ; and, third, the Zhront. The Seraphim, literally the “ burners,” the “burning ones,” the highest of the three supreme orders, stand first in rank and brightness, at the summit of the angelic hierarchies, outshining all others in glory, and nearest to the Eternal Throne. Nor have they only the highest dignity; they have also the highest function. They E, [oan'r7.5. 4 Gen.'1./26, 48 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. are the vehicles and media of the fire of Divine Love, as the Cherubim are the vehicles and media of the fire of Divine Wrath} Verse 2. “Each one had six wings: with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.” Isaiah saw the hosts of Seraphim formed into two opposite choirs. Each choir was ranged in a half-circle around the throne. The Seer notes the wondrous form and reverent attitude of the Seraphim. Each individual seraph had “six wings.” With two wings “he covered his face” to express his infinite awe and reverence in adoring the Divine Creator. Angels’ faces, although always represented as somewhat in the human form, are fairer than the faces of the children of men. They have a supernatural loveliness and glory. They flash with heavenly brightness and joy.2 The countenance of the proto-martyr S. Stephen had to re- ceive a miraculous accession of glory before “his face” became “as it had been the face of an angel.’? How clorious are the faces of the Seraphim, the highest order of angelic beings, we cannot know or imagine. But even the seraphs veil their peerless faces in lowly reverence before the throne of God. “With twain he covered his face.” “And with twain he covered his feet.” The covering of the feet with a pair of wings symbolized humzlity. Thus the Seraphim expressed the infinite depth of in- feriority by which the holiest and most exalted creature falls below the Holiest of all, the Uncreated One, Who is alone to be worshipped. “And with twain he did fly.” Each seraph supported 1 Delitzsch’s Commentary, in loc. + Mat..28.,3; 3 Acts 6, 15. THE SERAPHIM. 49 himself by the motion of the two remaining wings. He “stood” flying, with out-spread wings, in perfect Odedz- ence, ready to “fly swiftly,’! more swiftly than ray of light or electric flash, bearing God’s messages of Love to the remotest provinces of His kingdom, These Seraphim are not to be regarded as abstrac- tions. They are not mere symbols or fanciful images. They are an order of spiritual beings as personal and as real as ourselves. Isaiah saw them engaged in a wor- ship as real as our own worship. Verses 3 and 4. “And one cried unto another, and said, | Holy, holy, holy, is the LoRD of hosts ; The whole earth is full of His glory, And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” The seraphic hosts, divided into two opposite choirs, cried out to each other alternately, in ringing chants, filling the heaven of heavens with melody. One choir began, “ Holy, holy, holy, is the LorD of hosts,” And the other choir responded, “The whole earth is full of His glory.” No voice was silent in this heavenly worship. All the Seraphim united in it, none were mere hearers or spectators. In burning fervour, they cried aloud, and as their Anthem-Chant swelled louder and louder, it “shook” God’s creation to its base: “the pillars of heaven trembled;”? “and the posts of the door 2 Dany 9.:21: * Job 26, 11. D 50 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. -_ ee —_-—--’vr>YOXYXVr''“'"= moved ”—or rather, as this passage might be rendered, “the foundations of the thresholds,” that is, the founda- tions of the porch or entrance door where Isaiah stood, “shook” beneath his feet with “the voice of them that cried.” “And the house was filled with smoke,” per- haps from the Altar of incense, symbolizing that heaven was full of their loving adoration and praise. Such was the worship of the Seraphim: chanting anti- phonally, with veiled faces, veiled feet, and outspread wings. So “let all the angels of God worship Him,”? throuchout the ages of the ages ! “Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious Name; evermore praising Thee, and saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory: Glory be to Thee, O Lord most rich,” gman = 1 Hebd. 1. 6. 2 Communion Office, in the Piayer Book, CHAPTER VI. THE SERAPHIM’S WORSHIP (Isaiah 6.)— Spiritual Characteristics. 1. A Holy Worship.—2. A Loving Worship.—3. A Willing Worship.— 4. A Perfect Worship.—5. A Joyous Worship.—6. An Impressive Worship. HAVING, in the preceding Chapter, sketched the Sera- phim’s Worship in outline, I would now invite the reader to consider its SPIRITUAL CHARACTERISTICS. These are especially important, inasmuch as the same Spiritual Characteristics are common to all acts of heavenly worship, and ought also to be common— although, necessarily, in a less perfect degree—to all acts of worship on earth, The Seraphim’s Worship (Isaiah 6.) was, 1. A Holy Worship; . A Loving Worship; . A Willing Worship ; . A Perfect Worship; A Joyous Worship ; . An Impressive Worship. Auhwn 1.—A Holy Worship. First. The Seraphim’s worship was a HOLY worship. _The OBJECT of the worship was the HOLY One. The worship itself had a special reference to the glory of the 52 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. Divine Attribute of Holiness. In the thrice repeated “ Holy, holy, holy,’ the Church has ever, indeed, by a true spiritual instinct, seen a reference to the Mystery of the Divine Trinity, the Holy Father, the Holy Son, the Holy Spirit; and the Seraphim were doubtless cog- nizant of the Triune God. But we cannot affirm that Isaiah understood this mystery, which was latent rather than revealed in the Old Testament. To Isaiah, and to his immediate hearers and readers, the thrice repeated “holy” must be regarded as having, mainly, and perhaps exclusively, a superlative sense. This was a real part of its import, and, to the prophet, the most obvious part. He heard Holiness, in the most absolute and in- finite degree, perfect holiness, ascribed to God. Isaiah well knew that the whole earth, not excepting Palestine, was lying in wickedness. He knew that the objects of men’s worship were, for the most part, unholy; no better than men themselves. And he knew that under the growing corruption and darkness of heathenism, mankind was, generation after generation, lapsing more and more into the worship of evil principles and evil spirits, serving and worshipping devz/s in the hope of propitiating them. Even the pure worship of the Jewish people had become deeply contaminated by these heathen corruptions. But now a better worship is revealed. The heavenly sanctuary is opened to the prophet. In this vision of the Seraphim, he sees a worship worthy of man’s imitation—a oly worship paid to a //oly Being. Further, the worshippers engaged in this great act of heavenly devotion were oly worshippers. The holiness of the Seraphim filled the prophet with awe and wonder, and with despair, on account of his own unholiness, Each seraph was ineffably pure and bright, spotlessly holy. In the entire seraphic host, there was not one A LOVING WORSHIP. 53 who had ever sinned. They had never for a moment fallen from the high and holy estate in which God had created them. Unfallen, perfectly pure, perfectly sin- less, they chanted the praises of the Holy One. What blessedness, beyond what we can realize, to praise God with pure and holy heart, with pure and holy lips, with heart and lips that ever had been impure! The Prophet’s spirit died within him, as he beheld that pure devotion, paid to a holy God by holy wor- shippers. “Woe is me! for I am undone; because / am aman of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King the LORD of hosts.” 2—A Loving Worship. This act of heavenly worship was, on the part of the worshippers, a perfectly Loving Worship: perfectly Loving towards God; and perfectly Loving towards each other. In burning love, the blessed Seraphim, the supreme ministers and vehicles of the pure fires of Divine Love, worshipped and adored the God of Love. Such was, is, and ever shall be, their worship. They love God because it is their nature to love Him; and because of His love to them. In infinite love He created them, and blessed them unspeakably, above all His creatures, with glory and holiness and love and joy. All they have is from Him. Their gratitude to Him is not the weak, transient feeling which is known by that name amongst men: it is deep, absorbing, mighty, incessant, inexhaustible, eternal, burning forth in the pure fires of heavenly love. Nor is their love to their Divine Father, Creator, and Benefactor, exclusively the fruit of gratitude. They love Him for His own sake, for 54 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. what He zs: because He is so lovable; so good, so creat, so holy, so worthy to win His creatures’ love. They love and adore Him for His infinite and adorable perfections. So the angels of God, through all their shining orders, love Him; and the Seraphim, having, of all angelic beings, the highest and purest nature and the most perfect ministry, love Him with the mightiest and purest love. Further, the heavenly worship witnessed by the Prophet was Loving in another sense. The Seraphim are not only loving towards God, but are also perfectly loving towards each other and towards every creature. Their ministry in heaven is a ministry of love towards all its inhabitants. And amid the discords and sorrows of earth, they apply the healing balm of Divine love and charity to wounded hearts that cannot, or will not, forgive and love and be at peace. Themselves the media of God’s lovingkindness and tender mercies, their whole being and essence burn with heaven’s purest and holiest love towards each other and towards all God’s creatures. In an unclouded atmosphere of blessed love and peace, they live and move and have their being, and express the fulness of their love in ceaseless worship around the Throne. Our best worship on earth is, in this respect, sadly different from theirs. We love God, in our poor measure, with hearts naturally unstable, cold and dull. The weakness of our best love to Him is our continual grief ; and sometimes we hardly love at all. And little as we love God, we love one another less. This is another lamentable failure in our worship: our love to each other is so weak, so often altogether absent! Nay, worse, suspicions, hard thoughts, con- suming hatreds steal into our hearts, almost unknown to us. We make no allowance for the weakness and A WILLING WORSHIP. 55 faults of others, but great allowance for our own; and so we become exacting, uncharitable, and unloving in our judgments. Or it may be, the heart is wounded with some cruel wrong, and prays and strives to forget and to forgive, and fails! and so the anguish of the wrong remains, and God’s minister reads to us Christ’s sweet words, all in vain!—“LOVE your enemies ”—“ Do GOOD to them that HATE you ’—“ PRAY for them which DESPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven” —‘ Forgive us our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE them that trespass against us.” All these sweet and blessed words in vain! And the poor, tortured, unforgiving, unloving, sinful heart cries out “Woe is me!” Maya forgiving God have mercy upon us, and make our worship more like the /ovizg worship of the Seraphim ! 3.—A Willing Worship. The Seraphim’s worship was a WILLING worship. Willing because loving: perfectly willing, because perfectly loving. There are no divided hearts and wills in the heavenly worship. Our worship on earth is often wanting in will, because wanting in love. The cold heart is reluctant, and holds back. It is perhaps clad of an excuse to be absent from the house of God; and when in the house of God, there being little love, there is little life or interest in prayer, praise, devotion. The Psalmist could say, “I was GLAD when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Amongst ourselves, there are a few who can say this, but the many cannot say it: else they would not absent them- selves from early Communions, and from Week Even- ing Services, and be content with going to Church once on the Sunday, when they could go twice. The small- 56 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. est excuse is sufficient, when the heart is backward. And even of those who do go regularly to public worship, the majority have little heart to join in the responses and hymns and chants, and the worship is chill and heavy, and unworthy of the name of worship. Not so the worship in heaven. Amongst the radiant host of Seraphim, there was not one cold, unloving spirit; not one reluctant, or inattentive. All were fervent, willing worshippers, whose whole being and powers were molten into perfect unity by the flames of their high devotion. 4—A Perfect Worship. The Seraphim’s Worship was a PERFECT worship: perfect, because holy ; perfect, because loving; perfect, because willing and whole-hearted; perfect, because joyous; and perfect, as we shall see in the next Chapter, because expressed by a perfect ritual. Nothing that defileth could enter that world—no sin or temptation, no pain or sorrow, no weakness or infirmity could enter there—to mar the perfection of seraphic worship. 5.—A Foyous Worship. _The presence of sin, the want of love, the want of will, and accumulated infirmities, mar the greater part of human worship, and take the joy out of it. Neither the worship nor the worshippers are perfect. The most holy, loving and earnest of earthly worshippers are often oppressed with cares, sorrows, and temptations, or with a sense of self-condemnation, or with a sense of weak- ness and of failure, or of some pain that will not be removed ; and the sorrow of these things is greater than the joy of worship, and casts a shadow over it. Such is AN IMPRESSIVE WORSHIP. 57 man’s lot on earth. It is God’s will that we should, even thus, in a state of severe probation, strive to serve and worship Him all the days of our life; and that, “perfected by suffering,” like our Master, we should stand firm and faithful to the end. The great figure of S. Sebastian is drawn for us with an arrow in his side. Stainless, pale, calm, and beautiful, he stands faithful to the end: but bleeding from that black wound! “ Even so, Father ; for so it seemed good in Thy sight.” Thus it is on earth with many of God’s servants: the joy of their worship and service, although pure of its kind, is weak; and the stern reality of suffering is felt. Not so in heaven. There is a better and a brighter worship there, and a better and a brighter life. The eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, the fulness of its joy. Man cannot know it here. The perfectly holy, perfectly loving, perfectly willing, and faultless worship of glorious spirits, in a world of cloudless glory and cloudless joy, must be a perfectly Joyous Worship. The bright Seraphim joy in God, Who is the joy of the whole universe. “In Thy Presence is the fulness of joy.” They joy in a degree which would be impos- sible for us, in our present state. We could not bear it. Our frail, corruptible nature would sink in a moment beneath its transports. One thrill of that heavenly seraphic joy would break outright hearts already half broken by sorrow. 6.—An Impressive Worship. The worship which Isaiah saw was an IMPRESSIVE Worship. It was impressive to the eye, by its glory; impressive to the ear, by its melody; and, above all, it was impressive to the understanding and conscience, by its subject matter and intelligibleness. Had this 58 WORSHIP IN. HEAVEN. worship been unintelligible—muttered, or conducted in an unknown tongue—it would have failed to make upon the Prophet’s mind and heart the deep, definite, and life-long impressions which we must now trace in his writings. Although a mere spectator of the wor- ship, he was convicted of his sin, “and the secrets of his heart were made manifest.”! His whole religious life was enriched and sanctified, and deeply and definitely taught by this vision. We can trace the wondrous im- pression which it made, in manifold bright lines in his public ministry. The varied lights of this heavenly vision linger upon almost every page of the Prophet’s writings. For instance: the vision contained a revelation of the absolute Holiness of God—“Holy, holy, holy, is the LorD of hosts.” And ever afterwards, the thought of God’s infinite holiness is present to the Prophet’s mind. For him, God is henceforth “che Holy One of Israel.” All the prophecies of Isaiah carry this Name of Jehovah as their peculiar stamp—“The Holy One of Israel.” It occurs ¢wenty-nine times in the writings of this Prophet ; and each time it is a distinct echo of the seraphic Zer- sanctus. In all the rest of the Old Testament this title of the Divine Being only occurs five times; and these appear to be allusions to Isaiah. Again: this vision embodied a prediction of the future boundless extension of Christ's Kingdom and glory. This was symbolized by the train of the King’s glorious robe covering the entire floor of the temple: “His train filled the temple;” and so shall the Lord’s glory, as Head of His Church, spread over and fill all the earth. This was expressly predicted in the response of the second Choir of the Seraphim, “The whole earth is full of His glory.” 1c 1Coni14224, 25: AN IMPRESSIVE WORSHIP. 59 How deep an impression this part of the vision made upon the Prophet’s mind is abundantly witnessed in his writings. Many of the longest and noblest passages in his book are descriptions of the victorious extension of Christ’s kingdom and glory throughout all the earth. The Lord “will destroy in this mountain [that is, in and by His Church, the spiritual Mount Zion] the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil [of spiritual blindness] that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.” ‘“ The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. ... and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” “T have put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. . . . and the isles shall wait for His law.” “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed.” “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” “Behold I create a new heavens and a new earth.” “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” } Further, the Prophet himself opens his heart to us, and tells us the experiences of his own soul in the pre- sence of the heavenly vision. We cannot doubt that, long previous to this vision, Isaiah had been a man of eminent purity and holiness of character. There was probably none like him in his day. But in the search- ing light of this vision of heavenly holiness, he sees his own sins and exceeding sinfulness, and the exceeding sinfulness of his people, with terrible clearness. So it had been with holy Job in the vision of God. Although epleaian li, G+ 25.7, 9; 35. I, 105 40. 5; 42. 1-4; 44. 33 60. 1-35 65. 17. 60 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. “there was none like him (Job) in the earth ”—“ a perfect and an upright man, fearing God, and eschewing evil” —yet, in the Divine Presence, he was overwhelmed with a sense of his own unworthiness: “ Behold I am vile” —mean, contemptible, helpless, guilty—I will lay my hand upon my mouth, I will not answer.”! Holy Daniel, in like manner, when visited by a glorious angel, became dumb, and there was no breath, no strength, left in him.2, So S. Peter, when he perceived the Divine Presence veiled in the sacred person of our Lord, was overpowered by it, and exclaimed, “ Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” And the holy Apostle S. John no sooner saw the risen and ascended Saviour in glory, and heard His words, than he “ fell at His feet as dead.”® Human nature, even when it is most sancti- fied, is far too weak and too sinful to bear direct contact with heavenly things, It is well that our infirmity is protected by the dulness of our senses, and a veil of darkness drawn over things too high and holy for us. It is well that, in our present state, we ‘know only in part,’ and ‘see as in a mirror, darkly.’ When Isaiah saw the heavenly vision, he saw, by contrast, his own guilt and utter unworthiness, and the guilt and unworthiness of his people. He was imme- diately prostrated with the annihilating anguish of self- condemnation. He uttered a despairing confession, which took its form from the character of the worship which he had witnessed. He had seen the pure Sera- phim praise God with holy lips; and he felt that his own lips were sealed by his guilt. He had beheld the Infinite and Holy One, Who is a consuming fire to the unholy. ‘Woe is me! I am undone! I am silenced, I am struck dumb, I die! For I am a man of unclean 2 Job 1. 8; 40. 4; 2 Dan, 10, 15, 17, 3 Rev. I. 17. AN IMPRESSIVE WORSHIP. 6t lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips! For mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of ‘hosts; Whom guilty man cannot behold, and live’ It is contrary to God’s nature that deep and true repentance should fail to find pardon. The Prophet’s confession was therefore immediately followed by the forgiveness of his sins. This forgiveness was conveyed to him through the medium ofa heavenly sacrament, and was attested by a seraphic absolution. God has strong consolations for holy mourners: He can heal the plague of every soul, and relieve the pressure upon every heart. A Seraph, on hearing the Prophet’s cry of penitence, flew to the altar of incense, and, with the tongs of the altar, he took a red-hot coal,—which the Syriac fathers have always regarded as a symbol of the Incarnate Suffering Saviour, Christ in the Burning Agony of His Crucifixion—and with this coal, he flew to Isaiah, and touched his lips. He touched the member of whose uncleanness the Prophet had complained. The s¢ouching of the lips, and the ¢aking away of the guilt, were szmut- taneous. “Then flew one of the Seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” Thy sin is covered up, is annihilated, has no longer an exist- ence in relation to the penal justice of God. Not only were the Prophet's /i#s made clean: he was “clean every whit.”! It was an immediate and a complete pardon: present, full, and free. From the moment that he received that pardon, Isaiah was a new man. The debilitating anguish of the sin-laden soul was healed. The oppressive weight 1 John 13. 10. 62 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. as of a millstone was lifted from his heart. And now all was ripe and ready for communicating to him his prophetic commission; which was the primary object of the vision. God, although surrounded by Seraphim, wanted a man. He willed to send to His people a Prophet from amongst their brethren. “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall we send, and who will go for us?” So long as Isaiah knew only the Holiness of God, he felt unworthy to speak a single word for Him. But directly he had experienced God’s Pardoning Love, all was changed. The “new song,” “even praise unto our God ”4—a very new song in a rebellious and dis- contented world—had been put into his heart, and was ready upon his lips. He was eager for God’s work, To the Divine Call for a messenger, he at once re- sponded, with a heart as light as an angel’s, “Here am I; send me.’ He was ready to be a fellow-worker with the bright Seraphim: he immediately received his Commission; and he became “the Seraphic Pro- phet.” This was probably his first call to the Pro- phetical Office. Whosoever helps one struggling, storm-tossed soul to reach the haven of spiritual bliss and peace, does Seraph’s work. Isaiah now desires to do for the souls of others what had been done for his own. He was however sent to an impenitent people, to warn them that their wilful disobedience was making blind the inner spiritual eye, and making deaf the inner spiritual ear of their soul; and was making their inner heart unresponsive and dead to all that is spiritually true, and beautiful, and good: the ‘eyes closed, the ‘ears heavy,’ the ‘heart fat,’ making it impossible for them to “see with 2 or S.C. a. AN IMPRESSIVE WORSHIP. 63 eee their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”! Such was his message to an apostate people. But the dark message was delivered by the Prophet with all the surroundings of the bright vision. Himself pardoned and blessed unspeakably, he accompanied the stern proclamation of wrath with all the tender pleadings of the Divine love and mercy. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow.” “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accom- plished, that her iniquity is pardoned.” “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions, for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” “Let the wicked man forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,’ Thus, throughout the whole of Isaiah’s prophecies, the many lights of the heavenly vision are ever breaking through the dark cloud. + Js,6. 9, 10. Pls tele, £0.13 42; 26 ek yw ( 64 ) CHAPTER Vii THE SERAPHIM’S WORSHIP (Isaiah 6.)—Rztual Characteristics. 1. Intelligible Worship.—2. Responsive Worship.—3. Congregational Worship.—4. Reverent Worship.—5. The Ritual use of Incense.— 6. Musical Worship.—7. Beautiful Worship. THE Holy Spirit has revealed and recorded the Seraphim’s Worship (Isaiah 6) “for our learning.” In reading this (or any other) portion of God’s Word, we ought to read with humble hearts, prepared both to unlearn and to learn: to unlearn our own erroneous views of worship; and to learn what kind of worship is good and acceptable to God. In studying the Bible, we should read in the spirit of the beautiful words which Eli put in the mouth of the child Samuel, “ Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.”! Having in the preceding Chapter considered the Spiritual Characteristics of the Seraphim’s Worship, we now come to examine its RITUAL CHARACTERISTICS. The Ritual Characteristics of this great act of worship are worthy of a careful study: for they are in no small measure representative. The same ritual features will reappear again and again in other inspired accounts of the Worship in Heaven. D1 Sams. 9. INTELLIGIBLE. 65 1.—lntelligible Worship. We have already seen that the Seraphim’s Worship - wasan INTELLIGIBLE Worship. Had it been conducted in an unknown tongue, it would have lost, not all, but nearly all, its Jpresstveness: for it would have lost its clear and definite teaching. The blessed Seraphim are not represented as mere Silent spectators, while one or two, or a small band of choristers, selected from amongst their number, chanted words absolutely unintelligible to the rest. Such a worship would be a monstrous and lamentable pheno- menon in heaven; and it is no better on earth. An unedifying worship, which would be unsuitable for angels, is still more unsuitable for men; for men need edification and instruction more than angels do. Nor was this worship intelligible only to the Sera- phim who engaged in it. It was equally intelligible to Isaiah. We can hardly read the account which the Prophet gives of the deep and definite impressions made upon him by witnessing the heavenly worship without being reminded of S. Paul’s argument against the use of an unknown tongue in the public ministra- tions of the Church. S. Paul explains to his Corinthian converts that the “ understanding” ought to be engaged in public worship ; and that this can only be done when worship is conducted intelligibly, in a known tongue. The use of an unknown tongue leaves the “ understand- ing” devotionally unemployed, “unfruitful.” It treats that faculty as if it were incapable of ministering to true worship, whose chief minister it is. ‘ What is it then?” exclaims the Apostle. “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the under- standing also, Else if thou bless with the spirit, how E 66 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say the Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest?” “In the Church,” the Apostle would ‘rather speak five words with his understanding, that he might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. He then proceeds to describe how a stranger, “unbelieving or unlearned,” ‘coming in’ to the Church’s assembly, would be im- pressed and converted by witnessing a devout and intelligible worship. ‘‘ He is reproved by all, he is judged by all; the secrets of his heart are made mani- fest; and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed.” } In the case of the Seraphim’s worship, Isaiah was the stranger ‘coming in;’ and he himself records how he was ‘reproved,’ and ‘judged, in his own conscience, and how “ the secrets of his heart were made manifest,” by what he saw and heard. His own sins, and the sins of his people, and his and their need of pardon and sanctification, were indeed made very “manifest” to himself; and to God and angels, by his confession.” 2.— Responsive Worship. Further, the Seraphim’s Worship was RESPONSIVE. We have seen that the blessed Seraphim were divided into two opposite choirs, each ranged in a half-circle around the high uplifted throne. One of these choirs led the worship, chanting, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts ; ” and the other choir responded, * The whole earth is full of His glory.” 1 1 Cor. 14. 14-16, 19, 24, 25. *SIsnb. th. RESPONSIVE AND CONGREGATIONAL. 67 The Seraphim’s Worship must be regarded as full and complete: composed of several parts, or acts of praise and adoration, duly articulated to each other, and making a perfect whole. The Prophet does not describe, possibly he may not have seen, the whole of the worship from the beginning to the end. Here, as in many other accounts of heavenly worship, we have, as it were, only a photograph, or vivid representation, of the great central act, or climax, of the worship. But we cannot doubt that this is truly representative of the character and teaching of those portions which have not been recorded for us. The worship was responsive throughout. It was enlivened by sweet antiphonal interchange, voice answering to voice, in ever varying melody. 3.— Congregational Worship. The Seraphim’s Worship, described in Isaiah 6., was also CONGREGATIONAL. One single Seraph might have conducted the worship by means of a long prayer or recitation, while all the other Seraphs remained silent but devout spectators or hearers. Or, again, the worship might have been responsive, but responsive between two voices only, or a small number of voices: two of the Seraphs, or a small choir of them, performing the worship on behalf of the others. There might be some real devotion in connection with these forms of worship: but they could not adequately express the devotion of angelic beings. The worship in heaven is not only Responsive, but Congregational. Every Seraph’s voice united in the great act of worship which Isaiah witnessed, All had a share in it; and none neglected his part. I would remind the reader, in this connection, that our Church of England Worship is both Responsive 68 WOKSHIP IN HEAVEN. and Congregational. Every response, every chant, every Amen, every hymn, ought to be joined in by every worshipper. According to the rules of our Prayer Book, the eztzre Congregation should join in the Church’s Services, like a great choir, with united hearts, and united voices. 4.—Reverent Worship. Further, the Seraphim’s Worship was REVERENT AND LOWLY IN OUTWARD GESTURE. The seraphs veiled their faces in reverence, and the lower parts of their forms in humility. © With twain ”— with two wings—“ he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet.” The reverent words of their worship expressed much reverence, but left much un- expressed. Words cannot express everything. There- fore, their lowly and reverent gestures came to the aid of their language, and expressed much which language touched imperfectly, or not at all. Acts of reverence stimulate, and express, the devo- tion of the spirit; and they are a “part of that xatural Homage, which the whole Man, Soul and Body, does, by the first principles of Reason, and Law of his Nature, owe to his sovereign Lord, his great Creator and Pre- server.”1 The same [aw of devotion holds amongst angels. As God has given to them, equally with our- selves, an external form; so that external form owes, and pays to Him in heaven, the homage of External Reverence. Acts of reverence in human worship are often over- strained, unnatural, unsuitable: especially when they are done for the zzstruction of other persons, or in the 1 Atterbury; Sermons, iv. p. 192 (Sermon on Z£xternal Worship). INCENSE. 69 mere wantonness of se/f-assertion. Devotional gestures which are in any way intended for other persons, and not simply for ourselves and for our God, are apt to overstep the modesty of nature, and to become offensive and ridiculous. Our devotional gestures should express the devotional feelings of our own hearts, and no more. If our hearts are chastened and humble, our gestures will be chastened and humble too, 5.—The Ritual use of Incense. “The house was filled with smoke.”1 The most probable interpretation of these words is, that, at the highest act, or climax, of the Seraphim’s worship, Incense was employed, to express that heaven was full of their loving adoration and praise. The New Testament Revelation repeatedly represents the Ritual use of Incense as an adjunct and enrichment of Heavenly Worship? Incense would hardly have been represented by the Divine Spirit as a worthy symbol of the “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving” in Heaven, if it were inconsistent with true spiritual devotion, or unworthy of a place in man’s worship on earth. And yet, innocent and appropriate as the Ritual use of Incense undoubtedly is, I suppose that its general introduction into the Church’s Services, in the present state of public feeling upon the subject, would speedily rend the Church herself in pieces. To such a lament- able extent have recent controversies exaggerated, dis- torted, and darkened everything! There are thousands amongst us who would regard Schzsm—with its direct guilt, and its incalculable train of spiritual follies and misfortunes—as a small matter compared with the use of this perfectly harmless and expressive symbol ! 1 Ts. 6. 4. P Rev. 513.8, 3 70 WORSHIP IN: HEAVEN, Although I cannot say that I found the ritual use of Incense, on the few occasions that I have witnessed it, congenial to my own feelings, the reader will under- stand that I must here endeavour to state the case fairly. The following facts respecting Incense may have a quieting effect upon the minds of some who are over-much troubled about the question. The Old and New Testament Revelations represent Incense as employed in the heavenly worship. The ritual use of Incense, as expressing thanksgiving, prayer and praise, is also universal in Heathenism. It was expressly commanded by the Mosaic Law, and was regularly employed in the Jewish Tabernacle and Temple. And considered in itself, and upon its own merits, there is no reason why Incense should not find a place in Christian worship. Its history, however, in relation to the Church, has been strange and instructive. There were ¢wo uses of Incense in the ancient Heathen world: Ist, a ritual use in temples, symbolical of ascending prayer, praise, thank-offerings and joy; and, 2ndly, a mon-ritual, or sanatory use, to sweeten and (as was then supposed) to purzfy the air at funerals, and banquets, and in all places of public assembly. Hot climates and insufficient ventilation made this latter use of incense popular, and it was a recognised luxury in wealthy houses. During the first three or four centuries of the Christian era, the Church, in common with all religions, freely employed incense to sweeten and purify the atmosphere in her places of worship. But the primitive Christian writers took pains to explain that the Church’s use of Incense was entirely a non-ritual and sanatory use. They were, not unnaturally, extremely jealous of everything, bad and good, which savoured of Heathenism. The early Christian converts were, for the most part, INCENSE. 71 of a poor and undiscriminating class: it was known that they had been familiar with the ritual use of Incense at heathen altars; and it was feared that if this use of Incense were allowed in Christian worship, it would revive idolatrous memories and associations, better forgotten. “It is done before idols,” exclaimed Ter- tullian (writing about A.D. 198). This idolatrous con- nection so discredited the ritual use of Incense, that the Primitive Catholic Church seems to have virtually prohibited that use, although constantly employing Incense for non-ritual purposes. A few centuries later, the Christian religion had be- come dominant. It was then evident that the vital powers of Heathenism were shattered. The old idola- tries were rapidly passing away. The Church had still many battles to fight with the disheartened supporters of the Pagan systems, but the issue was no longer doubtful. And as the old fear of Heathenism vanished, the old jealousy of it vanished also. Incense, which had all along maintained a non-ritual or sanatory connection with Christian worship, now gradually regained its ancient devotional meaning, and became a recognised part of Christian ritual. But the ritual use of Incense entered the Church in bad company. This was its misfortune, not its fault. An excessive and undiscriminating jealousy of heathen customs had been succeeded, as soon as the terror of Heathenism was past, by a no less excessive and undis- criminating tolerance and admiration of those customs. A deluge of idolatrous and pagan superstitions flooded the Church, under the wide and growing influence of the Roman Patriarchs; and the old idols of the heathen, Apollo, Venus, and the rest were adored, and incense was offered before them, under such Christian titles as S. Peter, and S. Mary. 72 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. We have seen that the ritual use of incense was dis- credited in the Primitive Church by its association with heathen idols. In pre-Reformation times, it had again become discredited by a similar connection with idola- tries within the Church. Consequently, at the Reforma- tion, Incense, together with the corruptions with which it was associated, lost its legal and recognised position in our Church’s Worship. We must not conclude, how- ever, that this was entirely due to prejudice. As com- pared with all the great religious movements which have since occurred in this country, the Reformation stands preéminent for the remarkable combination of zeal, profound learning, and statesmanlike discretion, in the then leaders of our Church. Their first great principle was to return with patient and well-considered steps to the worship and teaching of the primitive Catholic Church; and to this principle they adhered, in the main, with wonderful learning and steadiness of purpose, considering the abounding ignorance of the time, and the enormous difficulties which beset them on every side. We must recognise that our Reformers, in excluding Incense from the ritual of the English Church, were consistently carrying out their noble principle of return to primitive Catholic worship. If they pressed their principle a little too far, they seem to have done so, in this particular, without asperity. The controversies of the Reformation centred around much weightier matters than the fumes of Incense. Our forefathers appear to have been less troubled about Incense than we are. Although no longer legally recognised, the use of incense long obtained a mild toleration in our Reformed Church. It was rightly regarded as a symbol of much the same class as Church decoration on Great Festivals, and the wearing of good clothes on Sundays. Human nature, if it be allowed MUSICAL. 73 freedom, instinctively adopts light rituals of this kind to express its joys and thanksgivings, on special occa- sions. Writing early in the seventeenth century, George Herbert directed the Country Parson to see that on Great Festivals the church was “ perfumed with incense” and “stuck with boughs.” Such was the custom in his time. But the use of incense in the Church of England gradually died out ; although it continued here and there, without reproach, long into the eighteenth century. Incense was burned regularly in Ely Cathedral until the year 1779.1 6.—Musical Worship. The Seraphim’s worship described by Isaiah was MUSICAL. The Prophet heard the choirs of Seraphim chanting their wondrous anthem in wondrous heavenly music. Ordinary language often struggles in vain to adequately express spiritual things. Then reverent gesture comes to the assistance of language, and does its part well. But Music does still more: it comes with revelations of its own, and it expresses to the soul itself, and to God, a thousand sweet and delicate shades of feeling and spiri- tual perception, and a thousand noble and mighty im- pulses of devotion, which could never be expressed by all the words and phrases of dictionaries and grammars, And music is as needful in heaven as on earth. Angelic worship is so infinitely full of holy meaning—holy thought and devotion and feeling—holy love and peace and joy—joy superadded to joy, joy to joy, in endless variety—that it must needs lay under contribution all 1 Tertullian, Apolog. c. 42; De Corona, c. 10. Smith’s Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, Art. IVCENSE. Abbey and Overton’s English Church in the Eighteenth Century, Il. p. 481. 74 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. pure and holy-means of devotional expression; and of these Music is preéminent. “ As the heaven is high above the earth,” and as all its glories infinitely surpass the glories around us here, so we must believe that its Music is such as we have never heard from sweetest human voice, or instrument cunningly played, or choir, or orchestra. Our music partakes of the infirmity of our nature. “We know in part;” and we see, and feel, and hear, only “in part.” We await “that which is perfect ”—perfect knowledge, perfect perceptions, perfect sensibilities, and amongst other perfect things, the perfect Music of the angelic choirs. 7.—A Beautiful Worship. One other ritual characteristic. The Seraphim’s worship was BEAUTIFUL. Isaiah’s vision must have been one of transcendent beauty. All the countless beauties of this lower world, which are often almost overpowering to our senses— beauties of field and flower, of woodland and mountain, of sky and sea, of living art and living form—are but the broken reflections of the beauties in the eternal world. Every beautiful thing that we see around us suggests and brings home to our hearts an infinitely higher and more spiritual beauty. Beautiful objects owe much of their influence to this power of suggesting the infinite; and by it, they point upwards, and dimly reveal the beauties of our heavenly home. But all the unspeakable beauties of the heavenly world and of angelic beings are as nothing compared to the Absolute Uncreated Beauty of Him Who is “Altogether Lovely.” To Isaiah was vouchsafed the wondrous vision of “the King in His Beauty,” seated upon the throne of the universe, in the most beautiful centre of a world of BEAUTIFUL. 75 perfect beauty, and with the most lovely and glorious choirs of angelic beings worshipping around Him, in perfect symmetry of arrangement, and in perfect grace and reverence of form and attitude. Beauty is to the eye what Music is to the ear. It has an infinite wealth of moral and spiritual revelations, and of powers to arouse and to subdue and soften man’s heart. No worship is perfect without it. We cannot here exclude from our thoughts the pain- ful and awful fact, that as there is a zgenzth, so there is a nadir in the universe of devotion. The highest point in the vast range of devotional activity, the spiritual zenith, is the Seraphim’s worship, which is infinitely pure and infinitely Beautiful. The lowest point, the deepest depth in the dark abyss of devotional apostasy, the spiritual zadir, is the worship paid to devils, crimes, and evil principles; which invariably surrounds itself with forms of hideous and repulsive Ugliness.1 By a mystical chemistry, these lowest of all idolatries have an affinity for the lowest and grossest forms of ugliness, by which they express their degradation and foulness. On the other hand, true and pure worship in heaven and on earth seeks to express its truth and its purity to the eye and to the heart, and to God, by forms and surroundings of chaste and perfect Beauty. 1 See below, Chapter xx. § 2 on Devil- Worship. ( 76 ) CHAPTER VIII. THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES AND THE FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS WORSHIP GOD (Rev. 4.) 1, Rev. 4.—2. Ritual Characteristics, “ AFTER these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter. Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne; and He that sat was to look upon like a Jasper stone and a sardius: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon. And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and before the throne, as it were a glassy sea like unto crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, having each one of them REV. 4. ; if six wings, are full of eyes round about and within: and they have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, Which was and which is and which is to come. And when the living creatures shall give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sitteth on the throne, to Him that liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders shall fall down before Him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, To receive the glory and the honour and the power : For Thou didst create all things, And because of Thy will they were, and were created.” REV. 4. (Levised Version.) I.—Rev, 4. At the time the series of visions beginning with Rev. 4. was vouchsafed to S. John, the Church of Christ was in a state of heavy depression and discouragement. S. John himself, cruelly cut off from his public ministry, was a persecuted exile “in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”? The Epistles to the Seven Churches, which occupy the fore- ground of the Book of Revelation, tell a cheerless and disheartening tale. They tell of iniquity abounding even within the sacred precincts of Christ’s Church; they tell of the martyrdoms of the saints; they tell of temp- tations, of failing faith, of feeble strength, of lukewarm- ness, and of the love of many waxing cold. In the 1 Rev, I. 9. 78 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. midst of these accumulated anxieties and distresses, heaven was opened to the Apostle, and he heard the Divine voice summoning him to ascend the pathless heights of the skies, and to behold “the things which must come to pass hereafter.” Then followed the vision of Rev. 4. which we must now consider in detail. It was the first in order, the glorious prelude, of a series of heavenly visions of hope and consolation for the elect of God in all ages. Verse 1. “After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven.” Ezekiel, in the exiled Jewish Church, “among the captives by the river of Chebar ”—S. John the Baptist, in his wilderness-mission, by the river Jordan, in whose sacred waters he had baptized the Son of God—and S. Stephen, the proto-martyr, in the presence of his infuri- ated judges—had, each to his great joy and comfort, seen the “heavens opened,” and “ visions of God.”! So now to S. John the Beloved Apostle, persecuted, afflicted, exiled, depressed, the heavens are opened, and the con- solations and glories of the Church above are revealed. —Suffering clears the inner vision for heavenly illumi- nation. Tears are good eye-glasses through which to see the glory of God. “ After these things,” after all the foregoing heavy messages to the Seven Churches, the Apostle saw “a door opened in heaven,” in the jewelled firmament above his head. Verse 1. “And the first voice which I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter.” A Ezek. 12th Mats, 1620 Acis 7.456: REV. 4. 79 Ordinarily, the voices which reach the children of men from the eternal world, are the “ still small voices” of God—too often, alas! inaudible, amid the rude din of earthly passions and conflicting interests. But such was not the voice which on this occasion the Apostle heard. It was a voice of altogether another kind, the highest trumpet-voice of supernatural revelation. “Come up hither,” ~p through the aerial fields, wp through the open door in the sky—leaving the world and its sins and sorrows far below—‘and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter;” “must,” because written in God’s Book of Destiny. Verse 2. “Straightway I was in the Spirit.” Along with the Divine Call came the power to obey it. The Apostle immediately experienced a new acces- sion of the Spirit's mighty influence; he was caught up from the earth, and borne on high, until he entered the open door, and was placed standing in the heavenly world. Such is God’s method even in His ordinary provi- dences. Does He call ws to ascend? If our wi// be to obey, His hand of might zs on us, in many a Divine compulsion of hope and love and joy, tempered with trial and weakness. He knows howto make the subtile and insubstantial ether of moral and spiritual being, a staircase purer and firmer than adamant, upon whose resplendent steps we may freely ascend to the foot of His throne. The Apostle was now standing within the open door, upon the margin of heaven. Far beneath him, as we learn from subsequent visions, he saw the earth, with its sun and moon and stars, its East and West and North and South, its teeming inhabitants and mighty cities, its mountains and islands, its deserts and oceans and 80 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. ships, its trees and rivers and fountains of waters, and also its Babylonian idolatries and afflicted Churches... All these were in the distance beneath him. But on high, on the same plane with himself, spreading far and wide from the lofty position on which he stood, he beheld the wonders of the heavenly world. Verse 2. “And behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.” These were the first objects which attracted the Seer’s attention. Ata considerable distance from the spot at which he stood, and separated from him by a glassy calm intervening sea, the “Great White Throne” and He Who sat upon it, arose full in view, infinitely re- splendent, and conspicuous above all other heavenly objects. The Apostle’s supernaturally quickened powers of seeing and hearing made the intervening distance as nothing. He clearly saw not only the throne itself, but also all its surroundings, down to the most minute details of persons and things, the “white gar- ments,” the “crowns,” the “harps,” the “hands,” the “colden censers,”’ the “trumpets,” the “seals,” the “faces,” the “eyes.’ And as his eye saw every object, so his ear heard every sound. Verse 3. “ And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius.” Both of these stones shone in Aaron’s Breast Plate. The “jasper stone” is “clear as crystal.” The heavenly Jerusalem,! whose “streets” are of “gold,” and whose “sates” are of “pearl,” is represented as having clear “Jasper walls,” through which the Light of the Lord God and of the Lamb shines forth upon the universe 1 Rev. 21. 11-22. REV. 4. SI with unbroken beams. The “sardius,” or cornelian, is a fiery red stone. This mingling of two such diffe- rent colours, unsullied clearness and fiery red, in the personal glory of the Divine Being, is regarded by most expositors as emblematical of the Holiness and Fustice of God, His spotless purity of character, and the fiery wrath and severity of His righteous judgments against sin, Verse 3. “‘ And there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon.” The “emerald,” which was another of the gems in the Breast Plate of the Jewish High Priest, is a stone of a delicate living green colour. The rainbow there- fore, which vertically spanned the throne and Him that sat upon it, was not of the ordinary prismatic hues, but a lovely band of green, “like an emerald to look upon.” The bow-form symbolized the Divine Covenant of Mercy; while the green colour represented the heavenly refreshment secured to us by that Covenant. And as the throne was spanned by the emerald rainbow, so the pure splendours of God’s holiness, and the terrible and fiery brightness of His judgments are ever compassed about by His all-embracing mercy and love. Verse 4. “And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments ; and on their heads crowns of gold.” In ‘a circle around the great central throne were twenty-four smaller thrones, upon which the elders were sitting. These four and twenty elders are the heads and representatives of the Church of God on earth—twelve representing the Jewish dispensation, and twelve the Christian dispensation. Thev sit in F 82 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. royal state, with white robes and crowns, the rewards of patient endurance and final victory. The ancient religions of the far East, which contain many gleams of true spiritual light, preserve a tradition that there is an order of heavenly beings who attain to the purest wisdom, and are permitted to sit in the Divine Presence upon diamond thrones.2,> Who and what these beings are we here learn more perfectly from the inspired Seer. They are the representatives of ourselves in future glory. Verse 5. “And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders;” like those which proceeded from thunder-tongued Sinai. These were premonitory of judgment, and expressive of the absolute sovereignty and almightiness of God. Verse 5. “And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” The mystical number seven denotes completeness and perfection. By the bright shining of these “seven lamps” we are to understand the complete and perfect illumination, universal diffusiveness, and fiery energy of the Holy Spirit’s work. The Church of God, in all her ministrations and ordinances, is filled with Divine Grace through His Presence and operation. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” “Thou the anointing Spirit art, Who dost Thy sevenfold gifts impart.” 3 Verse 6. “And before the throne, as it were a glassy sea like unto crystal.” EeIGGYs 2,10 5 anh. 2 Beal’s Catena of the Buddhist Scriplures, p. 21. 8 The Ordination Service in the Prayer Book. 1 Cor. 12. 4. REV.74: 83 The natural firmament above our heads is compared, in the majestic imagery of the Hebrew poets, to a molten looking- glass, a ceiling of transparent work of sapphire, an out-stretched aerial curtain.’ But these poetical images, descriptive of the azure expanse in which the clouds float, have no reference to the zzterior of the heavenly world, the regions within and beyond the opened door, through which the Apostle entered. They tell us nothing of the nature of the “ glassy sea” in this vision. We know, however, that there are in the heavenly world glorified human bodies which once were on earth (Enoch, Elijah, and our Lord) ; and there are, besides, the Divine originals of what we here below call crowns, and harps, and white robes, and thrones of state. And there is no reason why the sea, which is perhaps the most majestic object in nature, should not have its heavenly counterpart, to enhance, by its glassy repose and pure ethereal beauty, the glories of that world. Some such object the Apostle saw, and he stood upon its shore. Beyond its peaceful crystal waters, he saw the abode of the blessed and the throne of God. The golden glories of the place beyond, reflected in the waters of this sea, made its crystal depths seem to flame and glow with living fires; S. John elsewhere describes it as “a glassy sea mingled with fire.” 2 Verse 6. ‘“‘ And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.” Each of the “four living creatures” appears to have been opposite the central point of one of the four sides of the throne, with his face towards the throne, The MY 0b137.. 18:3 Ex.) 240.105) Ps, 104.'23 Is) 40. 22. 2 Rev. 15..2. 84 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. four creatures were thus ranged in a circle “round about the throne.” Verse 7. “ And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.” The four living creatures, resembling respectively the lion, the calf, the man and the eagle, appear to be the representatives of different classes of beings—wild beasts, tame beasts, rational beings, and birds. They are the symbolical heads of animated nature; and they are unceasingly engaged in adoration and praise of their Almighty Creator. Verse 8. “ And the four living creatures, having each one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and within.” All around the outside of each wing, and on the inside of each half-expanded wing, and on the parts of the body beneath the wings, were myriads of eyes. They were “ full of eyes,” they seemed with eyes. With unwearied wakefulness and myriad-gaze, they beheld and adored the glory of the Almighty. Thus far the inspired Seer has presented us with a glorious group of objects and figures, as it were a heavenly ¢ableaux-vivant, in solemn preparation for a great act of Heavenly Worship, which he now proceeds to describe. This worship was led by the four living creatures. Verse 8. “And they have no rest day and night saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, Which was and which is and which is to come.” REV. 4° 85 In one sense, all who are in heaven rest; but in another sense, it may be said of them all, as it is here said of the four living creatures, that “they have no rest.’ They rest; and yet they rest not. Blessed estate, in which infinite activity and infinite rest meet together, and become one! This life’s exhaustion and pain and weariness, and all the ceaseless murmurings and toss- ings of “the waves of this troublesome world,” have no place there. Verses 9-11. “And when the living creatures shall give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sitteth on the throne, to Him that liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders shall fall down before Him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, To receive the glory and the honour and the power: For Thou didst create all things, And because of Thy will they were, and were created.” The four living creatures had praised God for what He zs —“ Holy,” “ Almighty,” Eternally Self-Existent. In response to their song, the four and twenty elders praised God for what He has done—more especially for the stupendous miracle of the creation. When all was absolute void and nothingness, the glorious universe sprang forth into being, trimmed and decked as for a marriage festival, “as a bride adorned for her husband,’ by the almighty creative energy of the Divine “ Will ;” “because of Thy will.” God Himself highly esteems the glory of the creative work: when He would magnify the Gospel Regeneration, he calls it a “new creation.” The adoration of all His creatures is due to Him for 86 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. originating and sustaining their being. “We bless Thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life.” 2.—Ritual Characteristics. We must now briefly note the RITUAL CHARACTER- ISTICS of this great act of worship, in so far as they relate to the subject of the present volume. (1.) The worship described in Rev. 4. was RESPON- SIVE Worship. The four living creatures took the initiative, chant- ing their “ Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, Which was and which is and which is to come.” Probably, they chanted antiphonally ; two of the crea- tures chanting the first line, and two the second line. However this may have been, it is certain that the four and twenty elders responded, at stated intervals, “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, To receive the glory and the honour and the power ; For Thou didst create all things, And because of Thy will they were, and were created.” (2.) Again. It was CONGREGATIONAL Worship. The beings engaged in this great act of worship, although hich in dignity, and representative of two crea- tions—the natural creation of this world, and the spiritual creation of the Church—were but few in number: four “living creatures,” and four and twenty “elders,” eight and twenty in all. But although the congregation was small, the worship was truly congregational. None of them were silent worshippers. They all had a part to perform, and none neglected his part. RITUAL CHARACTERISTICS (Rev. 4.) 87 The true dignity of worship does not depend upon the number of the worshippers. On this occasion the number was only twenty-eight: but God was in the midst of them. And God is no less in the midst of the congregation at a quiet week-evening service, or at an early Communion, even when the worshippers are few. And when these few are all living and earnest wor- shippers, and engage in the Service with lowly and united voices, the worship is comforting to the human heart, and noble and acceptable in the sight of God. (3.) Further. The worship which the Apostle here describes was a REVERENT worship. The attitude of the “four living creatures” is not expressly mentioned. But we are told that the Apostle saw the “eyes” upon the zzmer side of the wings: from which we infer that the wings were in some degree expanded. This, together with what we know of the Seraphim’s attitude (Isa. 6), makes it probable that the “six wings” of each of these “creatures,” although not closely covering the “face” (which was visible to the Apostle), were so arranged as to express the reverence, humility, and fervour of their worship. Certain it is, that their song expressed the profoundest reverence. They adored God as the Thrice-Holy, Almighty, Eternal. It is, however, to the reverence of the elders’ worship that the Apostle here especially directs our attention. The four and twenty elders descended from their thrones, fell down upon their faces before God, and cast their golden crowns at His feet. More perfectly than any words could express, they disclaimed, by these acts of reverence, all honour and dignity of their own, and ascribed all that they had and all that they were to the Blessed Creator and Giver of all, 88 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. (4.) Again. The worship here described was un- doubtedly a MUSICAL worship. This is not expressly stated on the face of the narrative. But it is taken for sranted, and implied. All expositors feel, and in their expositions assume, that the Apostle’s description is intended to represent the worship as musical. (5.) Also, this worship was BEAUTIFUL. The Holy Spirit not only revealed to the Apostle, but inspired him to minutely describe, the transcendent Beauty of this worship. The sacred narrative labours to express splendours and glories under which the imagination sinks. We have here the Uncreated Beauty of the Eternal Himself, flashing forth in mingled beams as of clear jasper and fiery sardius; and we have the encircling emerald rainbow, and the “great white throne,’ and the seven burning lamps of the Spirit’s celestial fire and light, and the four six-winged “crea- tures” teeming with eyes, and the four and twenty lesser thrones, and seated on them the four and twenty elders with their snow-white vestures and crowns of gold; and we have, moreover, al] these celestial glories duplicated, by their reflection in that celestial crystal sea across whose untroubled glassy surface the eternal melodies floated in sweet and wondrous cadences to the Apostle’s entranced ears, ( 8 ) CHAP PRIX: THE LAMB WORSHIPPED (Kev. 5.) I, Rev. 5.—2. Adoration.—3. Ritual Characteristics. “‘ AND I saw in [Gr. om] the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back, close sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no one in the heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look thereon. And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look thereon: and one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome, to open the book and the seven seals thereof. And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb stand- ing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. And He came, and He taketh it out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: 90 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; say- ing with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying, Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped.’—REV. 5. 1.— The Lamb Worshipped (Rev. 5.) In this wonderful Chapter, the Apostle describes the worship paid to the adorable Lamb of God in Heaven. The general scene of the heavenly worship as depicted in the former Chapter (Rev. 4) is still continued here, but with many notable additions, to which we shall refer presently. All the former features remain,—the classy sea: the four and twenty elders in royal state upon their thrones: the four living creatures full of eves: the mystical seven lamps of the Holy Spirit: the emerald rainbow: the Great Throne; and the vision of the Great King. These we have had before, and these we have still. But now, upon the same scene, we have further disclosures. THE LAMB WORSHIPPED (Rev. 5.) oI —— Verse 1. “And I saw in [Greek, ov] the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within -and on the back, close sealed with seven seals.” The right hand of Him that sat on the throne was open. Upon the open palm lay “a book,” that is, a roll, containing the Divine purposes towards the Church and the world. It was a full roll, crowded with writing, until it could hold no more. It was not usual to write upon the outer side of a roll: but in this case, the con- tents had overflowed their natural boundaries, and had covered the back of the roll. This probably denoted the completeness of its contents: there was no room for any addition to that which was there written. But it was a sealed roll to our sinful race, perfectly sealed, because of the world’s guilt, “close sealed with seven seaica. Upon God’s part, however, there was no withholding of the contents of this roll. He desired to communicate them. The roll lay upon His open palm, offered freely to any one who, by expiating man’s guilt, might be found worthy to receive it, on his behalf. Verses 2 and 3. “And I saw a strong angel pro- claiming with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no one in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look thereon.” The “strong angel’s” loud proclamation resounded through “heaven,” and “the earth,” and “under the earth:” that is, through the whole of God’s creation. But there was no response. No one was found “worthy” to open the mystic roll, “or to look thereon.” This unworthiness was relative to the guilt of mankind: God’s truth could not be unfolded to the guilty, until a worthy expiation had been accomplished. No 92 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. one was found worthy to expiate that guilt, and receive the roll. This was a bitter disappointment to S. John, who had been full of expectation with respect to “the things which must come to pass hereafter.” “And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look thereon” (verse 4). Verse 5. “ And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome, to open the book and the seven seals thereof.” He, Who was the Lord of hosts, “mighty to save,” had, by the sacrifice of Himself, atoned for the guilt of man. He had made “a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.” He, therefore, and He alone, could, by right, take the book and break its seals on our behalf. Verse 6. “And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.” The elder had spoken of a “Lion,” the emblem of the Almightiness of the Saviour, Who had fought for us, and had overcome: S. John looked, and saw a tender “ Lamb,” wounded and blood-stained, which had conquered by its death. Although bearing the marks of recent slaughter, “as though it had been slain,” the Lamb was “standing,” not prostrate: alive, not dead: ‘meek, inoffensive, innocent: within the circles of the “elders” and “living creatures,” and nearer than they to the throne of God. This was the slaughtered Lamb which the Hebrew Passover had typified. “Behold the THE LAMB WORSHIPPED (Rev. 5.) 93 Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” The Lamb’s “seven horns” symbolized perfect strength; and the seven eyes” symbolized the seven Spirits of God ’—God’s Holy Spirit in His ever-watch- ful and perfect energy—in process of being “sent forth into all the earth,” by virtue of the Lamb's sacrifice and victory. Weree 7. And He came, and ‘He taketh it out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne.” The roll book of destiny was now in the possession of Him Who is the Church’s Head. Its contents were secured to the Church. The Lamb’s taking the “ book” was the outward and visible sign to all the inhabitants of heaven, that His redemptive work had been completed, and that the victory had been won, on behalf of our race. There was “joy in the presence of the angels of God;” and the Lamb’s victory was immediately celebrated by a great act of heavenly worship paid to the Divine Lamb Himself. This worship, beginning immediately around the throne, developed in wider and yet wider circles, until the innumerable voices of the whole creation were blended together in a universal anthem of praise and adoration. Verse 8. “ And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” The worship began with an act of prostrate and silent erisr5420;7 al Obmels 20 31. Cores. 7, & 94 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. adoration. The four living creatures, the represen- tatives of animate creation, and the four and twenty elders, the representatives of the Church in every age, “ fell down before the Lamb,” and worshipped. This act of solemn adoration done, the four and twenty elders offered, from golden censers, sweet incense, sym- bolical of the prayers of the whole Church. And while the incense burned, the elders played upon their harps, and sang a new and glorious song. Versesgand 1o. “And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth.” ' They “sing.” The sound still lingersin the Apostle’s ears. They praise the Lamb for His expiatory self- sacrifice, and for the universality of His redemptive love. The expiatory death, and redeeming love of Christ, are in heaven, and ever must be on earth, the foundation of the Church’s worship, and the burden of the Church’s songs of praise. We are “not our own” but “bought with a price:” “redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ. “And madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests.” The Church praises her Lord for her for- mation, and for the dignity of all her members. Christ left not His redeemed ones unassociated, unconnected together, as a rope of sand. He, for their spiritual toy (Cor. 16.- 203 iinet Tree 56, THE LAMB WORSHIPPED (Rev. 5.) 95 nurture, strength, and protection, formed them into a Divine and Royal Society; a Kingdom all of whose members have through Him priestly access to the Divine Presence; a Holy and indestructible Church, against which “the gates of Hades shall not prevail.’* Had it not been for the Divine Institution of the Church, Christianity could never have preserved the Truth, and performed the Master’s arduous work, amid the abound- ing wickedness, and warfare, and bloody revolutions of the last eighteen hundred years. Verse I1 and 12. “And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” The living creatures and the elders had, as we have seen, simultaneously prostrated themselves in worship ; and after this act of adoration, the elders had offered the burning incense in their golden bowls or censers, and had accompanied its ascending smoke with their harps, and their hymn of praise. Then, suddenly, in response to the elders’ song, the glory of the worship widened and deepened. Outside, and around, the space occupied by them, and by the living creatures, and by the throne, the Apostle saw countless multitudes of heavenly beings, myriads of myriads of angels, shining hosts, “in dazzling apparel,’ with “raiment white as snow.” 2 Andallthe multitudes of angels sang together “with a great voice,” resounding through the heavens, ehiat. 10. 103 26. 20 ; Eph, 2.133 Heb. 4. 16, * Mat. 28. 3; Luke 24, 4. 96 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. and earth, and sea, and everywhere awaking echoes of joyous praise. “Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive’—by way of adoring ascription—* the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” We may regard these seven particulars of the ascription as if they were one all- embracing word. “There is joy ’—pure, disinterested, beautiful, loving joy—“in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”! But here we have the vast accumulated joy of all the angels over a// the saved. As the doxology of the angels ceased, the whole creation responded in a universal chorus of praise offered both to the Father and to the Son. Verse 13. “ And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying, Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever.” The process of being and becoming is accompanied with ceaseless music. Science reveals to us that there are other songs in nature than those of rational beings and birds. Every particle of matter, every smallest molecule, has its own sweet voice which rests not day and night singing an eternal hymn to the Creator’s praise. All nature is full of melodies. God hears them, and angels hear them, and when our ears are opened, as the Apostle’s were, we shall hear them too. Ages before science revealed this to us, man’s intuitive per- ceptions told him that all nature must be and zs con- tinually singing in the ears of God and of angels. In 1 Luke 15. 10. THE LAMB WORSHIPPED (Rev. 5.) 97 the “morning stars” Job saw a golden choir which sana ‘together, to the’ Creator's! praise. ‘. To:..the Psalmist, “the heavens” were “declaring” the “glory of God” in an audible “voice.” ‘Praise ye Him, sun and moon: praise Him, all ye stars and light.” ? “ Look how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patines? of bright gold. There’s not the smallest orb which thou beholdest, But in his motion like an angel sings, Still choiring to the young-eyed cherubims : Such harmony is in immortal souls ; But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.” “OQ ye Showers and Dew,” “O ye Winds of God,” “O ye Lightnings and Clouds,” “O ye Mountains and Pie GC) yo seas and) Mioods, bless ye the Lord; praise Him, and magnify Him for ever.” Nature has not only songs but sighs which are audible to God and to angels, The famished sparrow that sits upon the housetop, and chirps its sad little requiem, and dies, is heard in heaven. It “shall fall on the sround,” and withal on the Father’s lap of love.® “The whole creation groaneth”® in His ears, And as nature’s wail of sorrow and suffering is articulate and audible to God, so nature’s joyous melodies are. In the passage of Scripture which we are considering, these melodies are personified. By “every created thing” the Apostle means absolutely aM creation, all created persons and things, whatsoever and wheresoever they may be. The expressions “in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea” are to be taken together as 1 Job 38. 73 Ps. 19.1-35 148. 3. 2 Patterns. 8 Shakespeare, Merch. of Ven. v. i. 4 Benedicite. 5 Matt. 10. 20. 6 Rom. 8, 22. G 98 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. one word, meaning everywhere. A rigid geographical separation or definition of the localities which might seem to be represented by these terms, would be foreign to the spirit of the passage! The angels’ doxology ended, the circuit of the worship widened so as to em- brace the whole creation. The Apostle’s opened ears heard an absolutely universal anthem of praise. All per- sons and things became worshippers. All the heavenly choirs sang together: the myriads of golden stars hymned in their courses: the inhabitants of the air and earth and sea hymned together with them; and the fields and hills, the trees and flowers, the winds and waves were jubilant. All were “joyful” before the Lord. All united with glad voices in the universal song of praise: “ Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever.” Verse 14. “And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped.” The worship, which had, in ever-widening circles of adoration and praise, extended so as to include the myriad voices of the whole creation, was now com- pacted once more around its original centre. The final “Amen” was uttered by “the four living creatures.” The closing scene of this great worship was appro- priate and solemn. When the final “Amen” had been pronounced, and all was still, the worship closed, as it had begun, in an act of silent adoration. The four and twenty elders “fell down and worshipped.” In this posture, the vision leaves them. 1 See Bp. Lightfoot’s notes on Philip. 2. 8-10, ADORATION. 99 2.—A doration. I would here draw the reader's attention to the very prominent position which loving Adoration holds in Heavenly Worship. With reference to this, Dean Vaughan writes: “If we may judge by the few glimpses of heavenly things which the Scripture, which this book of Scripture more particularly presents to us, adoration, simple adoration, is one great part of the work of heaven. Have any of us known what it is to be in the presence of one whom we revere on earth? How full of happiness, of rest, of satisfaction, is the mere gazing upon that loved and honoured face! We can dispense with all else: it is enough to be in that presence; enough to take in, through the eye, the countenance, the mind within it.” This natural feeling, raised and sanctified, leads up to Divine Adoration. In being full of the spirit of Adoration, our Church’s Liturgy reflects the spirit of Heaven. The Ze Deum, and the other great liturgical hymns at Matins and Evensong, are, for the most part, glorious doxologies, There is a doxology at the end of every Psalm, and at the end of every Sermon, and in many of the prayers and collects; and there are two great doxologies in the Communion Office. We learn from the heavenly worship that, in no portion of our public Services should our hearts be more deeply and reverently en- gaged than in these doxologies. Although our Liturgy is rich in Adoration, which, be it remembered, is the highest kind of worship, that Adoration is often entirely lost, and is, in at least nine churches out of ten, greatly obscured and impoverished, by the manner in which the Services are rendered. Even where the Church is beautiful, the Services pre- cise and orderly, and the music good, the glorious Ico WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. doxologies are often gone through hastily, with little reverence of manner, and in high rattling chants, uni- form with the rest of the service, and utterly without expression so far as the deep feeling of adoration is con- cerned, From the beginning to the end of the Service there is no graduation in the devotion, no repose, no leading on and leading up, no climax, no real so- lemnity: but all continues and ends as it began, in the same strong, hard musical trot. The Communion Office, which leads us to the central act of our worship, its greatest and most solemn mystery, its joy and crown, is, rightly, more rich in adoration than the other ser- vices; and, therefore, it suffers most by an unapprecia- tive rendering. Were the sacred Presence of Christ manifested in our midst, in a visible Bodily Form, it would be impossible to address doxologies of adoration to Him in a tone and manner so casual and unsubdued. Adoration is not only the Azghest kind of worship: it is, also, the strongest, in its grasp of the worshipper’s heart. Nothing can supply its place. Those who have been accustomed to it will feel services, in which it is wanting, to be almost intolerable, although they may not be otherwise defective. ‘Neglect of Congregational Responding is a great and common defect in our Church’s worship. But it is understood to be a defect, and a mistake; and there are at least a few persons in every congregation who are trying to improve our worship in this respect. Another serious defect is the cold and unornamented character of chancels: but this also is very generally understood to be a defect, and the ornamentation of chancels is making rapid progress.—If I were asked to point out a lamentable defect in Church of England worship, of which the immense majority of congregations are absolutely unconscious, and which, therefore, they RITUAL CHARACTERISTICS (Rev. 5.) 1OL make no effort to remedy, I should have no hesitation in saying, “The greatest and most serious defect in worship, of which our people as a whole are unconscious, is, their inability to express Adoration and to appreciate its devotional power.” A few leaders in the Ritual Revival understand this part of worship. The Church has learnt much from them as to other matters in worship: but she has yet much to learn on the subject of Adoration. Their power of rendering doxologies and expressing. Adoration is as much above that of ordinary clergymen and congregations as the sublimest passages in Shakespeare and Milton are above the feeblest verses in our local newspapers. The Church must bestir herself in this matter; if she does not, her noblest spirits will seek elsewhere a worship in which Adoration may be found. 3.—Ritual Characteristics. Before passing from the consideration of this great act of Heavenly Worship paid to the Lamb, I shall briefly note its RITUAL CHARACTERISTICS. 1. The reader will have observed how COMPLEX AND VARIED this Worship was: and yet how all its parts were woven into a perfect whole. These parts were: (1) silent and prostrate Adoration by the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders: (2) the four and twenty elders offered incense and chanted a doxology, accompanying their voices by “harping with their harps:” (3) the multitude of angels responded to the elders’ doxology by chanting an angelic anthem: (4) “ every creature”—angels, elders, “living creatures,” and all the inhabitants of air and earth and sea, and every existing thing—responded in a universal chorus: (5) the “four living creatures” sang 102 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. the concluding “Amen:” (6) the four and twenty elders fell down, and closed the worship, as it had begun, with prostrate and silent Adoration. 2. Further: this Worship was elaborately RESPON- SIVE. The Elders’ doxology was responded to by the Angels; and the Angels were responded to by the whole creation; and the universal chorus of the whole creation was responded to by the four six-winged “living creatures.” 3. Again: this Worship was CONGREGATIONAL. Ad the “living creatures,’ a// the “elders,” a// the “angels,” and a// “‘created things” had their appointed portions of the Heavenly Liturgy, and all performed their parts worthily. Infinite as was the number of the wor- shippers, no voice was silent. “No voice exempt, no voice but well could join Melodious part, such concord is in Heaven.”} 4. Further: this Worship was REVERENT in out- ward gesture. It opened and it closed with prostrate adoration; and there were doubtless many other, and very beautiful acts of Reverence. 5. We have already noted the RITUAL USE OF INCENSE in this Worship. The elders, with their golden censers, offered Incense, representing the ascend- ing prayers and devotions of all the saints. While offering the Incense, the elders sang together, and played upon their harps. 6. Again: the Worship paid to the Lamb was MUSICAL worship: both vocal and instrumental Music being employed throughout, 7. It was also an inexpressibly BEAUTIFUL Worship. There was all the Beauty of the former vision 1 Milton, Paradise Lost, iii. 370. RITUAL CHARACTERISTICS (Rev. 5.) 103 (Rev. 4), and there were besides many other new ele- ments of Beauty. There were, as in Rev. 4, the infinite Beauty and Glory of the Great King, and of the Throne, and of the Emerald Rainbow, and of the Seven Lamps, and of the Four Six-winged Living Creatures, and of the Four and Twenty white-robed Elders with their Golden Crowns; and there were beautiful Acts of Reverence, and the tranquil splendours of the Glassy Sea mingled with Fire. And now, super- added to all of these, there were the new and wondrous clories of the Sinless Lamb of God, and of solemnly ascending Clouds of Incense, and of myriads of dazzling Hosts of Angels, and of the Whole Creation. ( 104 ) CRAP Din se WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT IN HEAVEN (Rev. 7.) . 1. The Time and Place.—2. The Church Triumphant, Rev. 7. 9-17.— 3. Ritual Characteristics of the Worship. “ AFTER these things I saw, and behold, a great multi- tude, which no man could number, out of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands ; and they cried with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and untothe Lamb. And all the angels were standing round about the throne, and about the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell before the throne on their faces, and wor- shipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto Our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, These which are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and whence came they? And I say unto him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Therefore are they before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. They shall hunger THE TIME AND PLACE (Rev. 7. 9-17.) 10s no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat: for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.’— REV. 7. Q-17. 1.—TZhe Time and Place to which this Vision refers. This Vision refers to a particular ¢zme and a parti- cular place. The Seer had just beheld two visions immediately introductory to the present vision: namely, the Opening of the Sixth Seal (Rev. 6. 12-17), and the Sealing of the Elect (Rev. 7. 1-8). The Opening of the Sixth Seal was preparatory to the Coming of the Lord to judge the world. “And I saw when he opened the Sixth Seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood; and the stars of the heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs, when she is shaken of a great wind. And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of their wrath is come; and who is able to stand?” This was, as it were, the morning, the awful ushering in, of 1 See Alford, 77 Joc. 106 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. the Last Great Day. The Apostle saw the whole earth broken up by a change as total as any of those previous changes which have prepared it for its present in- habitants. In the general ruin, all the guilty and im- penitent, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, cried out for annihilation, and found it not. There was no escape from the Presence of the Righteous Judge. The vision of the Sixth Seal closed with the inquiry, Who shall be “able to stand” in that Day? And in answer to this inquiry, another vision, that of the Sealing of the Elect, was immediately revealed. The answer was, that a/ the Elect, all God’s true and faith- ful servants, shall be “able to stand,” absolutely secure, in that Day: that defore the work of wrath can begin, the work of mercy must be completed, and all God's servants sealed, and made safe.} “ After this,” after the vision of the Sixth Seal, and just before the hour of Wrath, “I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that no wind should blow on the earth, or on the sea, or upon any tree.”? The Apostle, from his high point of observation in heaven, looked down, and saw this earth, with all its inhabitants, far beneath him. Four angels, ministers of wrath, were standing at the four extremities of the earth—one at the North, one at the South, one at the East, one at the West—ready to begin the work of Wrath and Righteous Judgment. But suddenly their hand was stayed, in order that the work of Mercy might be com- pleted. There was a short delay, during which the Elect were sealed. ‘I saw another angel ascend from the sunrising, having the seal of the living God: and seat 24, 31. 2 Rev. 7. 1: here, as elsewhere in this volume, I quote from the Revised Version. THE TIME AND PLACE (Rev. 7. 9-17.) 107 he cried with a great voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their fore- heads.” The fifth angel, “ascending from the sunrising,” flew up the sun’s diurnal track to the earth’s zenith, and then cried to the four angels to hurt nothing—not even the leaf of a tree—until God’s servants were sealed. His command, uttered with “a great voice,” resounded over the whole earth, and was heard by S. John in heaven. It was immediately obeyed, and the Elect were all sealed. As the angels who were sent to destroy Sodom were obliged first to save Lot, so it will be at the Last Day: the angels of wrath must first do the work of angels of mercy for God’s servants: ‘hen, but not till then, can they fulfil their mission of judgment. “ And I heard the number of them which were sealed, a hundred and forty and four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel.” The full round number was sealed: the work was done completely: no tribe was forgotten: no individual was forgotten: every true member of God’s spiritual Israel was remem- bered in that day, and was made everlastingly secure. They, and they alone, in the great day of His wrath, shall be “able to stand.” And now the solemn preparations for the Last Judg- ment, and the Sealing of the Elect, and the Judgment itself, are supposed to be in the immediate past.. The tragical world-history of our race has been wound up, and closed. All the redeemed, tempest-tossed and weary, are supposed to have reached the eternal haven, and to have safely landed upon those illimitable radiant shores, against which the blackest “ waves of this trouble- some world” burst in successive billows of light. The ¢zme referred to in this vision will, therefore, be 108 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. immediately after the Great Judgment Day: the place will be Heaven. Above and beyond the stern and awful Vision of Judgment—for all who shall have passed through that Judgment in safety—shall arise an infin- itely sweet, and most blessed vision, the Vision of Glory: peace for evermore, rest for ever, holiness for ever, joy for ever, love for ever, for ever with the Lord: glory, glory, glory, for ever and for ever. 2.— The Church Triumphant (Rev. 7. 9-17). Verse g. “After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands.” “ After these things ””—after the Vision of Judgment, and after the Vision of the Sealing—“I saw” all the Elect, secured, blessed, and gathered in, before the throne. Heaven had seemed full of glory before, but it was fuller of glory now. All the former circum- stances of heavenly glory remained, as described in Rev. 5.; and to these were now added the glories of the Church Triumphant. “T saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number.” The four and twenty elders represented this multitude in their individual glory and dignity: but the vision of the four and twenty representatives could not convey to the Apostle’s mind an adequate concep- tion of the vastness of the multitude. Such a vision, if allowed to stand alone, might, indeed, narrow our thoughts with respect to the number of the saved. Therefore, for a special purpose, the greatness of the multitude was revealed to S. John, and, through him, to us. The moral purpose of this part of the vision THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT (Rev. 7. 9-17.) 109 was evidently to teach a lesson of hope and encourage- ment to weak and depressed members of the Church on earth. Heaven is not for a select few, who seem to be exempt from ordinary infirmities, and to be specially adapted for a religious life. All, who will, may enter. “Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.” The gates of the City of God stand wide open, and no man can shut them. Countless myriads of persons, who have had all our own defects of char- acter, or greater defects than ours, have age after age, from every quarter of the world, hastened towards those gates, and have received an abundant and joyous entrance. The white robe, and palm, and crown, are there awaiting each of us, if we will to persevere. Verse 10. “And they cried with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb.” This.was their anthem of praise. They ascribe the entire glory of their salvation to God and the Lamb. Now, in the clear light of eternity, they look back over the troubled past, and they see that every blessing has been the direct gift of God. They see the infinite wisdom and love of all His dealings with them. They owe their salvation, they owe everything, to Him. “Our God!” Well may ¢hey say “ our God!” All the multitude of the redeemed chanted this doxology; and all the angel hosts, after a solemn act of adoration, responded to them. Verses 11, 12. “And all the angels were standing round about the throne, and about the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and 110 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.” “All the angels” were standing, as in the vision of Rev. 5. in the open regions of heaven, surrounding the “throne” and the “living creatures” and the “elders” and the “great multitude” of the redeemed. In form and similitude, the angels somewhat resembled glorified men, although they were easily distinguishable from them. At the close of the doxology of the redeemed, “all the angels,” myriads of myriads in number, “ fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God.” And while performing this act of adoration, or, more probably, immediately after it, they all with one voice filled heaven with their glorious response: “ Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might,” in all their seven-fold perfection, “be” ascribed “unto our God for ever and ever... Amen’ In heaven, if we be accounted worthy to enter there, we shall be meet companions of the angels.) They will delight to call us brethren, and to join in worship with us. And even whilst we are here upon the earth, as strangers and sojourners, our “ citizenship is in heaven.” 2 As the men of this world are members of a worldly commonwealth, or city, and as such have duties to dis- charge: so we, being fellow-citizens with the angels, and “not of the world,’ are to serve and worship God on earth, in heart and spirit, in unworldliness and purity and love, as the blessed angels serve and worship Him in heaven. In Rev. 5. we saw the great “joy” which is “in the presence of the angels of God” over repentant sinners. Here we have the same joy again; a sweet, 1 Mark 12. 25. 2 Philip. 3. 20. THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT (Rev. 7. 9-17.) III disinterested, loving, beautiful joy, worthy of the angels, The saints in heaven, who had once been “lost” to God, but have now been “found” by Him, who were once “dead” in sin, but are now “alive” for ever more by His grace, delight to call Him “our God.” The angels, who have never fallen, and have always loved and served the Blessed Father perfectly, delight equally to call Him “our God.” Angels and saints not only engage in the same worship, but worship in the same spirit. Verses 13, 14. “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, These which are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and whence came they? And I say unto him, My lord, thou knowest.” One of the lesser thrones is now, for the moment, vacant. The elder, who had occupied it, has crossed the glassy sea, and is at the Apostle’s side; and point- ing across to the “great multitude,” he asks, Who they are? and Whence they came? The Apostle replied, “My lord, thou knowest.” The elder’s royal estate, radiant form, and golden crown, fill the Seer with awe and reverence. He feels that he is in the presence of a prince of heaven, and he addresses him as “My lord.” Verse 14. “And he said to me, These are they which come out of the great tribulation.” The “tribulation” here referred to is the sum total of human trial and sorrow: all that necessary but pain- ful discipline by which our loving God chastens the spirits of His elect; humbles and softens their hearts, ‘perfecting them through sufferings,’ and draws them near to Himself on earth, and prepares them for His 112 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. Presence in heaven. “ These are they which came out of the great tribulation.” They passed step by step, with bleeding feet, over the paths of sorrow, suffering, persecution, temptation, reserved for all saints. Men’s outward circumstances change, and the appearance of their trial changes, but the reality remains the same. Age after age, notwithstanding constant alterations and revolutions in men’s modes of thought and modes of life, in governments, laws, customs, manners, language, dress, and all the rest, there is everywhere, beneath the changing surface of human society, a terrible monotony in human misery. Brains throb, hearts ache, tears flow, agonized bodies toss and moan in a thousand forms of disease and suffering, very monotonously. The fiery wheel of anguish revolves evermore. “There is nothing new under the sun,” even in suffering. The “great multitude,” the elect of all lands and of all ages, had all come “ out of the” same “ great tribulation.” What rich consolation these words must have brought to S. John, himself, at this time, a veteran sufferer for Christ’s sake! Our English word “tribulation” is from the Latin tribulum, a threshing-instrument; and it means that heavy trouble, in all its forms, which our wise and loving God sends to us, to separate the good from the bad in us, as the threshing-instrument separates the grain from the straw in the sheaf.) Crush after crush comes; and the proud heart is humbled, the hard heart is softened, and the sinful heart is reminded of its guilt, and is led to the Saviour’s Blood for cleansing. __ There is a rzght way, and there is a wrong way, of doing everything, even of bearing “tribulation.” The right way, in this case, the way of humble and meek 1 Abp. Trench. THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT (Rev. 7. 9-17). 113 submission, is ever the easy way: it robs the affliction of its sting, and turns it into a blessing. The wrong way, that of rebellion and discontent, is the “ard way : it aggravates the trial, and deprives it of its blessing, The “great multitude which no man could number” had “humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God.”1 They had not despised His chastenings, but had been led by them to His Cross, and had been kept by them there. Verse 14. “And they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” They had washed their robes because they needed washing. Those joyous and glorious beings had once been sharers not only of our troubles, but of our szzs. King David, who had fallen low, and had been guilty of murder and other crimes, was there; and S. Paul, once Saul the murderer of S. Stephen, was also there in that “great multitude:” but there were now no blood-stains of those murders upon their spotless robes, They were “washed and made white in the blood of the ILamb.” David’s wondrous prayer, offered up in guilt and anguish, “Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow,’ had been fulfilled. And if we could enumerate allin that multitude separately, one by one, with their life-histories spread out before us, we should find that each one was a miracle of Christ’s grace, saved solely by His mercy and all-cleansing blood. The same mysterious expiatory power which purged the world- mass of that multitude’s guilt, is more than strong enough to make any individual penitent, however unworthy, “ whiter than snow.” 1 x Peter 5. 6, 114 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. Verses 15, 16, 17. “Therefore are they before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat: for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.” It is worthy of note, that the words “and ‘¢hey serve fiim day and night in His temple”—like the similar words in Rev. 22. 3, “and His servants shall do Him service” —and also like the remarkable words in Rom. 12. I, “ present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, accep- - table to God, which is your reasonable servzce”—refer, primarily, to 4turgical ministrations, the services of a holy worship. The redeemed, as God’s royal priests, minister in the heavenly temple, and apparently lead the heavenly choirs in their eternal worship. 3.—Ritual Characteristtes. The RITUAL CHARACTERISTICS of this Worship are already familiar to us. We have met with them all in the preceding chapters on Worship in Heaven. The Worship of the Church Triumphant in Heaven is, as the worship of the “Church Militant here in earth” ought always to be :— 1. Jntelligible: not in a dead language. 2. Responsive. The doxology of the redeemed was responded to by “all the angels.” 3. Congregational, The “great multitude which no man could number,” and the myriads of Angelic hosts, were, on this occasion, the worshippers. Of these in- THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT (Rev. 7. 9-17). 11s numerable worshippers, not one was silent. The “great multitude,’ as God’s priests and Levites in heaven, led the worship with united voices; and “all the angels,” as a vast congregation, responded to them. 4. Reverent. When pronouncing the “ Amen” at the close of the Church’s hymn of praise, “all the angels fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God.” Here we have one of, doubtless, many profound and beautiful acts of reverence, with which this worship was enriched and perfected. 5. Musical, Although not expressly stated, it is evident that the Service was musical throughout. 6. Beautiful. All the elements of heavenly beauty and glory described in Rev. 4. and 5.were still present in this vision. And in addition to these, there was now the inexpressible beauty and glory of the Glorified Church; “a great multitude which no man could number :” of which multitude, every individual member, clothed in a spiritualized resurrection body, “raised in incorruption, in glory, in power,” fashioned anew after the similitude of the Glorified Christ, “conformed to the body of His glory,” shone like “the Bright Morning Star” Himself The glory of the angels must have been equalled, if not surpassed, by the consummated glory of the Church. 1 3 Cor. 15. 42-45 ; Philip. 3. 21 ; Rev. 1. 13-16; 22. 16, ( 116 ) Gre Vasu. Sele OTHER ALLUSIONS TO HEAVENLY WORSHIP. 1, The Creation, Job 38. 7.—2. The Nativity, Luke 2.—3. Rev. II. 15- 18.—4. Rev. 14. I-3.—5. Rev. 15. 2-4. —6. Rev. 19. 1-7. 1.—The Creation, Job 38. 7. “WHEN the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” There is an allusion here to a wondrous and glorious act of Heavenly Worship, when this earth was formed. “The morning stars,” the glory of the unconscious universe, are represented as siuging together to the Creator’s praise; while their song was responded to by “all the sons of God,” that is, by a// the myriads of myriads of angels, with loud and jubilant anthem notes, like “shouts” of “joy.” This worship was, therefore, J/usical and Responsive, It was also Congregational: there was a countless multitude of shining and joyous worshippers, stars and angels, and none were silent. All had their part in this great act of worship, and all joyfully per- formed their part. And as the material and spiritual creations are represented as uniting their vozces in this worship, so we must regard them as uniting their glories also, and making it an infinitely Glorious and Beautiful Worship. 2—The Nativity, Luke 2. 8, 9, 13, 14. “And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over THE NATIVITY. 117 their flock. And an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid... And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom He is well pleased.” We have here the heavenly worship brought down to the earth. When the King of Heaven came to Bethlehem, the worship of heaven came with Him. The angel who announced to the shepherds the Nativity of the Saviour was accompanied by a glorious light—a beam of “the glory of the Lord,” of the Divine effulgence—which, proceeding from Him Who sat upon the Throne of Heaven, pierced downwards through the nightly sky, and illuminated the dark plain of Bethlehem, and the shepherds, and the sleeping flocks. And no sooner had this angel delivered his message, than the angelic choirs, “a multitude of the heavenly host,” streamed forth from the City of God on high, and following the resplendent track of the descending beam of Jehovah’s Light, were, in a moment, immediately above the Shepherds, chanting the first Christmas anthem. Afterwards, “the angels,” still perhaps singing joyously, “went away from the shepherds,” retracing their luminous path “into heaven.” The structure of the angels’ hymn indicates that their chanting was antiphonal, or Responsive. Also, it was Congregational; for the whole “multitude of the heavenly host” were united in “praising God.” And it was evidently AZusical worship. It was also Beauti- Jul, with all the glories of the nightly sky, and of the angel hosts, and of the Divine Light, “the glory of the Lord” shining around. 118 WORSHIP INSHEAVEN; When “the shepherds” had visited the Infant Saviour at Bethlehem, after this vision, we are told that they returned, “ glorifying and praising God.” They seem to have come back to their flocks, chanting antiphonally like the angels, and possibly chanting the angels’ song, as the Christian Church has done ever since. If this were so, the first act of Christian worship on earth was a continuation and a repetition of the worship of the angelic hosts. Heavenly and Earthly Worship met together, and “kissed each other,” as was meet, at the Incarnation. 3.—Rev. 11. 15-18. “And the seventh angel sounded ; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sit before God on their thrones, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, which art and which wast; because Thou hast taken Thy great power, and didst reign. And the nations were wroth, and Thy wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear Thy name, the small and the creat; and to destroy them that destroy the earth.” The general subject running through Rey. 8. 9. Io. and II. appears to be the visitation of God’s successive judgments upon a godless world, in defence of His Church, in furtherance of her Divine work, and in answer to her prayers. The impending judgments were ushered in by a vision of seven angels receiving seven trumpets. ‘“ And I saw the seven angels which stand before God; and there REV. 11. 15-18. 11g were given unto them seven trumpets... And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.” Trumpets were used in war and in religious ceremonies. They here denote the awaken- ing signals of the Divine visitations. As each angel sounded his trumpet, a judgment or a series of judg- ments was manifested. The sounding of the seventh and last trumpet ushered in the Last Great Day, the Final Judgment, which will at once complete the over- throw of God’s enemies, and consummate the eternal victory and glory of His Church. The sounding of the seventh trumpet was, therefore, a signal for solemn worship in heaven. “ And the seventh angel sounded.” In response to this trumpet sound, all the “voices” of the heavenly hosts were heard, “there followed great voices in heaven,” “and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever.” The sovereignty of the earth had become His. By way of response to this anthem, the four and twenty elders, rising from their thrones, “ fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, which art and which wast; because Thou hast taken Thy great power, and didst reign.” Here we notice, Ist, the solemn sounding of the seventh trumpet: 2d, in response to the trumpet, the anthem of the heavenly hosts: 3d, an act of Reverence, a silent response in gesture emphasizing the Angels’ doxology, viz., the prostration of the four and twenty elders “upon their faces,” before God: and, 4th, still in response to the angels, the elders’ hymn of thanks- siving, developing the thought in the angels’ song. 1 Rev. 8. 2, 6. 120 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. This worship was, therefore, elaborately Responsive and Congregational, And it was Reverent worship: for the words uttered, and the gestures of the worshippers, were reverent; all the “elders fell upon their faces.” Nor is there any room for doubt that this worship was also Musical, although this is rather implied than stated in the narrative. And it was also a Beautiful worship, having as its background and surroundings all the glorious objects and beautiful symbolism described in Rev. 4.and 5. 4.—Rev. 14. 1-3. “ And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having His name, and the name of His Father, written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth.” Having spoken, in Rev. 8, 9, 10, and 11, of the evil world, and of God’s successive judgments on it, the Apostle proceeds, in Rev. 12 and 13, to describe more particularly the Church, her afflictions, and her enemies. A glorious representation of the pure Church, the Bride of Christ, was revealed in heaven. “A great sign was seen in heaven; a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:”+ a mystical figure of the spiritual Bride: 1 Rev. 12, I. REV. 14. I-3. 121 the resemblance of a woman, of pure and heavenly beauty, standing in the sky. The sun had become her vesture, his bright beams streaming forth as a halo of glory around her. As the true Bride of her Lord, faith- ful, unchangeable and immortal, amid all the changes and chances of this world, she had the ever-changing moon under her feet. “And upon her head” she had ‘‘a crown of twelve stars”—representing the elect of the Jewish Church with its “twelve” patriarchs, and the elect of the Christian Church with its “twelve” apostles —the glory of all saved souls, who are the Church’s “joy and crown.” Close upon this vision of the Church’s spiritual glory, followed revelations of her sufferings. First, she was represented as persecuted, and almost driven out of the world, by the Evil Spirit, Satan, the “murderer,” and “destroyer,” the “great red dragon:’? next the Church was persecuted by the “Beast,” the Anti-Christian World-power of Pagan Rome, to whom “the dragon gave his power, and his throne, and great authority:”? and next, after the depression of this power, the perse- cution was continued by the other “ Beast,” the Lamb- Dragon, the Sacerdotal Apostasy, Papal Rome: which, with “horns like unto a lamb,” that is, with emblems of power like unto the meekness and innocence of Christ; and withal, having the “voice” and inner nature of the “dragon,” was to deceive men; to lead them on to idolatry; and to drench the Church “with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” This Lamb-Dragon was to “exercise all the authority of the first Beast,” and to be his successor.’ 1 Rev. 12. 3-6. 3 Rev. 13.2. 3 Rev. 13. 11-14; 17. 6. Alford, zz loc. Bp. C. Wordsworth, Js not the Church of Rome the Babylon of the Apocalypse? p. 47. Davison, Ox Prophecy, pp. 325, 331. Bp. Butler’s cautious and profound judgment 122 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. These revelations of coming afflictions, and of enemies assailing the Church from without and from within, were depressing in the extreme. But the Church was not left without consolation. The black records of her sorrows were illuminated by a revelation of the inner glory that shall always be hers. The Apostle saw the Divine Lamb, not standing, as in former visions, before the throne in heaven, but standing upon the earth; on the summit of Mount Zion, the centre and symbol of the Church on earth: and “with Him,” gathered close around Him, were all His elect, “a hundred‘and forty and four thousand, having His name, and the name of His Father, written in their foreheads.” While the visible Church was dis- tressed, persecuted, and in part corrupted, the Divine Lamb was standing in her midst, and around Him a multitude of saints, “of whom the world was not respecting the character of the Papacy may be cited here. Preaching at Westminster Abbey, before the House of Lords (1747), on 1 Tim. 2. 1, 2, he asked his hearers to consider what our Religious Establishment is ‘‘a security from ; I mean that great corruption of Christianity, Popery, which is ever hard at work to bring us again under its yoke. . . . It is manifest open usurpation of all human and divine authority.” The inspired writers, Daniel, S. Paul, and S. John, idealise the Apostate World-Power, or ‘‘ Beast,” in order to describe its geseral character, spirit, and ultimate tendency. But their descriptions of this Power are not applicable to all its acts, nor to all the individuals or communities under its influence. The inspired writers recognise that under its successive manifestations in Egypt, Nineveh, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Pagan Rome, and Papal Rome, are vast numbers of persons whom God regards as “ His people.” And these powers, even when oppressing the Church, and sink- ing lower and lower in moral and spiritual corruption, have, under God’s overruling hand, in a measure fulfilled His will, and promoted order and civilisation, until their persistence in rebellion and unbelief has made their cup ofiniquity full, and consummated their apostasy and ruin, Individuals are, however, often better than their systems, and better than the influences to which they have succumbed. Bitter and personal applications of the language in which Holy Scripture foretells the pro- gressive apostasy of Rome, are in conflict with Scripture itself, and with REV. 14. 1-3. i2¢ worthy,” faithful and true and pure, a joy to angels. To the eye of the world, the Church is always sore pressed, and often defeated. To the eye of heaven, she is always glorious, always conquering, always gathering around her Lord an innumerable multitude of elect souls, “which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” } This vision of the true glory of the “ Church Militant here in earth” awoke all the choirs of heaven. The Apostle (whose stand-point was no longer in the heavenly region) heard “a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps.” The three com- parisons here made—to the voices of “many waters,” “creat thunder,” and “harpers harping with their harps”—express the vast multitude of the voices the requirements of common justice and charity; and they have done much to discredit these solemn prophecies, of which they are an obvious abuse. These prophecies have, nevertheless, been fulfilled in the Papacy. Ter- tullian, Irenzeus, Chrysostom, and Jerome, writing before the event, looked for the rise of the Sacerdotal Apostasy as the successor of the Pagan Empire. In the seventh and following centuries, the cruelty and blood- shed of the Papacy, its aggressive usurpation of authority, and its shameful corruptions of doctrines and morals, did not pass without rebuke. Many publicly affirmed that the Papacy was fulfilling the Apocalyptic prophecies and the anticipations of the Primitive Fathers. Not a few sealed their testimony with their blood. In the twelfth century, Cardinal Bonaventura applied these prophecies to the Papacy ; and this was echoed by Petrarch and Dante. We have not yet seen the end of Papal developments, but we know their spirit. The infallibility of the Pope has been declared, and one Divine attribute usurped.. And although we shrink from contemplating the pos- sibility of such awful blasphemy, there are movements within the Roman Church which indicate only too plainly, that it is a mere question of time when his Dezfication will be accomplished also. Then the Apostasy will be complete. tb Rev, 145.4. 124 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. engaged in this act of worship, and the fulness, majesty and sweetness of the music which the Apostle heard. The Apostle, whose stand-point was, I repeat, on this occasion, upon the earth, “eard,” but did not see, this heavenly worship. He is, therefore, silent with respect to those features of the worship which appeal to the eye: he says nothing of its Reverence and Beauty, for he did not see them. He only tells us what he “heard:” sounds coming “from heaven,” as of an infinite multitude of angels “singing,” and “harpers harping with their harps,” ina great act of Responsive and Congregational Worship: strophe and antistrophe, like answering seas and thunders, with brief interludes for sweet “harps of God.” 5.—Rev. 15. 2-4. “ And I saw as it were a glassy sea mingled with fire; and them that came victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the glassy sea, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty ; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest.” “TI saw as it were a glassy sea mingled with fire:” not that fire and water were in actual combination, but this was the appearance presented. The reflection of the heavenly glories in the pure transparent waters seemed to fill them with living fires. The mention of this “glassy sea” (verse 2) and of the “living creatures” REV. 19. 1-7. 125 (verse 7) shows that, in this vision, the Apostle is again standing in heaven, and beholding the heavenly worship. As the victorious Israelites, having escaped from Egypt, the Beast-Power of the Exodus period, stood upon the further shore of the Red Sea, and chanted antiphonally the Song of Moses: so again, in the last age, God’s elect, having come “victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name,” shall stand on a more glorious shore, beyond the “glassy sea, having harps of God;” and shall chant their thanksgivings and praises antiphonally, singing “the Song of Moses the servant of God, and the Song of the Lamb.” They shall be “victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name ;” having, while on earth, conquered the tempta- tion to serve the Deified Lamb-Dragon, and to pay idolatrous worship to his Idol-Image (which shall be set up), and to receive his mark consisting of the number of his name. The reference to the Song of Moses implies that this great act of heavenly worship was Responsive, like Israel’s worship at the Red Sea. And it was Congrega- tional worship ; for the Apostle describes the whole assembly of victorious saints as taking part in it. It was also Musical; for he heard them “ szzg the Song of Moses, and the Song of the. Lamb,” “ having harps of God.” And it was a Beautiful worship; for all the elements of heavenly beauty were present. 6.—Rev. 19. 1-7. « After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah ; Salvation, and glory, and power, belong to our God; 1 Rey. 13. 17. 126 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. for true and righteous are His judgments; for He hath judged the great harlot, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and He hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. And a second time they say, Hallelujah. And her smoke goeth up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah. And a voice came forth from the throne, saying, Give praise to our God, all ye His servants, ye that fear Him, the small and the great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, say- ing, Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.” The preceding Chapter, Rev. 18, opened with an announcement of the final overthrow of the mystical ‘Babylon, ‘the £‘ city”, upon. the; “seven, hills;77 tne gorgeously bedizened MHarlot-Church, the idolatrous and persecuting Lamb-Dragon. “ After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority ; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. ... And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, My people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. ... And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great mill- stone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all,” A TREY atl Ge 14) ae ae Sie REV. 19. I-7. 127 “After these things”—after the vision of the final overthrow of the Idolatrous Harlot-Church—the Apostle heard rejoicing inheaven, There wasa great Thanks- giving Service before the throne of God. “I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven ”— namely the voice of all the hosts of angels—“saying, Hallelujah: Salvation, and glory, and power, belong to our God: for true and righteous are His judgments; for He hath judged the great harlot, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication [idolatry], and He hath avenged the blood of His saints at her hand.” « And a second time they say, Hallelujah.” “ And her smoke goeth up for ever and ever.” That is, her catastrophe is final. There seems to be here a symbolical reference to the overthrow of Sodom, or (perhaps) to the punishment of burning appointed for harlots in the Levitical code. In response to the second “hallelujah” of the angels, “the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah.” Then “a voice came forth from the throne” exhorting all the Redeemed to take part in the worship: “Give praise to our God, all ye His servants, ye that fear Him, the small and the great.” There was an immediate response to this voice. « And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord God, the Almighty, reigneth.” The principal parts of this worship were: Ist, The Anthem of all the angels, beginning with “ Hallelujah:” 2d, after an instant’s pause, a second “ Hallelujah” from the angels: 3d, an act of reverence, “the four and twenty elcers and the four living creatures fell down 128 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. and worshipped God:” 4th, in response to the angels, the elders and living creatures chanted their “ Amen; Hallelujah:” 5th, the voice from the throne, which was the signal to all the redeemed, “the small and the great” to “give their praise,” to raise their Hallelujah- Anthem to God:” 6th, in response to this voice, the “ Hallelujah,” which, having been twice chanted by the angels, and taken up from them by the elders and the living creatures, is now again repeated by the Church Triumphant, as the opening word of her sublime doxo- logy; “ Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth.” We have here, doubtless, but a glimpse, not a full and detailed description, of this great act of heavenly worship. We _ see, however, that it was not only Responsive worship, but elaborately Responsive. It was also Congregational worship: the elders and living creatures had their part; while the myriads of myriads of angels, and the countless multitudes of saints, responded to each other, in Anthem-Chants, like the answering seas and thunders, to which the Apostle loves to compare them. - Again, it was LReverent worship: the elders and the living creatures fell pro- strate before the throne. The structure of the worship, each of whose divisions is marked with a “ Hallelujah,” shows that the entire worship was JVusical, as the worship in heaven always is. It was alsoa Beautiful worship: being enriched with all the beauties and glories of the heavenly world, and of a countless multi- tude of glorified saints, and of myriads of angelic hosts, and of the Blessed Spirit, and of the Divine Lamb, and of the Everlasting Father, ( 129 ) CHAPTER XIT. THE OBJECTIVE REALITY OF HEAVENLY WORSHIP. IT is not intended here to raise any metaphysical dis- cussion. When speaking of the Objective Reality of Heaven and its Worship, I mean simply that heaven and its worship are as real, in the popular sense of the word real, as this earth and its worship are. The diffi- culty which I have in view in this Chapter, is not a metaphysical difficulty, arising from the imperfection of our thoughts. It is a difficulty of a much grosser kind, arising mainly from,the imperfection of our lives. The refined and luxurious animalism of modern civilized life—which has elaborated selfishness and raised it to the dignity of a fine art—utterly stifles spiritual conception, making the spiritual “heart fat” and sluggish, the spiritual ear “duil,’ and the spiritual eye dim. It darkens the vision of heaven, and causes it to vanish away. Under this influence, religion, if recognised at all, becomes a refined embellishment of this life, one of its many soothing luxuries, by which a vacant hour may be filled: but not a Divine Call to self-denial, spirituality, and a life for eternity. This kind of life generates, for its solace and justification, a philosophy of its own. This world is supposed to be the centre of the universe; and the centre of this world is (I speak metaphorically) the Confectioner’s Shop, where all the sweets of the present animal life can be purchased by its children. This kind of philosophy is, I 130 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. in various degrees and phases, abroad on every side. It is held in solution in a great part of modern literature and thought. It is, so to speak, in the air: the whole atmosphere vibrates with it. This world and this life, and the delights and the riches and the pomps of them, are regarded very much as if they were the only Deity who is supremely worthy of being worshipped and served. And in the midst of these things, which make up his chief divinity, man stands his short hour, well fed, well clothed, sleek, and self-complacent. In his more serious moments, very brief and convenient seasons, he plays with religion, not without some devoutness of manner: but he no way realizes that the fire-bolts of God’s wrath and love, which now and then strike across his path, have been launched from one Eternity into another, and that he must hereafter reckon with them. And yet he is not at all an infidel: only, a long-continued, luxurious, selfish, frivolous animalism of life has done its terrible work. The “riches and pleasures of this life,’ and the “cares” connected with them, have “choked” the Divine energy in the soul, and have cast a mist and a darkness over things spiritual.} To begin a sketch of Worship by devoting several Chapters to the Worship in Heaven, will seem, to religionists of this kind, like attempting to build a bridge with one extremity on the solid earth, and the other resting on the mimic battlements of a distant cloud. Nevertheless, this is our method: for Heaven and the Heavenly Worship are Odjective Realities, real and veritable facts in God’s universe; and a sound religious philosophy must take account of them. The marvellous scientific discoveries which have been made in modern times, and especially during the present AypLalkesS lig, [sis6\'5, 410. ITS OBJECTIVE REALITY. 131 century, have added to the luxuriousness of life, and have done much to unduly concentrate men’s thoughts on material, as distinguished from moral and spiritual, existence. So far, they have, temporarily, weakened men’s powers of realizing spiritual things. But the novelty and excitement connected with these discoveries will soon pass away, and will be succeeded by a period of calm and profound reflection upon the results which have been obtained. It will then be found that the results of the age of science have not been favourable to materialism. Science, rightly understood, assists us to realize the existence of things which “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard :” because it demonstrates to us, in the most startling manner, that the range of our faculties is exceedingly limited in every direction; and that we are surrounded by an infinity of existing things which wholly escape our perceptions. The microscope, the telescope, and the microphone reveal countless objects and sounds, which, although not, zz kzzd, unsuited to our faculties, are too minute or too distant to be dis- coverable by the unaided eye and ear. And in addition to these, there are sounds and colours innumerable, which, although not distant and not insignificant, are, 2 kzzd, unsuited to our present faculties, and are, therefore, unperceived by us. Vibrations of sezzd, which occur less frequently than 16 times in a second, make us hear a succession of noises. Vibrations occurring oftener than 16 times, but less frequently than 38,000 times in a second, produce in us a consciousness of mustcal notes, varying in pitch with the rate of the vibrations. But beyond this limit, there are thousands of vibrations, that is thousands of sounds, which do not affect our ears. They are all audible to God, and they are also audible (in part) ta 132 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. many of His creatures around us, but to us they are silent.? And so, again, with respect to szght. To many glorious lights and colours around us in nature, the human eye is blind. Vibrations of light at the rate of 458 millions of millions in a second produce our con- sciousness of red light. As the vibrations increase in rapidity, that is, as the waves of light diminish in size, corresponding shades of colour appear, until, at the rate of 727 millions of millions of vibrations in a second, we have the consciousness of violet light. We are only capable of seeing the colours or lights which come between these two limits. Vibrations less frequent than 458 millions of millions in a second are occasioned by waves of light which are too large for the human eye. Vibrations more frequent than 727 millions of millions in a second are from waves of light which are too small to be registered by man’s eye. But all of these lights, although invisible to us, are visible to God, and doubt- less to angels. We know that they are, in part, visible to some, possibly to many of the humbler creatures around us. Ants clearly see the powerful ultra violet rays of the spectrum to which our eyes are stone blind. They see a brilliant world of colouring, of which we can form no idea.? Not heaven only, but the earth also, is full of glorious colouring and sweet melodies to which we are blind and deaf. When this is so in the physical order of things, how wondrous must be the possibilities of the spiritual, or physico-spiritual order, in which matter and all its properties are absolutely subservient to the will of spiri- tual beings. We might, conceivably, be walking amid 1 Tyndall, On Sound, pp. 72-75. 2 The Supernatural in Nature, p. 146, Report of Sir John Lubbock’s Experiments, Standard, June 3, 1881. ITS OBJECTIVE REALITY. 133 hosts of angels; the earth might be lighted with their glory, in ten thousand tints which the human eye has never seen; and their joyous anthems to the Creator’s praise might be ringing through the whole universe, whilst we remained absolutely unconscious of it all. But science has done more than merely demonstrate the rudimentary character of our faculties, and the possibility of numberless physical and spiritual marvels, in the midst of which we live, being utterly unperceived by us. It seems to have revealed also, that, as a matter of fact, the universe is full of z#personal spiritual forces. This is what we should have expected. A universe created by Spirit could hardly be otherwise than full of traces of its parentage. In the provinces of Chemistry, Electricity, Light, Gravitation, science reveals that nature is penetrated by forces, which, bating personality, equal, and perhaps surpass in spirituality all that man- kind, in former ages, believed of pure spirit. To take an instance: step out into the night. Look up. What do you see? The moon walking in brightness, with her silver skirts on a slender trail of scudding cloud. And above: the deep, deep blue, the eternal still star- depths—still to us, not still to God; their ceaseless melodies reach His ear! Infinitude, infinitude, unmea- sured shining; innumerable flashing suns, like abundance of diamond dust! They give our eyes light, may they sive our minds a little light too! See, here is a pebble at our feet. Let us look at its powers through, as it were, an infinite magnifying glass, that we may discern their mystery. This pebble, science tells us, has, by the power of gravitation, reached forth its arms, so to speak, across all the vast abysses of space, and has clutched firm hold of every radiant star. We move the pebble, but cannot relax its hold: nothing can 1 See above, pp. 96-98, 116. 134 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. intercept its power; every flame-jet of the infinite golden hierarchy sways, in however small a measure, with the pebble’s motion. Surely here we are in the presence of a force, an agency, an energy, more mysterious, if possible more penetrat- ing, more spiritual than the old world conceptions of spirit itself. Science calls it gravitation, and calculates its power; but in no way diminishes its mystery. And as with gravitation, so with the rest. The whole universe is bound together, and animated, by spiritual emana- tions from the Divine Energy, and by spiritual creations of the Divine Will. And as in external nature, zwzper- sonal quasi-spiritual essences or energies, of immense and inextinguishable activity, are wedded to matter; so in ourselves, fersonal spiritual essences, endowed with absolute indestructibility, are wedded, though not in- separably, to material forms. We cannot say that the revelations of modern science have: disclosed the Mystery of Mysteries, the Omni- present Essence and Being of God: but this at least is certain, that successive advances in science afford increasingly striking illustrations of this Mystery. As natural knowledge extends, nature’s mysteries shine ever deeper and deeper, and in more and more wondrous lights, until we feel that we are approaching the verge of the Eternal Mystery. The highest and purest con- ceptions of the Divine Nature which man’s intuitive consciousness has more or less dimly revealed in all ages and countries, and which have been definitely and authoritatively taught by Supernatural Revelation, have ever been scouted and ridiculed by sensual and unbeliev- ing men, as too ethereal and too far removed from our ordinary experiences of material existence. Yet these highly spiritual conceptions of the Divine Nature are now known to have wondrous analogues in the most ITS OBJECTIVE REALITY. 135 profound discoveries and speculations of modern science. The solid fabric of our earth is girt about with an atmosphere—an invisible, subtile medium, highly dif- fusive and elastic, and necessary to all organic life. The presence and operations of this medium were employed by our Divine Lord Himself to illustrate the Divine Mystery. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”! In this atmospheric medium, every material occurrence, every form of existence, even the existence of the smallest molecule of matter, registers itself in vibrations of sound, some of which are audible to us. But in the light of modern science, we learn that this terrestrial atmosphere, so wondrously delicate in its texture, and so wondrously sensitive, is an ex- tremely gross and circumscribed medium as compared to the Ether. This highly refined and elastic essence, by whose agency such energies as electricity and gravi- tation operate, seems to freely penetrate the atmosphere and all substances, however hard, and to be diffused throughout the entire universe. It is probable that the Ether registers all existences and phenomena by its vibrations: a limited number of which vibrations are familiar to us, affecting the human eye with the sensation of light. Further, according to the most generally received modern theory, called the Vortex-Theory, the atoms of matter are not so much foreign particles imbedded in the all-pervading Ether as infinitely minute portions of the Ether itself differentiated off from the rest by indestructible vortex motions. This seems to be both possible and probable. There are familiar illustrations of the effects of vortex motions. For example, a perfectly flexible O-shaped tube full of 1 John 3. 8. 136 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. water is flaccid and limp so long as the water is still: but set the water rapidly circulating, and it becomes at once stiff and rigid as a solid. Such a tube is called a vortex filament ; and a number of such tubes piled around a straight or circular core make a _ vortex. Vortices of rapidly circulating water, or of rapidly circulating air (such as the “ Cyclones” of America), are very permanent, and possess many remarkable properties. Infinitely small and indestructible vortices of rapidly circulating ether would probably fulfil all the conditions and possess all the properties of material atoms. Byasublime simplicity of arrangement, worthy of the Creator’s skill, there may thus be but one existing substance, the Ether: the various kinds of matter being all created out of the Ether, simply by impressing various indestructible vortex motions on infinitesimal portions of the Ether itself If this be so, the Ether reveals itself to us not only in the diffusive glories of light, but also in the local and tangible glories and qualities of material forms. In this quasi-spiritual essence—infinitely subtile, present throughout all space and in all things, yet manifesting itself in local and material forms, and registering local and material pheno- mena, and possibly mental and spiritual phenomena as well,—we have a scientific revelation which may rever- ently be employed to illustrate the wondrous Mystery of an Omnipresent and Omniscient Spiritual Being, in Whom all things subsist, and Who is, nevertheless, Locally and Personally Manifest in heaven, whence His transmitted volitions compel the laws of nature to co- operate in the production of definite results in remote regions of the universe, more easily than the human voli- tion can communicate itself in motion to the hand or foot. 1 On the Ether and its Functions, see Vature, vol. xxvii. pp. 304-307, 328-330, 349-351 (Nos. for Jan, 25, Feb. 1, Feb. 8, 1883). ITS OBJECTIVE REALITY. 137 In the inquiry which is suggested by the heading of this chapter, it is important to bear in mind that Jatter, which is everywhere placed in some degree of subjection to spirit, is capable of becoming more glorious, and more perfectly subject to spirit, than it is in this world. Let us pause a moment to consider this. We do not know what matter or ether is. We know absolutely nothing of its inner essence. Behind the sensible phenomena of matter, or of ether in motion, as behind a veil, lies that inner essence. We have an instinctive feeling that it must be there: but we have no other evidence of its existence, and we know nothing of its nature. Nor do we know anything of the inner essence of spzrzt. Behind the phenomena of spirit, as experienced in ourselves, we zzstinctively believe that there is a spiritual essence; but its nature is a mystery to us. But this we do know, that God, Who created both matter and spirit, and united them together in one universe, has made them capable of endless relations, and has established a far-reaching harmony between them. Matter is capable of existing under very various con- ditions, forms, phenomena. What is to-day the dust of the earth may to-morrow bloom in the petal of a glorious flower. By the ordinary processes of mechanical action, and of animal and vegetable life, matter is capable of being transformed “from glory to glory.” But the ordinary mechanical and vital forces which effect these wondrous transformations are not the highest forces known to us. The personal and conscious spiritual forces of the universe are infinitely higher: and under their action, matter is capable of higher mani- festations than any which delight us in chemist’s laboratory, or living creature, or field, or sky. We can set no limits to the degree in which matter may 138 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. be changed, transfigured, glorified, spiritualized, and brought into subjection to spirit, without ceasing to be matter, In the resurrection, our present mortal bodies, although still material, and still the same, maintaining their iden- tity, will be transfigured and glorified. The “natural body ” will become a “spiritual body.” “It is sown in corruption ; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness ; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” “The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immor- tality.” “For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able to subject all things unto himself.”! These resurrection bodies will be matzer still; but matter differently conditioned, and fitted to be at once the shrine, the agent, and the glory of the glorified spirit. And as with our heavenly dodies, so with our heavenly home, As there is a “natural body” and a “spiritual body;” so there is a “natural habitation” here for “natural bodies,’ and a physico-spiritual habitation in heaven for physico-spiritual bodies. We cannot regard that heavenly dwelling as less material than its inhadbit- ants. Like our resurrection bodies, the heavenly abode, which is already inhabited by the ascended bodies of Enoch, Elijah, and our Lord, is matertal: it is composed of matter: but matter in a physico-spiritual condition ; 44 Cor'15} Philip. 3.20, 21. ITS OBJECTIVE REALIPY. 139 matter infinitely glorified; fashioned so as to be a worthy habitation for the “King of Glory,” and for the glorious bodies of all His saints, and for the bright angel hosts. We must, therefore, regard our Heavenly Home as an Objective, Material, and Glorious Reality. Where that Heavenly Home is situated we do not know: but we do know that it is a definite locality. As such we instinctively regard it. A place which is not a place, a home which is not local, is a contradiction in terms. Holy Scripture uniformly represents Heaven as a locality; and its being materza/, makes it impossible for us to otherwise conceive of it. Christ teaches us to fix our thoughts in prayer by turning our eyes and hearts towards God’s local dwell- ing place in Heaven. We address our prayers to Him, not in His Omnipresence, but as seated on the throne of the universe. “Our Father which art zz heaven. Thy will be done, as zz heaven, so on earth.”! “These things spake Jesus; and lifting up His eyes ¢o heaven, He said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee. . . . I glorified Thee on’ the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had wth Thee before the world was. ... 1am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come fo Thee. I will that where 1 am, they also may be wth me; that they may behold my glory.” “In Jy Father's house are many mansions (or, abiding-places); if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” It is evident from these passages, that Heaven is as truly a definite locality as this earth is. The Apostles saw their risen Lord ascend up in His natural 1 Mat. 6. 9, I0. 4) JOUMAIAA 2 5° 17-5, 450590 13 24. 140 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. body into heaven. They watched His ascent, “looking steadfastly into heaven as He went;” and “ behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven ? this Jesus, which was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.”! Inthat Heavenly Home, I repeat, Christ's Glorified Body now is; and with Him, in bodily pre- sence, are Enoch and Elijah, the forerunners of all saints. S. Stephen, when his eyes were opened, “being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly zzto heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” 2 Our future reward and joy will be to stand in bodily presence in heaven before our adorable Lord, and to see Him face to face. We shall “be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be wth the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.’? “Faithful is the saying: If we die with Him, we shall also “ve with Him: if we endure, we shall also reign with fTim.”4 “But Iam in a strait betwixt the two, having a de- sire to depart and be wth Christ, for it is very far better: yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sake.”*® This was S. Paul’s hope: this is every- where in Scripture the Christian’s hope, the hope of the Gospel—to “be wth Christ” in His own Heavenly Home: to join in His worship and service there, “in the fulness of joy;” and to have “ Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,” with all the noble and saintly of the earth, and all the blessed angels of God, as our companions for ever and ever, “God is not mocked ;”® and God does not mock us. 1 Acts I. Q-II. ACIS 7a Shs ST Des apt 76 4 2Tim. 2. 11, 12. 5 Philip. 1. 23, 24, 6 Gal. 6. 7. IDSSORJECTIVE REALITY. 141 His revelations of a real and local Heavenly Home, and of a real and local Presence of Christ (such as our hearts crave for) in that Home, are vea/ revelations; not cruel mockeries of hearts that love Him; not deceptive, well-sounding words that mean nothing, And as is the Heavenly Home, so is the worship in it. It is a real and local worship, and inseparable from “the throne of God and of the Lamb.” The heavenly beings worship in an infinitely glorious material place, and under infinitely glorious material forms, or physico- spiritual manifestations. However immeasurably the heavenly world and its inhabitants and its worship transcend all that we can know or imagine in our present state, we have every assurance of revelation and reason that they are as truly Objective Realities as this earth and its inhabitants and its worship are. Immediately after death, the spirits of the departed, who knew each other in this world, will again recognise each other beyond the grave. The “rich man” of the parable recognised “ Lazarus” in the spirit world. “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”! And the power of mutual recognition will continue, and will probably be increased, after the resurrection and glori- fication of the body. In the wondrous world of glory, our personal identity and the identity of our physical bodies will remain. On the Mount of the Transfigura- tion, Christ appeared in heavenly glory, in “ majesty.” “He was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white as the light.” Nevertheless, He was recognizable as the same Christ: The disciples still knew Him to be the Lord, The transfiguration of our bodies, in the world of 1 Luke 16. 23. 4 Matti (17, .2.;\2 Peter1)/16, 17. 142 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. clory, will also transfigure our mzuds. They will still be the same minds: but with many new and glorious faculties, and with the old faculties infinitely enlarged and perfected. We know how dependent our mental powers and perceptions are upon the varying states of the body. Not only sight, hearing, and the other senses, but also memory, imagination, and judgment, can be enfeebled and paralyzed by bodily sickness; and will return to their former vigour with returning heaith. The glorious change, therefore, which shall hereafter take place in our bodies, may be the appointed means of quickening and enlarging the powers of our minds.! All material grossnesses and impediments will be re- moved. By a divine “Ephphatha,” the ears, now so dull, will be opened. The eyes, which are now unable to gaze upon the sun, will then look upon Him, as com- pared with Whose Uncreated Light the sun upon his burning throne at noon is as darkness. But our moral and spiritual faculties, which have suffered most by the Fall, will gain most by a glorious resurrection. Our knowledge, which is now so imperfect and dim in the moral and spiritual order of things, will then be perfect. “For now we see ina mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now! know in part; but then shall I know (Anow Sully) even as also I have been known (known fully).” * Our /zfe and worship in that world, although infinitely transcending our life and worship here, will in some measure resemble them. Both worlds are the work of the same Divine Author: and He has so constitued them, that our life and worship on earth area fitting preparation for our life and worship in heaven. But like does not prepare for unlike: preparation implies con- tinuousness of state, and a deep and real resemblance. There must be a close and vital unity and similarity 1 Abp. Whately’s Future State, p. 96. str (Cormigerz. ITS OBJECTIVE REALITY. 143 between the state of preparation and the state for which the preparation is made. As childhood is a preparation for manhood, so this life is a preparation for the eternal life which is to come. The same golden threads, which the Divine Spirit has woven into our life here, will there reappear in richer patterns of angelic glory and beauty of character. This lower world and its worship were not the first world and the first worship which God created. The angelic world of glory in the heavens existed countless ages “before the world was.” In the depths of the eternity that is past, God had created that world as the Sanctuary of His Presence, the Holy of Holies of the universe; and He had filled it with seraphim’s and angels’ worship. It was the First and Archetypal Temple, the “ pattern” of all temples in lower worlds. And its worship was the first and most perfect expres- sion of the eternal conception of worship which lay in the bosom of God. In the fulness of time, God created this earth, and placed upon it inhabitants, made “in His own image,” with hearts full of His own conception of a holy and perfect worship. And He gave them a holy day sanctified for holy worship. Thus God filled the earth with a worship which—excepting in so far as it was disordered by the Fall, and limited by the condi- tions of man’s earthly existence—became everywhere a copy of the original worship in the heavens. We cannot doubt that this is the true account of the genesis of human worship, and of its relation to the Worship in Heaven. Consciously or unconsciously, we copy and reproduce the Heavenly worship as best we can. We may call this Instinct : perhaps it is more. As all our acts record themselves in Heaven; so it is conceivable that vibra- tions of Heaven’s joyous melodies may reach us here, 144 WORSHIP IN HEAVEN. and, when our dull hearts are attuned, may thrill our inner senses, But however this may be, we, at best, reproduce Heaven’s worship very imperfectly; for we are “compassed with infirmity,’ and we see and hear and know only “in part.” Whilst we are in our present phase of existence, the pure light of the Eternal Sanc- tuary is broken for us, and is tinged with the mists and shadows which surround us here. ( 545) ) |e Fa) xo Bevet ie Ba Worsbip in theatbenism. CHAPTER XIII. HEATHEN WORSHIP—P7vrinciples. I. Expiation.—2. Prayer.—3. Tithes and Offerings.—4. Formalism. 1.—Lxpiation. GOD, having created and beautified Worship in Heaven, and made it the crowning glory around His throne, the highest, purest, and most beautiful efflorescence of the created universe, willed to fill this earth with a worship which should be, in its lower sphere and more limited measure of perfection, a copy of the eternal worship in the skies. And in order that men should accomplish this His Will, and worthily worship and adore His Everlasting Name, He has endowed them with an Instinct of Worship, and has, as saith an Eastern sage, spread abroad the green grass as an emerald kneeling carpet beneath all nations. “All the earth doth wor- ship Thee, the Father everlasting.” “Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy Glory.” And as with the infinite glories of heaven, so with the countless K 146 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. glories’ of this earth: they are the adornments of the Eternal Ritual of Love by which the whole creation adores His Majesty. These glories, themselves, in the first instance, the expression of God’s Love to all His works, are peculiarly fitted to become the devotional expression of our love to Him. We shall find in the following pages that, notwith- standing the darkening of our higher perceptions, and the shock which the Devotional Instinct has received, by the fall and corruption of our race, there still lingers almost everywhere in Heathenism, a more or less perfect ideal of a pure, beautiful, holy and joyous worship This high ideal of the worship and service due to God, coupled with a deep consciousness of the demerit, vileness, and imperfection of ourselves, and of all that we do, have filled our race with a sense of guilt, and of the need of sanctification and cleansing, before we can worthily approach God in Worship. God’s servants among the Heathen have always understood, at least in part, the spirituality, and, for sinful beings, the difficulty of true worship. They have always, in some measure, understood that worship is an approach of the soiled spirit of the creature to the Spirit of the Creator and Judge; and that no such approach is possible for us without expzatory cleansing. There is not a land under the sun, in which heathen worshippers have not, in a greater or less degree, felt the need of expzation. The sense of God's wrath against sin, the sense of human corruption, of failure in duty, of wilful sin,—in a word, all that we mean by the sense of guilt in God’s sight, has everywhere and always been, in some measure, a mysterious and predominating pheno- menon of the human consciousness. Man is often, for a. time, blinded by his vices, and misled by his vanity, and by the flattery of those around him: but all the EXPIATION. 147 while he carries an accuser in his own heart; that accuser is Conscience; whose voice cannot always be silenced. The soul, having attained to a knowledge of its own cuilt, cannot find comfort in the hope of impunity. It cannot regard the terrible secret of its guilt as an absolute secret, known to no external authority. For the soul is illuminated not only with an intuitive per- ception of its own demerit, but also with a fearful con- sciousness that all its most secret faults lie “naked and open” before the dread tribunal and burning wrath of an All-Seeing Righteous Judge. This intuition varies in intensity in different individuals, and in the same individuals at different times. But it is always, even in heathen lands, bringing home, with solemn emphasis, now to one heart, now to another, the world-old question, “ How should a man be just with God?”! Man knows only too well that he weeds reconciliation with God, atonement, pardon, peace, expiatory cleans- ing. Consequently, expiatory sacrifices of various kinds have been in constant use among almost all nations. The sacrificial institution is, indeed, one of the vastest and most mysterious institutions in the world. Found in every variety of form, it everywhere preserves the same central characteristics, It every- where witnesses to the need of expiation. We have only to look through well-known books of reference and of travel, to see that the whole religious and social life of the heathen world was and is based on sacrifices.” 1 Job 9. 2. * Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, Art. /dolatry. Becker and Marquardt, Handbuch der Rimischen Alterthiimer,1V. Picart’s Religious Ceremonies of All Natwns. Magee On the Atonement, Dis. V. Wood’s Natural fiistory of Man. 148 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. Among the various forms of Heathen devotion, those seem to have been weakest which allowed the doctrine of Expiation to be most obscured; and those, upon the other hand, which gave most prominence to this doctrine, acquired most power over the hearts of men. For a considerable time, both before and after the birth of Christ, the old heathen systems of the Roman world rapidly declined, and Eastern forms of worship, notably that of Isis, spread over Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Britain. The marvellous triumphs of the worship of Isis, at that period, are attributed by Becker and Marquardt! to its bold promises to lead its worshippers, by expiatory cleansing, to peace of conscience and sanctification of life. This form of devotion succeeded for a time, because it met—or rather, because it loudly and boldly professed to meet—the deepest need of the human heart, the need of expiatory cleansing. There is abundance of accessible information respect- ing heathen Sacrifices. No subject is more frequently alluded to by both ancient and modern writers. Scores of closely printed pages would be required for even the most condensed account of the multitudes of Sacrifices of every kind offered in all quarters of the world, with the occasions on which they were considered appropriate, and the elaborate Sacrificial rituals which were deemed necessary tothem. In connection with the wide subject of Sacrificial Ritual (which is not the subject of the present volume), it is not necessary here to do more than mention briedly a few examples of Sacrificial rites, illustrative of the doctrine of Lapzatzon. (1.) Herodotus, describing the sacrificial ordinances of the ancient Egyptians, tells us that in every sacrifice the following imprecation was pronounced upon the head of 1 Handbuch der Romischen Alterthiimer, IV. p. 86. EXPIATION. 149 the victim :—“If any evil is about to befall either those that now sacrifice or Egypt in general, may it be averted on this head.” The head of the victim was then regarded as bearing the sacrificer’s guilt and the Divine wrath due toit. From this custom, the Egyptians would not taste of the head of any animal.} (2.) The Romans had a custom of sacrificing a bull in a manner peculiarly expressive of expiatory cleans- ing. A deep pit was made in the ground, and covered with a strong wooden platform, perforated with chinks and holes. The worshipper who sought expiation was let down into this deep pit. The bull was then led to the spot with much ceremony: was placed standing upon the platform; and was there killed with a stab. The victim’s blood, flowing through the holes in the platform, descended in copious streams upon the worshipper beneath; who afterwards came forth with face and dress covered with blood; and was regarded as washed, atoned for, and born anew.? (3.) Deeply significant as such rites as the above were, and consolatory as they must ordinarily have been to the consciences of devout worshippers, there is, never- theless, abundant evidence that, in hours of supreme and agonizing self-condemnation, the heathen were haunted by a presentiment that all their customary sacrificial rites would prove ineffectual. At such times, they felt that, in the very nature of things, “it is impos- sible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins:”3 that the terrible reality of guilt requires an equally terrible reality in the sacrifice which must expiate it. Hence, the awful expedient of Human Sacrifices, ‘“ Human sacrifices,’ says Grimm, “are from SU eroda 1530. b * Becker and Marquardt, IV. p. 96. Heb. Io. 4. 150 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. their nature and origin expiative; some great disaster, some heinous crime can only be purged and blotted out by human blood. With all nations of antiquity they were an old-established custom.”! This dark stain rests upon a// the heathen religions, but in different degrees. In some countries, human sacrifices were known only as the last awful expedient, in times of overwhelming calamity: in others, they were of daily occurrence. Usually, slaves and prisoners of war were the victims sacrificed. But sometimes the nearest and dearest relatives of the sacrificer were offered ; and their blcod was supposed to possess the greatest efficacy. The heathen well understood the import of the question, ‘Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” ? The victims of human sacrifices shared the common belief in the atoning efficacy of their death; and instances of voluntary self-sacrifice were not unknown. The aged Chinese monarch, Chingtang, who offered himself a sacrifice to God, is represented as supplicating at the altar that his life may be accepted as an atone- ment for the sins of the people.® (4.) Not only did the heathen perceive the need of expiation, but they also perceived, with wonderful clearness, the extent of that need. The Romans and all ancient nations felt that men themselves, and all the affairs of life in which men engaged, constantly required expiatory cleansing by sacrifice and prayer, in order that they might be acceptable to God, and obtain the Divine blessing. There were sacrifices and prayers at the beginnings and endings of all public and private undertakings: sacrifices and prayers in the temples, in 1 Teutonic Theology, 1. pp. 44-46. G. Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, p. 235. 2 Micah 6. 7. 3 Magee On the Atonement, Dis. V. PRAYER. 151 the vineyards, in the fields, in the camps, in the homes, in the markets, and in the places of public assembly, at the beginning and end of every meeting. 2.— Prayer. The consciences of the heathen told them that worship and prayer were no exception to the general rule which required all human affairs to be cleansed and sanctified by sacrifices. Heathen prayer was based upon sacrifice, and deemed to be acceptable through it, He who would approach God in prayer, was to come with a sacrifice. The sacrifice itself was to be without blemish, pure and efficacious. The sacrificial vessels, the sacrificer’s dress, and his hands, were to be washed and perfectly clean. And so, pure and clean in body and soul, he was to pray with sincerity and fervour. Even when locally apart from sacrifices, the Heathen, like Jews and Christians, still regarded their prayers as resting upon sacrifice, as upon a prop or support. Prayer is a characteristic phenomenon of human life. We ordinarily meet with it wherever we meet with any branch of the human race.” Were it possible to bring the whole of human existence so within our field of view, that we could, with one gaze, see, spread out before us, all nations and families of men, with all their customs and modes of life, in all lands and ages, and in every degree of civilization, we should see that Prayer is practically co-extensive with humanity. Take, for ex- ample, the ancient Greeks. S. Paul said to the men of Athens, “In all things I perceive that ye are somewhat religious.” > This was the character, not of the Athen- 1 Vitringa, De Synagoga Vetere, p. 307. Becker and Marquardt, Hand- buch der Rimischen Alterthiimer, IV. pp. 380, 416, 464. 2 Jellett, Zhe Hfficacy of Prayer, p. 88. 3 Acts 17. 22. (Marg.) 152 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. ians only, but of all the ancient Greeks. The Pseudo- Herodotus’ Life of Homer is full of allusions to religion and to the great Poet’s prayers. This work, said to be the earliest extant memoir of Homer, may safely be relied upon as giving a true picture of life among the ancient Greeks. That life was full of ardent religious feelings, sacrifices, and prayers. Homer himself in his writings gives a similar picture of Greek life. In the ninth book of the J/iad, he represents Phoenix, the aged tutor of Achilles, as persuading his wayward pupil to subdue his anger, lay aside his fierce personal resentments, and yield to the prayers of his countrymen that he should defend the Greeks against their enemies. Phoenix appeals to the example of the gods: they hear the prayers of men, and grant their requests; and, therefore, Achilles should, like the gods, suffer himself to be influenced by the urgent entreaties of men, especially of his own countrymen. ‘ Even the gods themselves, whose virtue and honour and might are greater than thine, are flexible, and suffer themselves to be prevailed upon by entreaties. Prayers are the daughters of mighty Jupiter. Whoever will reverence the daughters of Jupiter, him they greatly assist.” ? Other Greek writers allude frequently to the prayers which accompanied sacrifices.’ The heathen mariners, probably Phanicians, in the storm described in the first chapter of the Book of Jonah, “cried every man unto his god.” The heathen shipmaster awaked the unfaithful Prophet, and sum- moned him to his prayers. “What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God 1 Life of Homer, xvii, xviii, xix, xxx, xxxii, xxxvii. 2 Zl. ix. 495-510. 3 E.g., see Sophocles, Zadipus Coloneus, 484: Herod. ii. 52: Thucy- dides, ii. 47. PRAYER. 153 will think upon us, and we perish not.” Again, before casting forth Jonah in obedience to the Divine command, the mariners, anxious to clear themselves of guilt in his death, “cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech Thee, O Lord, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood. For Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee.” The Wznxevites were equally familiar with the duty and necessity of prayer. When, after the casting forth and miraculous deliverance of Jonah, he yielded to the Divine will, Nineveh and her king repented at his preaching ; and a royal proclamation was issued fora great act of national humiliation and prayer. “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn away every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger that we perish not?” The inspired Prophet tells us that these heathen prayers were heard, and graciously answered. As in the above instance, Fasts, often of long con- tinuance, were, with other austerities and acts of peni- tence, frequent accompaniments of heathen prayers} In the public and private life of the ancient Romans, prayers held an important place. The Roman satirists Persius and Juvenal? ridiculed, with heartless severity, the foolish and selfish prayers of their fellow-country- men, and especially those which were taught to children by nurses. The ingenuity of these clever men would have been better employed in guiding and elevating the 1 Jonah I. 5,6, 14; 3. 7,9. Becker and Marquardt, IV. p. 96. Herod., il. 40. * Persius, Saz. ii.; Juvenal, Sav. x. 154 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. popular devotions, than in turning them to ridicule. Horace, in a better spirit, suggests a prayer. What, he asks, does the poet beg from Apollo? “What does he pray for, while he pours from the flagon the first libation? Not rich crops, not goodly flocks, not gold or ivory: but the quiet enjoyment cof his acquisitions, and to possess good health, an unimpaired understand- ing, honour in old age, and his loved art.” ! We shall find, in subsequent chapters of this volume, that prayer forms a part of the various heathen worships in Central and Eastern Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and the neighbouring islands. In short, as stated above, Prayer is practically co-extensive with humanity. The importance and weight of this conclusion are not materially diminished by the fact that there is in human nature a powerful element of resistance to Prayer; and that this resistance is successful in over- coming the tendency to prayer in many individual cases. There is a precisely similar resistance, from the corrup- tion of our nature, to all the higher moral and spiritual instincts; and with similar results, in individual cases. There is a world-wide conflict between the lower and the higher nature in man. The devil and the beast in man’s heart seek to destroy the “image of God,” and often succeed in destroying that “image.” The higher instincts are often paralysed and rendered inoperative. But the voice of conscience with respect to the real character of this inward struggle is ordinarily too strong and too distinct to be misunderstood. In theory at least, if not in practice, the vast majority of men have always been constrained by conscience to recognise that the following of the lower nature in its conflict with the 1 Horace, Book I., Ode xxxi. TITHES AND OFFERINGS. 155 higher nature is unnatural and indefensible. And so, notwithstanding the constant severity of this conflict, and its often disastrous results, the Divine compulsion of conscience has made mankind asa whole persevere in the lifting up of their hands and hearts to God in Prayer, and in the performance of other duties suggested by our highest instincts. 3.—Tithes and Offerings. The heart to which God’s love has been manifested desires to pour forth itself and all that it has, as a con- tinual sacrifice to God. This desire, which has led tens of thousands to give up all, even life itself, for God, is the strongest emotion of which man is capable. Give it a fair field, and every other impulse will succumb to it. True worship must recognise the existence of this mighty and noble emotion, must cherish it, and give it continually a practical opportunity for action in worship. Such an opportunity is afforded in the giving of “alms and oblations.” Many a grateful and loving heart expresses its self-sacrificing devotion to God in this way. All religions, Christian, Jewish, and Heathen, have recognised that thank-offerings of our substance should accompany the thank-offerings of our lips. Our Church Prayer Book wisely incorporates the public siving of “alms and oblations” as an integral part of worship. The giving of a éenth, or tithe, was a recognised principle amongst the Heathen. Agesilaus, after the victory of Coroneia, proceeded to Delphi, and offered to the god Apollo one hundred talents, being a ¢en¢h of the spoil taken.! Croesus and Cyrus recognised the 1 Xenophon, He//. iv. 3, 21; see alsoi. 7, I0. 156 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. principle of thankful giving to the gods, and a Zenth as the proportion to be so given. Herodotus mentions an instance of Samian traders, after a prosperous voyage, dedicating a ¢enth of their gains in the temple of Juno.” Instances need not be multiplied. Greeks, Romans, Carthagenians, Arabs, Persians, recognised the giving of a tenth as a part of worship.2 The same devotion has received the inspired sanction of Holy Scripture. Abraham presented a ¢enth of the spoils of his victory to Melchizedeck, Priest of the Most High God. Jacob, after his vision at Luz, devoted a tenth of all his pro- perty to God, in case he should return home in safety. And, long afterwards, the Mosaic Law, in the appoint- ment of the Levitical Tithes, recognised, consolidated, and enforced a devotion common to religious men in all nations.‘ 4.—formalism. In prayer, the spirit of the worshipper, according to its measure of light, approaches and speaks to God, This is a spiritual act. Hence, to worldly and unspiri- tual persons, prayer is irksome, and is liable to de- generate into formalism. The spirit of devotion is lost ; but the form of words is retained, and the repetition of this form is supposed to be efficacious, But if one mechanical repetition of a sacred formula be efficacious, why should not ¢wo repetitions be doubly efficacious ? and why should not ¢kree repetitions have thrice the effect? Once grant the fundamental principle of For- malism—that one mechanical recitation of a sacred formula is an effective prayer—and it follows, by an irresistible logic, that a hundred similar recitations will 1 Herod. i. 89. 2 Herod. iv. 152. 3 Smith, Dictionary of the Bible, III. p. 1516, Art. Tithe. * Gen. 14. 20; 28. 32. Ley. 27. 30-33. FORMALISM. 157 produce a hundred separate and equal effects, that is, will be a hundred times more effective than one re- petition. When Christ came to the Jewish Church, He found it ripe for final apostasy, but still praying. He also found the Heathen world praying, although fearfully corrupt. The instinct of devotion had survived the loss of spiritual light and moral purity ; and was everywhere exerting itself somehow, as it needs must do: but its prayers had become ostentatious, unreal, superstitious, formal, ‘“ When ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypo- crites: for they love to pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.” “And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” 4 Our Lord’s allusion to the “ vazn repetitions” of the heathen shows what was the heathen custom in His time. This has been too often overlooked. The lamentable corruptions of heathen worship, especially in Eastern and Southern Asia, present such startling resemblances to familiar features of medieval Chris- tianity, that, until recently, almost all travellers agreed in representing oriental Heathenism as having borrowed largely from Roman Catholic missionaries, Modern research, however, has fully demonstrated that the borrowing has been in quite the opposite direction. Oriental Heathenism did not borrow its tonsures, flagellations, relics, rosaries, and “ vain repetitions” from the medieval Church: but the medieval Church bor- rowed these from Oriental heathenism, and had ample opportunities for so doing. The rosary, for instance, was not generally used in Christian devotion until about 1 Matt..6. 5, 7. 158 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. the eleventh century. Its introduction is ascribed to Peter the Hermit, A.D. 1090. But rosaries and “vain repetitions” were in common use amongst Hindus and Buddhists more than a thousand years before that date, and are in common use still, Every Tibetian Buddhist worshipper has a rosary of 108 beads, with which he counts his prayers or repetitions. He firmly believes in the efficacy of these “vain repetitions;” and this belief is confidently followed out to its most extreme logical results. Curious machines, called Praying Wheels, filled with prayers and passages from the sacred books, stand in every open space in the towns and villages of Tibet; and turn, like windmills, in every breeze, or revolve in every stream. Praying Flags are also employed. These Flags, upon which the six most sacred syllables are written, are raised aloft upon flag-staffs; and when the Flags are blown open by the wind, and the holy words are turned towards heaven, it is supposed that a prayer has been offered up, which will bring down blessings upon the surrounding country. In their public worship, the Tibetian priests and monks chant their hymns and anthems, sometimes in unison, and sometimes anti- phonally, the verses being sung alternately by two choirs. Often, however, to save time, each monk simul- taneously chants a different verse; by which device, where the monks are numerous, the whole body chant an entire chapter in the time required to chant a single verse. We need not be surprised to learn that in Tibet this blighting formalism has completely destroyed the world-wide and world-old system of congregational re- sponding. All witnesses seem to agree that in that country “the people,’ or congregation, have become mere silent spectators of the worship. FORMALISM. 159 Although exhibited in less conspicuous forms, the belief in the efficacy of “vain repetitions” prevails far and wide in the East. The Japanese count their re- petitions with rosaries. The Indian faqirs repeat the sacred words Yé Hu (O He, God) and Ya Héddt (O Guide) several thousand times in a night, and believe that there is great efficacy in so doing. The Moham- medans of Egypt use rosaries with ninety-nine beads.! 1 Max Miiller, Zutroduction to the Science of Religion, p. 83. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, pp. 209-211, 250. Monier Williams, Hznduzsm, p. 6. Picart, Religious Ceremonies of all Nations, IV., pp. 317, 335. Smith, Dictionary of Christian Biography, 1., p. 351, Art. Buddha: Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, 1]., p. 1819, Art. Rosary. Lane’s Modern Egyp- teas 1. pe 113. ( 160 ) CHARTERS DM, HOURS, PLACES, AND DIRECTION OF HEATHEN WORSHIP. 1. Hours of Heathen Worship.—z. Places of Heathen Worship.— 3. Westward direction of Heathen Worship. 1.—Hours of Heathen Worship. THE stated Hours of Public Worship among idolatrous nations are usually at Swnrise, Noon, and Sunset; of which that at Sunrise appears to be the most important. Often, however, at great festivals, the religious exercises are continued throughout the entire day, and some- times for several days together.! The Mohammedans have five hours of prayer each day. The Mohammedan day commencing at sunset, the first time of prayer is about four minutes after sun- set: the second, when the evening has closed and it is quite dark: the third, a few minutes after day-break: the fourth, a few minutes after noon: and the fifth, about mid-time between noon and nightfall. The Prophet would not have his followers pray exactly at sunrise, noon, and sunset, because, he said, infidels worshipped the sun at such times.? 1 Smith’s Dictionary of Christian Biography, 1. p. 351, Art. Buddha. Picart’s Religious Ceremonies of All Nations, I. pp. 5,6; II. pp. 77, 78. 3 Lane’s Modern Egyptians, I. pp. 103, 104. PLACES OF WORSHIP. 161 2.—Places of Heathen Worship. In the most remote ages of antiquity, heathen wor- ship appears to have been conducted around open Altars.| These Altars were, for the most part, erected in forests, or on hill tops, “high places,” in ancient sanctuaries, around which the devotions of the people had centred for many generations. Before the time of Abraham (born 1996 B.c.), religion had become so far corrupted by idolatry, that Altars were usually sur- mounted by Idols, or representations of the gods, Both the Altars and the Idols were often exceedingly simple and rude in construction. But in many cases, the Altar and the Idol, with their supports, surroundings, and approaches, were, in dimensions and architectural splen- dour, among the most magnificent works of the age which produced them. As time went on, and the know- ledge of architecture grew, especially in civilised com- munities, the number of these ornamented Altars greatly increased. Eventually, almost all famous Altars were, by the action of a true and universal instinct in the hearts of the worshippers, surrounded by architectural decorations, which added much to the beauty and dignity of the worship. These architectural decorations are known to us as the Temples of Ancient and Modern Heathenism. Although historically of much later date than the worship which they enshrine, these Temples were constructed with a reverent regard for the require- ments of that worship. Temples fostered worship, but did not produce it. On the contrary, worship produced Temples, and impressed upon them the peculiar char- acter and form which everywhere distinguish them. 1 Westropp, Handbook of Archaeology, p. 38. Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture, pp. 3, 5. Temples were probably erected as early as 2000 B.C. L 162 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. The following facts will assist the reader to form a generally correct idea of Ileathen Places of Worship :— I. Ordinarily, heathen Altars, whether surrounded by temples or not, have their principal front towards the East; excepting where the nature of the ground, or other special cause, makes this arrangement incon- venient or impossible. 2. The Idol, or statue of the god, stands aloft on a pedestal, at the West side of the Altar, with its face towards the East. 3. The worshippers approach the Altar from the East, and stand, bow or prostrate themselves, and wor- ship Westward, with their faces towards the principal fromt of the Altar, and towards the Idol. This is the general rule in idolatrous heathen worship: but as there are exceptions to the rule, and as the subject is one of considerable interest, I shall devote the next Section to a more detailed consideration of the Direction of Heathen Worship, 4. Some distance to the East of the Altar, there is usually a sacred fountain, well, or tank, at which the worshippers purify themselves before they approach the Altar and engage in worship. 5. The principal (although not necessarily the only) approach to this fountain is of course from the East, and is often guarded and adorned by enormous gate- ways of indescribable beauty, which form the Eastern and Principal Front of the Temple. 6. Walls, colonnades, and other architectural adorn- ments, enclosing the sacred area, form the Northern, Southern, and Western Sides of the Temple. 7. In some cases, the entire Temple is roofed in, like our Churches and Cathedrals: the West end, where the Idol stands, immediately behind the Altar, being richly decorated, as the Sanctuary or Shrine of the god. PLACES OF WORSHIP. 163 8. In other cases, especially in hot countries and in temples of great extent, the Sanctuary is often the only portion provided with a roof. g. In many of the greater temples, built upon elevated sites, a huge flight of stone steps, extending the entire breadth of the temple, leads up to the great Eastern gateway. Ascending these steps, and entering the temple, the worshipper finds himself in the first or outer court, where the Sacred Fountain usually is. On the further or Western side of this court, there is often a second flight of steps, leading up to another magnificent gateway. Within this second gateway there is another court, where the throng of worshippers assemble in front of the Altar, which is situated towards the Western extremity of the temple, on an elavated platform, sur- mounted by the Idol in its richly decorated shrine, Around the Altar and Idol, there is ordinarily, in large temples, a broad pathway or aisle, by which the wor- shippers circumambulate the Altar and Idol in religious dances and processions. When temples have several courts, entered by suc- cessive gateways, one beyond and above the other, these gateways are not only of great beauty, but of enormous breadth and height; and are so arranged in perspective, that worshippers coming in the distance along the main road from the East, can see through all these gateways, and worship the Idol long before they enter the Temple. However great the distance may be, the worshippers, on catching the first view of the Idol, bow their heads or prostrate themselves upon the earth. 10. The Outer Courts of great temples, being often of vast extent, are usually, for the convenience of the worshippers, provided at the North, South, and West, with side-entrances ; which are often colossal and magni- ficent gateways, surmounted by lofty towers, and only 164 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. surpassed in dimensions and splendour by the Great Entrance at the East. 3.— Westward Direction of Heathen Worship. Some of the Northern tribes of ancient Europe looked Northwards when praying and sacrificing! To residents in high Northern latitudes, the North would naturally seem to be the centre of the heavens, and of heavenly phenomena. Sun-Worshippers, when worshipping the Sun-god without the intervention of Idols, look towards the quarter of the heavens in which he is then visible. In Arabia, as soon as the upper margin of the ascend- ing sun rises above the desert edge, the travelling Bedouins, without dismounting, turn Eastward with their beasts, and facing the rising disk, which glows like a ball of fire, recite alternately certain formulas of adoration and invocation. These devotions are con- tinued till the sun’s entire orb is clear above the horizon.? The fourth of the idolatrous abominations shown to Ezekiel was a band of five-and-twenty men standing, in the court of the priests, “with their backs towards the Temple of the Lord, and their faces towards the East; and they worshipped the sun toward the East.” “To pour libations, turning to the rising morn,’ * was a well-known devotion in sun-worship. Xerxes, at sun- rise, poured out of a golden cup a rich libation into the Hellespont, and offered up prayer to the sun, that no accident might befall him in his invasion of Europe.® Ptolemy Philopater, after a victory, turned his elephants 1 Grimm, Zeutonic Mythology, I. p. 34. 2 Palgrave’s Central and Eastern Arabia, I. p. 8. 3 Ezek. 8.16, “ Sophocles, Gidipus Coloneus, 4773 Virgil, 4m. xii. 172. 6 Herodotus, vii. 54. WESTWARD DIRECTION OF HEATHEN WORSHIP, 165 to the sun, that they might offer their supposed adora- tion. When the sun is almost overhead at noon, Indian sun-worshippers lift water in the right hand, and, looking up towards the sun, pour the water out as a libation, and kiss the hand, repeating an invocation. American Indians, during the offering of prayers and sacrifices to the sun, hold up their calumets, or smoking-pipes, towards the sun (an action emblematical of peace); and this they do, on great festive occasions, from time to time, all through the day, from sunrise to sunset.) To bow down with the face Eastward, and to kiss the ground at sunrise; and to bow similarly, and kiss the cround, with the face Westward at sunset, are common devotions amongst sun-worshippers.2. The three prin- cipal daily services in honour of the Sun-god are, first, at Sunrise, when the worship is of course Eastward ; second, at Noon, when the worship is toward the meridian; and third, at Sunset, when the worship is Westward. The direction of Sun-worship, therefore, when this worship is performed without the intervention of Idols, varies from hour to hour, with the position of the Sun-god himself. But when /do/s of the Sun are worshipped in temples, sun-worshippers, like other idolaters, pay their devotions Westward; and their temples are constructed for Westward Worship. It should be noted, however, that Heathen temples built beside sacred rivers, like the Nile,’ are often con- structed with the Principal Front and Entrance towards the stream of the River-god: in which cases, the direc- tion of the worship is necessarily without regard to the Cardinal points. Buddhists worship in every direction. When building *Picart; LI. 'p. 7S. * Badger’s Mestorians and their Rituals, I. p. 116. > Egyptian Antiquities, I. p. 218. 166 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. their temples, they pay no attention to the points of the compass. Mohammedans are not idolaters: but I may here mention that they always worship towards Mecca, as Jews worship towards Jerusalem. With the exceptions above indicated, the whole of Heathen Idolatrous Worship, properly so called—that is, worship paid to zdo/s—has been for ages, and still is, fixed Westward Worship. The temples of both ancient and modern heathenism put this beyond dispute. I will here abridge from my Hlearty Services! the results of an investigation into this subject, which I made some years ago. “The great temples of antiquity, whether dedicated to the Sun-god or to other divinities, were ordinarily built for Westward worship. The principal front and entrance door, or doors, were at the East end.2 Far towards the west was the great altar. And still closer to the west end, beyond and above the great altar, towered the principal idol of the temple, with its face looking Eastward upon its worshippers. The people, therefore, entered the temple “by the way of the sun,” coming from the East; and worshipped, still “by the way of the sun’s motion,” towards the West, where the great altar and idol were seen. “Mr. Westropp tells us that ‘most of the temples still extant in Attica, Ionia, Sicily, have their entrance towards the East ;’ and‘ Rome, the disciple of Greece, imitated it in general, in the construction of its temples, and what has been said of the temples of the Greeks can be almost entirely applied to those of the Romans,’ ® “The ancient temple of Crendi, in Malta, stands 1 Hearty Services, pp. 180 et sq. 2 Plutarch says, ‘“ The temples opened toward the East” (Zz/e of Numa). 3 Westropp’s Handbook of Archaeology, pp. 24, 28. WESTWARD DIRECTION OF HEATHEN WORSHIP. 167 nearly East and West, with the entrance at the East end, and the Altar at the West.’ The temple of A’sculapius at Carthage has the entrance facing the East, and the holy place at the West end.? The same rule appears to have been followed in the construction of most of the Egyptian temples, not affected by the proximity of the sacred Nile. This we might expect from the close religious connection between Egypt and Greece. ‘Indeed, says Herodotus,’ ‘the names of almost all the gods came from Egypt into Greece. And it is the received opinion that Greece derived many of her religious ceremonies, and the art of building temples, from the Egyptains. Therefore, the Greek temples being built facing the East raises a strong presumption that their originals, the temples of Egypt, faced Eastward too. The great Egyptian temples of Karnac, Memnonium, Medinet Haboo, Koum Ombos, Ispambul, Cazar el Goetta, and El Cargé, seem to have been built East and West, with the Principal Front at the East, and the Worship Westward.* Passing into Asia, the same law reappears. The Jewish Tabernacle, erected in the wilderness, was, like the Egyptian temples, entered from the East, with the sanctuary at the West.° The worship was Westward. The great temple at Jerusalem was similarly con- structed. It stood East and West, with the principal entrance at the East, the Sanctuary at the West, and the worship Westward. In the adjoining country of 1 Archa@ologia, Vol. XXIX. pp. 237-240. 2 Davis, Carthage and her Remains, p. 382. 3 Euterpe, 50. 4 Frith’s Upper Egypt and Ethiopia Photographed. Edmonstone Journey to Two of the Oases of Upper Egypt, pp. 65, 71, 73. Lgyptian Antiquities, I. p. 130. > Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, U1. pp. 1415, 1416, 1451, 1452, Arts. Zader- nacle and Temple. 168 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. Moab, the Doric temples of Zebib and Um Weleed, and the Roman temple of Rabba, bear witness to the universal prevalence of this type. Their principal fronts and entrances were at the East, their sanctuaries at the West, and the worship Westward.! In Syria the temples were in all cases constructed for Westward worship. The Syrian temples of Thel- thatha, Hibbariyeth, Aiha, Debir el Ashayir, Rukleh, Zekweh, Kusur, Neba, Niha, Nakleh, Husu Niha, and Ain Hershah, were entered from the East, had the principal Sanctuary at the West, and the Worship Westward? I say, “the principal sanctuary” at the West: for side altars and images—minor sanctuaries— were common in heathen temples. The great temple of Diana at Ephesus, recently dis- covered by Mr. J. T. Wood, appears to have been built East and West, with the ornamental front and principal entrance at the East end.2 “The external columns, which, in double rows, lined the North and South sides of this temple, were fluted from the top to the base. At the west end, the external columns had ove tier of sculptures in relief, reaching about szx feet high. Above these sculptures there was the usual fluting. But the columns at the East end appear to have had three such tiers of sculpture, reaching to a height of nearly ¢wenty feet from the base.” The East front, therefore, as shown in Mr. Wood’s elevations, greatly surpassed the West front in wealth of ornamentation. In Central and Eastern Asia all the temples (except- 1 Tristram’s Land of Moad, pp. 117, 172, 180. * Capt. Warren’s Zemples of Cale-Syria, in Palestine Exploration, Vol. I, pp. 184, 187, 191, 194, 197-199, 202-204, 208. 3 J. T. Wood's Discoveries at Ephesus, pp. 178, 257, 262-269. The case of this temple is fully discussed in my Hearty Services, pp. 183-185, and in the foot-note there. WESTWARD DIRECTION OF HEATHEN WORSHIP. 169 ing those of the Buddhists, which are built in every direction) are constructed for Westward worship. The great temple of the Sun-god at Hatra stands East and West: the only entrance is at the East end, and is richly ornamented. The celebrated temple of the Sun- god, called the Black Pagoda, at Kanarak, in Orissa Proper, has its magnificent front and entrance at the East end. The great temple of Bhobanéser, in the same province, has its principal gateway, which is at the East end, guarded by two monstrous griffins, or winged lions, in a sitting posture. Bhobanéser and the whole of Orissa Proper are described as full of temples, similarly constructed.2 The great temple of Oomga, described in the Fournal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal; has, as usual, the principal front and entrance door at the East end. There is “a throne on the west wall (facing the East) on which” the symbols of the Divinity “ were formerly placed.” Idols are still placed upon this throne. Multitudes of temples are found throughout this region, and all have the principal front at the East, and the sanctuary at the West end. So marked is this arrangement that the writer who de- scribes them is much perplexed by finding ove temple, at Deo, whose entrance was at the West instead of the East. He suggests that it may have been a temple of Buddha. “American temples and worship were closely con- nected with those of Asia. In the New World, as in the Old, worship in heathen temples appears to have been westward. The great temple of the Sun at Cuzco in Peru, called “the Place of Gold”—the most richly decorated and the most renowned of all American 1 Rawlinson’s Six’h Orten/al Monarchy, p. 378. 2 Asiatic Researches, Vol. XV. pp. 308, 326, 329. 3 Journal of the Asiatic Soctety of Bengal, Vol. XVI. pp. 656. 170 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. temples—had the great portal and entrance door at the East end, and the worship Westward. Within the temple the West wall of the sanctuary was covered with an enormous plate of gold, thickly powdered with emeralds and other precious stones. In the centre of this magnificent wall was emblazoned in gold and gems of all colours a representation of the Deity, consisting, like the personifications of the sun with us, of a human countenance looking forth from amidst innumerable rays of light which emanated from it in every direction. Through the vast Eastern door the rays of the morning sun fell direct upon the image of the god, and made it appear to glow with supernatural light and splendour of colouring.” 4 What Mr. Mahaffy says, with special reference to Grecian temples, appears, therefore, to have a world- wide application :—“ As a general rule, temples dedi- cated to gods had the statue looking Eastward, and, therefore, the main door at the East front.” Of course there were exceptions to this rule. Difficulties con- nected with the site, and the natural desire to place the ornamental front of the building in view of some public thoroughfare, or towards a sacred river, occasion- ally led to a departure from the general rule that all temples should stand due East and West, with the principal front and entrance at the East end. We know that, for various reasons, a few of our English churches are not oriented. But such exceptions are unimportant. They do not affect the general rule. Heathen temples are as regularly constructed for West- ward worship as churches in England are for Eastward worship; and Heathen congregations pray and worship 1 Hearty Services, p. 186. Prescott’s His/ory of the Conquest of Peru, 1. PP, 99, 9I. 2 Mahaffy’s Greek Antiquities, p. 85. WESTWARD DIRECTION OF HEATHEN WORSHIP. 171 Westward as uniformly as Church of England congrega- tions pray and worship Eastward. I have been told by eye-witnesses that heathen priests and officials, when performing the ceremonies and manual acts connected with their sacrifices, move about freely and take various positions around and before the Altar, so as best to discharge their duties and be seen by the people. But in all solemn addresses to the gods, and in solemn adorations, the priests and people look in the same direction, namely, towards the idol, or idolatrous symbol, at the west side of the Altar. The Westward direction of Heathen worship seems to have been due to two causes. First, the Heathen consider it important that, at their principal service, which is at sunrise, the face of the idol should be glorified by the first beams of the sun. Hence the idol is placed looking eastward, and the worship paid to the idol is necessarily westward. Secondly, a widespread veneration for the sun appears to have been the main cause which impressed a westward direction on Heathen worship. Whether the sun was regarded as a god, or as a divine symbol, it was considered improper, in public processions, and on solemn occasions, to move in a direction contrary to the sun’s motion. Consequently, the heathen came up to their altars from the East and worshipped towards the West, in the direction of the sun's motion. I shall return to this subject in the next chapter, when speaking of the Circumambulation of Altars. All Idol-worship, however pure and beautiful in its original conception and intention, tends, by the opera- tion of a mysterious law of nature, to promote the spiri- tual and moral degeneracy of the worshippers. The use of idols contracts the spiritual imagination and 1 Wenderson’s Folk Lore (2d Ed.), pp. 61, 62. 12 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. makes men incapable of realising the invisible glory of God. Bright exceptions there doubtless are in every country: pious and spiritually-minded idolaters who live above their system, and hold true communion with God. But I will ask the reader to believe that no language which I could use would give him an adequate conception of the fearful moral and spiritual degradation, vileness, and depravity of idolatrous worship. Idolatry has been everywhere Satan’s work, and has everywhere, with awful and unerring certainty, accomplished Satan’s purposes. Under its debasing influences, the sanctuaries of the higher divinities soon become comparatively deserted, while myriads of devotees bow down before the Serpent, and other symbols of Devil-worship, or join in the horrible orgies of Lust-worship. We have seen that, as a rule, all Idol-worship was, and is, Westward worship, and is infinitely corrupt and degrading. Conversely, almost all Westward worship was, and is, corrupt Idolatrous worship. Against these vile idolatries, the higher conscience of the Heathen always protested, and ordinarily protested in vain. But occasionally religious reformers arose in Heathenism whose efforts to dissuade the people from the prevalent Idolatrous Westward Worship, and to lead them to adopt purer devotions, were attended with great success. Zoroaster, who flourished in Persia about the sixth century before Christ, was one of these reformers. He found that the pure ancient faith of the Persians had sunk into debased forms of idolatry. His system bears traces of a strong reaction against the Westward Idol- worship of his countrymen. He not only prohibited the use of idols, but required all his followers to worship towards the East, Maintaining that Fire was the only legitimate symbol of the Divine Nature and Presence, he taught his disciples to stand at the West side of his WESTWARD DIRECTION OF HEATHEN WORSHIP. 173 open Fire-Altars, and to worship with their faces at once towards the Sacred Fire, and towards the East, from whose fiery chambers the sun seemed to issue. _ Buddhism was another reformation of religion. It arose in India upwards of five centuries before Christ, and was, therefore, almost contemporaneous with the reforms of Zoroaster in Persia. Buddhism was a reac- tion against the Idolatrous Polytheism, extreme Sacer- dotalism, and Westward Worship of the time. It is worthy of note that primitive Buddhism taught its disciples to worship towards the East. I say “ primitive Buddhism,” for this great religion has long since relapsed into idolatry, and has lost its primitive purity and East- ward worship. But although the Buddhists have lost their Eastward Worship, they have never returned to the fixed Westward Worship of ordinary paganism. As I have said above, Buddhists now worship, and Buddhist temples are now built, in every direction. When we come to speak of Christian Worship, we shall find that the Primitive Christian Church taught its converts, in Holy Baptism, to renounce Satan towards the West, and to profess and worship Christ towards the East. A strong and necessary reaction against the Westward Devil-Worship of Paganism must be recog- nised as one of the causes which made Primitive Christian worship Eastward. We shall also find that Italian Romanism, in Europe, like Buddhism, in Asia, has, through pagan influences, lost its Eastward Worship, The present sketch of the Direction of Heathen Worship would be incomplete were I not to mention a remarkable heathen tradition upon the subject. There is a tradition among the heathen that inthe most ancient times all men worshipped towards the East; and that 1 Prideaux’s Connection of the History of the Old and New Testament, I. p. 307. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, Il. p. 189, Art. Alagi. 174 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. the present Westward Worship of Heathenism is an innovation. The tradition says that the mogst ancient temples were (like our churches) oriented for Eastward worship. Although we have, in history, and in the extant sites of hundreds of ancient temples, clear evidence reaching back quite a thousand years before Christ, we find no instances of oriented temples. Ifthe above tradition be true, the uniform Eastward Worship referred to must have been in prehistoric times. Still, the tradition could hardly have arisen without founda- tion. And the existence of such a tradition may have influenced the minds of the successive religious reformers who endeavoured to deliver mankind from the degrad- ing bondage of idolatry. It may be that the Eastward Worship of Zoroaster, Buddha, and the Christian Church, was a return to a venerable and pure form of devotion which was known to have prevailed amongst primitive servants of God, in prehistoric times.? 1S. Beal’s Catena of the Buddhist Scriptures, p. 6. Smith’s Dict. of the ible, Il. p. 794, Art. Persians. Capt. Warren’s Temples of Cele-Syria, in Palestine Exploration, Vol. I. African negroes, even in their Jrzvate devo- tions, worship the powers of darkness towards the West: see Wood’s Natural History of Man (Africa), p. 615. In describing Zoroaster as having flourished in Persia about the 6th century B.c., I have followed the most learned works of reference, and have given the conventional date. But some high authorities place the life and work of Zoroaster many centuries earlier. See G. Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, pp. 95, 96. G73 E75.) 9 CHAPTER XV. HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. I. Sacrificial Ritual and Devotion Ritual distinguished.— 2. Circumam- bulation of Altars.—3. Religious Processions.—4. Religious Dancing. —5. Gladness.—6. Dress of Heathen Worshippers.—7. Dress of Heathen Priests, 1.— Sacrificial Ritual and Devotional Ritual distinguished, AROUND sacrifices there were two distinct Rituals: first, a Sacrificial Ritual, which regulated the ceremonial of the Sacrificial rite itself, in all its minutiz; and secondly, a Devotional Ritual of Hymns, Prayers, Sacred Readings, Blessings, Processions, Incense, Circumambu- lation of Altars, Sacred Dances, Ceremonial Washings, and Acts of Reverence. As stated in a preceding Chapter, there is abundance of accessible information, in books of reference and travel, with respect to the Sacrificcal Ritual of the Heathen. The traditional Rules of this Ritual embodied a multitude of ancient customs, which were scrupulously maintained and enforced, with respect to the manner in which victims were selected, kept, fed, decorated, led, killed, flayed, dismembered, and consumed. But this Sacrificial Ritual never stood alone. Mere naked Sacri- 176 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL, adorations, processions, dances, and other elements of Devotional Ritual, were employed to explain, mark off, and emphasise, each successive act of the Sacrificial Rite, as it was performed.! | The Sacrificial Ritual is, I repeat, aways accompanied by a Devotional Ritual, which (according to the heathen theory of worship) rests upon the Sacrifical Rite as upon a prop or support. But the converse does not hold. Asin Jewish Synagogues and Christian Churches, so in Heathen worship, we often find a Devotzonal Ritual standing alone, locally apart from sacrifices, although not without an implied reference to sacrifices. When the actual offering of a sacrifice is inconvenient or impos- sible, the worshippers proceed with their prayers and praises as though an altar and sacrifice were present. How easily separable in thought, as in fact, these two Rituals are, will appear to any one who reads the Book of Leviticus. He will there find elaborate descriptions of the highly symbolical Sacrifictal Ritual of the Jews, without more than the most cursory and incidental references to the beautiful Devotional Ritual which we know was always present in Jewish worship. Sacrificial Ritual, being typical of Christ’s sacrifice, fell within the scope of the Mosaic Revelation: Devotional Ritual did not. We know that the comparative silence of Moses respecting the latter Ritual was due to the nature of the Revelation entrusted to him, and not to any want of personal interest on his part in the Devotional side of Hebrew worship. There is ordinarily a similar silence, although attribut- able to a different cause, in uninspired writers. The Sacrificial Ritual of the Heathen is more or less 1 Picart’s Religious Ceremonies of All Nations, I. p. 2. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, Art. Prayer. Herodotus, i. 132; ii. 37-40, 583 iv. 59, 70. Xenophon, Cyropedia, viii. 7, § 3. CIRCUMAMBULATION OF ALTARS. 177 minutely described; but the existence of a Devotional Ritual is only alluded to incidentally and infrequently. After reading accounts of many hundreds of heathen sacrifices, 1 may venture to say that, although there are worthy exceptions, the majority of Christian travellers and writers appear to take no interest in the devotional side of heathen worship. They write as if heathen worship had no devotion in it, and was worthy only of contempt and ridicule. It is too often only by a word dropped here, and a few incidental lines there in the course of a sensational description, that we discover the presence of a Devotional Ritual, and the still more solemn presence of poor dark hearts deeply engaged in feeling after an “ Unknown God.” It has been my task to collect and arrange these scattered hints, in so far as they are known to me; and to combine them with the fuller information given by appreciative writers on heathen customs. If the result appears to the reader to be meagre and inadequate, I would plead, as my apology, that my gleanings have been gathered from a very wide field, which, so far as the subject of Devotional Ritual is concerned, has been, as yet, but imperfectly explored. 2.—Circumambulation of Altars. The circumference of a circle, without beginning and without end, has for ages been regarded by mankind as a symbol of eternity, immensity, the boundless and ceaseless existence of God. The sun, moon, and stars seem to move in glorious and eternal procession, in vast circles, around the earth. And in many, perhaps in all, religions of great antiquity, the worshippers re- carded it as an essential part of their devotions to begin and end every great act of worship by going in solemn M 178 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. or joyous processions around their altars. The custom of circumambulating altars and sanctuaries, common in the Jewish Temple Services, was of very ancient date. Samuel “went from year to year zz circuit to [or, more correctly, he czrcuited| Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh.”? It is worthy of note that these several localities were ancient sanctuaries, hallowed by a memorial pillar or monument,” around which doubtless Samuel's proces- sions marched. The words of David, also, singularly illustrate this ceremony:—“I will wash mine hands in innocency, and so will I compass [circumambulate] Thine Altar” The ancient Persians considered it an essential part of their devction to walk round their altars. The circle thus described round the altar they considered to be symbolical of the zamensity of God. The same ceremony is still much observed by the idolaters of southern and eastern Asia. They turn from the left towards the right in going round their altars and idols—that is, beginning at the East of the altar, they go round by the South, West, and North, returning again to the East, “by the way of the sun,”— and at each round they prostrate themselves. The greater Temples were usually so built that religious processions could circumambulate the Sanctuary and Altar, as is still done in many Christian places of worship. In some temples, as for example the Temple at Jerusalem, it was arranged that the worshippers came up to the Temple, and returned to their homes, Ley Sami. 7,680. 2 Gen. 12. 8; 28, 18-22; 31. 48. Josh. 4. 19, 20. 1 Sam. 10, 8. Judges II. 11, 35; and 2o and 21; 3 Ps, 26. 6. See below, Chapter XXXL, § 3. 4 Picart, I, 17, and Plutarch (Zi/e of Numa); who misinterpret this ceremony. CIRCUMAMBULATION OF ALTARS. 179 by different ways; so that, in going and returning, they made the mystic circuit around the altar, The Mohammedans circumambulate their famous sanctuary, called the al-Kaabah, at Mecca. All Arabs beyond the territory of Mecca are obliged to wear a particular garb whilst making the Tawaéaf, as the sacred circuit is called. The same symbolical custom was observed by the heathen in private prayer. “The suppliant, when there was no idol or altar to go round, turned himself round to the right at the end of his prayer. More than five centuries before the Christian era, Pythagoras, who had travelled much in the East in quest of religious know- ledge, recommended his countrymen in Greece to ob- serve this symbolical ceremony. Plutarch mentions an instance of its use in his Life of Camillus. He tells us that, at a certain important juncture, Camillus “lifted up his hands towards heaven, and uttered” a prayer to Jupiter; and, “having pronounced these words, he turned to the right, as the manner of the Romans is after prayer and supplication, but fell in turning.” A symbol so profoundly abstract and mystical in its signification as this was, could hardly fail to be some- times misinterpreted by writers, both ancient and modern. Nor need we be surprised to find that a bar- barous nation like the Gauls scrupulously observed the ceremony, but observed it wrongly, turning to the left instead of the right.” “There are, however, extant indications that the ceremony was rightly observed in England, Wales, Scotland, and Iceland. Our modern social custom of passing wine at dinner is a trace of this ancient cere- mony. The host is supposed to occupy the place of 1 Smith, Dict. of Ch. Biog., Vol. III. pp. 951, 952, Art. Muhammad, 180 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. the sun, and to diffuse benignant influences. If the sun be regarded as a person, his apparent daily motion round the earth is circular, beginning at the East, then soing from his left round by the South and West, and returning, by the North, towards his right at the East. So the host, beginning with the persons at his left hand, passes wine round the table towards his right ‘ by the way of the sun;’ and there are ancient traditions that to pass it in the opposite direction, ‘against the sun,’ is unlucky, and sours the wine.” } At festivals, the Heathen came up to their great temples in religious processions. J mentioned above, in connection with the Westward Direction of Heathen Worship, that it was considered necessary to have the principal entrance of a heathen temple at the East- end, in order that the worshippers might approach the temple, and enter it, “by the way of the sun:” because there was a strong and widespread feeling that to go on solemn occasions in a direction contrary to the sun’s motion, was sure to be followed by disaster. Instances still occur, in England and Wales, of bearers at a funeral refusing to carry the dead against the sun, and preferring to approach the church “with the sun,” by a circuit round the west, north, and east boundaries of the churchyard. In Scotland, the old Highlanders will still make the deazz/, that is, walk three times round a person according to the course of the sun, which is their strongest expression of goodwill. Togo round a person in the opposite direction is an evil incantation, and deemed to be unlucky. Similarly, in Iceland, to go round a house against the sun, is supposed to invoke and bode a storm or landslip which will destroy the house.” 1 Hearty Services, p. 188. _ * Henderson’s Fo/k Lore (2nd Ed.), pp. 61, 62. RELIGIOUS PROCESSIONS. 181 3.—Religious Processions. In nothing did the Heathen set forth the beauty of their worship more successfully than in their Religious Processions. All ancient nations delighted in these Processions. At public festivals, joyous processions moved through the streets towards the great temples, where they circumambulated the ancient altars and sanctuaries. In these Processions, which were usually headed by some idolatrous symbol, both priests and people were clad in white or in their gayest clothing ; and instrumental and vocal music, bright banners, palm branches and other green boughs, and processional dances, were freely employed. Herodotus tells us that the Greeks adopted the use of Processions from the Egyptians. In his time, they were universal in both countries. Religious Proces- sions, with banners, instrumental music, chanting, and dancing, were equally popular amongst the Romans; who used incense freely on such occasions, and carried the images of the gods at the head of their proces- sions. Mr. Layard discovered a bas-relief at Nim- roud, which represented four idols carried in procession by Assyrian warriors. Xenophon gives an elaborate account of the magnificent processions of King Cyrus to sacrifice at the temples. In these processions no circumstance of order, solemnity, or splendour was wanting. After the usual sacrifices, Cyrus himself led the sacred dance. At the present day, the Japanese go in bright pro- cessions, with music and dancing. The Chinese have similar processions: the idol is borne aloft in front; and the priests and worshippers, wearing white robes and holiday attire, and carrying banners, play 182 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. upon musical instruments and chant hymns of praise? The Egyptians take as much delight in Processions to-day as their ancestors did in the time of Herodotus. Kettle-drums, pipes, hautboys, cymbals, bells, flags, torches and lamps, palm branches and other decorations, singing men and singing women, are all freely employed in the religious processions of the modern Egyptians.” The religious processions of the heathen are not con- fined to their great festivals. Marriages, victories, and harvest-homes, funerals, famines, and pestilences, are among the many occasions which fill the cities and viliages of the heathen world with religious processions joyous or mournful. Even in the midst of modern Christianity, there are many traces of these ancient and popular processions. At Schaumburg, the people go out to mow in parties of twelve, sixteen, or twenty scythes. On the last day of the mowing, at the last stroke of the scythe, when all is cut, the mowers raise their implements aloft, plant tliem upright, and beat the blades three times with the strop. Each mower spills on the field (a continuation of the old heathen libation) a little of the drink he has, beer or milk, and then drinks himself. The women knock the crumbs out of their baskets on the stubble (as an offering). While doing this, they wave their hats and sing; and then all march home in procession singing joyfully. Fifty years ago, the mowers’ song used on this occasion was an ancient hymn of praise to the god Wodan.? 1 Picart, IV. pp. 317, 335. Herod. ii. 58. Xenophon, Cyropedia, viii. 3- Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, 1." p. 857, Art. Zdolatry. Smith’s Dict. of Christain Antig., II. p. 1715, Art. Processtons. 2 Lane’s Modern Egyptians, II. pp. 79, 178, 179, 192, 212, 224, 244, 245, 247, 249. G. Rawlinson, Relzgions of the Ancient World, p. 36. 3 Grimm, Zeutonic Mythology, 1. p. 156. RELIGIOUS PROCESSIONS. 183 In the north of Northumberland, “ when the sickle is laid down, and the last sheaf of golden corn set on end, it is said that they have ‘got the Kern’ [the Corn, or Corn-Goddess, Ceres]. The reapers announce the fact by loud shouting, and an Image is at once hoisted on a pole, and given into the charge of the tallest and strongest man of the party. The Image is crowned with wheat-ears and dressed up in gay finery, a white frock and coloured ribbons being its conventional attire. The whole group circle round this harvest-queen, or kern-baby, curtsying to her, and dancing and singing.” They then leave the field, in joyous procession, follow- ing the Image, which is borne aloft, until they reach “the farmer’s barn, where they set the Image up on high, as the presiding goddess of their revels, and pro- ceed to do justice to the harvest supper.” ! The mell-supper [corn or meal supper], as kept up till lately in the County of Durham, is closely akin to the Northumberland kern-feast. The mell-doll [which represented Ceres] was “a corn sheaf stuck with flowers and wrapped in such of the reapers’ garments as could be spared. ‘This, too, was carried to the scene of the harvest supper,” at the head of a procession, “amid music and dancing; and then master and servants sat down together to feast, on terms of perfect equality.” ? Grimm mentions a curious remnant of the proces- sional worship of Isis. When spring had set in, and the sea, untraversed during winter, was once more navigable, the ancient Greeks and Romans used to hold a solemn procession, and present a szp to Isis. A similar custom prevailed in central Europe as late as the year 1133. A ship, set upon wheels, was drawn by men who were 1 Henderson’s Folk Lore, p. 87. 2 Jbid., p. 88. 184 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. yoked to it, from city to city. Everywhere crowds of people assembled and escorted it. Whenever the pro- cession halted, the people sang and danced round the ship till far into the night. Christian sailors used to vow a silver ship to their church as a votive offering. These silver ships were hung up in the churches.! We shall find, in future Chapters, that Religious Processions were, as popular, and as generally used, amongst the Jews as amongst the Heathen. Pro- cessions were also constantly employed by the Primi- tive Christian Church to bring religion home to the people in a popular form, and to mingle its influences with all the events of life. In connection with Proces- sions, as in many other matters, the Church of Rome was the great transgressor. To the irreparable loss of Christendom, she boldly adopted all the idolatrous paraphernalia of the Pagan Processions, simply putting the Host, or an Image of the Virgin, or of some other saint, to occupy the place of the Heathen Idol. The pure and beautiful Processions of the Hebrew Church and of Primitive Christianity were virtually lost to religion. The idolatrous spectacles presented by the Processions of the Medieval Church filled all right- minded persons with disgust and indignation; and as a natural, but unfortunate consequence, the Church of England, at the Reformation, lost a great part of her processional worship. The need occasioned by this loss is now generally understood and felt, and our Church is beginning to use the large liberty which she enjoys, to revive Religious Processions in her public worship, and to restore them, it is to be hoped, at no distant date, to their lost place in the public and social life of her people. 1 Grimm’s Zeutonic Mythology, I. pp. 59. note, 258, 263. RELIGIOUS DANCING. 185 4.—LKeligious Dancing. Religious Dancing, in processions, and before and around altars, has been in all ages a prominent and beautiful characteristic of Heathen Worship, It has already been alluded to, and must often be alluded to again, in these pages. We find it in all ancient nations, and in the modern heathen races of America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Religious Dancing, which implies mental as well as bodily excitation, long held an hon- ourable place in Hebrew Worship. It seems to have been customary in the time of Moses and of the Judges. At Shiloh, one of the most famous sanctuaries of the Jews, where there was a yearly feast to Jehovah, the daughters of the place came forth regularly “to dance in the dances,”! Frequent appeals are made in the Psalms calling upon the people to praise the Lord “in the dance.” No one acquainted with the subject can question the grace and beauty of Religious Dancing, and its power to excite and to express pure and joyous devotional emotions. Considered in itself, apart from some of the imperfections of our fallen race, it might well claim a permanent place in human worship. But experience shows that religious dancing, unless pro- tected by the strongest safeguards, is, like all extreme religious excitement, almost sure to degenerate, and to fail altogether to promote spiritual life and purity. The ancients had many dances; the most remarkable of which were the War Dances, the Marriage Dances, and the Religious or Sacred Dances. The Sacred Dances, which are still, I repeat, in use in many heathen countries, are wonderfully beautiful and solemn; and are quite distinct from the other kinds of dances, being P Judges 2T 23% 7 Pseiaue ae Fsord. soso dled 2 Same6s' 165 Psiigo) a5 ‘Jer. 31. 13. 186 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. altogether consecrated to religious uses. Sacred Danc- ing is especially employed, in conjunction with vocal and instrumental music, processions, and festive decora- tions, in the expression of religious thanksgiving and joy. It was highly esteemed by the ancient Romans, who regarded it as the worship of the body. It was held in equal honour by the Greeks. The Athenians sent bands of Dancers, with their sacrifices, to the festival of Apollo at Delos The ancient Egyptians and Persians delighted in Sacred Dancing: which, I repeat, was, when rightly employed, a powerful means of expressing and sustaining the light and pure joys of religious and thankful hearts.2, But as heathenism grew more and more corrupt, the graceful and solemn sacred dances were too often zveplaced by dances of a wholly different character, which became the scandal of religion. On this account, the ancient Christian Church strove hard to keep her converts from the contamination which was then inseparable from the promiscuous and lascivious dancing of the heathen. But the wild revels and dances which had disgraced idolatrous sanctuaries soon found their way into many Christian churches, notwithstand- ing the vehement censures of Ambrose, Augustine, and Chrysostom, and the prohibitory Canons of the Councils of Laodicea (A.D. 366), Agde (A.D. 506), and Toledo (A.D. 589).° As early as the fourth century, the Bacchanalian revels of the heathen had thus begun to find a home in the Church, in spite, as I have said, of the efforts of her rulers. S. John the Baptist’s Day (June 24th) was solemnised with all sorts of strange and rude heathen customs. Large fires were annually lighted, through 1 Thucyd. ili. 104. 2 Smith, Dict. of the Bible, I. pp. 387-389, Art. Dance. 3 Smith, Dect. of Christian Antiq., I, p. 526, Art. Dancing. RELIGIOUS DANCING. 187 the flames and smoke of which men, women, and chil- dren leaped. Even mothers carried their infants through this wild baptism of fire, which was supposed to purify them, and to protect them, for a whole year, from fevers and other diseases. The fire was made of a heap of bones, horns, sticks, and the like. Persons of all ages, often crowned with garlands, danced wildly around the fire, and leaped through its flames, in the manner I have described. Some seized burning flambeaux, and made a circuit of the fields, in the belief that they thereby screened them from blight and injury. Others turned a cart-wheel to represent the retrograde move- ment of the sun after midsummer day. This mode of celebrating S. John’s Day became very general among the lower classes in Christendom after the fourth century. It prevailed in the various Christian countries of central and southern Europe, western Asia, northern Africa, and Abyssinia. To this day, S. John the Baptist is the patron saint in Abyssinia of those who suffer from the Dancing Mania, a Medieval Plague, which still lingers in that country alone. In the Middle Ages—the do-. minant Church of Rome having then become without disguise the patron of all superstitions—the wild frenzy of the Bacchanalian riots which centred around this festival reached a height before unknown, and generated a terrible form of spiritual and nervous disorder. This disorder was stimulated by the furious Bacchanalian Dancing, which soon became automatic and uncon- trollable, and was called the Dancing Manta. It took the form of a highly contagious epidemic, literally a Dancing Mania, which rapidly spread over Christendom, carrying death and misery everywhere. It was at once the product, the symbol, and the scourge of a degraded religionism. In the course of centuries the plague abated, and gradually died out, excepting in Abyssinia, 188 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. where it still lingers. The ailments known as S. John’s Dance and S. Vitus’s Dance are the only remnants of the physical malady still extant among ourselves.! Some traces of the old heathen dances still remain in Europe: others have but recently passed away. In Queen Elizabeth’s time, the May Revellers used to flock to the churches with pipes, drums, and dancing. In the seventeenth century, the servants and apprentices of York were accustomed to dance in the nave of York Minster on Shrove Tuesday; and a Dean of York (Dean Lake) was almost killed by the apprentices for endeavouring to stop this profanation of the sacred building. There is still extant in Luxembourg an interesting relic of the ancient heathen Sacred Dance, of the best kind. It is now presented to us under a Christian garb, and I will venture to describe it in detail, as it is not likely to survive much longer. I refer to the Sacred Dancing on Whitsun Tuesday around the shrine of S. Willibrord, at Echternach, in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.? The church of Echternach stands upon a height, and is famous for containing the shrine of S. Willibrord, a native of Holderness, who, having studied in one of the then famous schools of theology in Ireland, returned full of enthusiasm for the great work of evangelizing the Teutonic barbarians. He was ordained at Rome in A.D. 696, and became Archbishop of Utrecht. After a holy and devoted life, he died on Nov. 7th, 739, and was buried at Echternach. On each Monday in Whitsun Week, the roads to 1 Hecker’s Epidemics in the Middle Ages, pp. 87-91, 95-97 (Sydenham Society). Grimm’s Zeulonic Mythology, I. p. 43. 2 The following description is condensed from a most interesting paper by Mr. S. Baring-Gould, in the Literary Churchman of May 14th, 1880. RELIGIOUS DANCING. 189 _Echternach are thronged with innumerable pilgrims making their way to the tomb of S. Willibrord. The church is soon filled with a dense assembly. Countless tapers of all sizes and descriptions twinkle round the shrine, the offerings of the pilgrims. The evening closes with a litany sung with the organ, and a benediction. The next day, Whitsun Tuesday, is the high day of the Festival. At six o’clock in the morning begin to arrive, from the neighbouring villages, gay processions, in which the people walk two and two, headed by the Cross, and with banners flying. Few sights could be more affecting than that presented by these processions winding picturesquely through the fields of rippling green wheat and barley in the bright early morning sun, singing hymns and litanies. At eight o'clock, the principal ceremony begins. The clergy, assembled from all parts, in their richest vestments, move in procession with the pealing of bells, to the grave of S. Willibrord, led by the Dean of Echternach. There they kneel and sing the Venz Creator, At the end of the first verse, they rise and advance from the church in procession, headed by the Cross, with candles and with banners, followed by the choristers in scarlet and white. The train descends the steep flight of steps on the south side of the church- yard, chanting the Venz Creator, and, having thus moved through the streets of the village, halts to hear a short sermon at a stone cross on the left bank of the river. Presently,a movement in the sea of heads shows that the sermon is concluded. The bells break forth in a joyous peal; a cannon booms; the clergy, again headed by Cross and banners, take the lead and move to the bridge, where they halt before the school children. There the “S. Willibrord Litany” is intoned by the Dean, and the Responses are thundered forth by hundreds 190 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. of male voices. This done, the band, which follows the clergy, strikes up the “S. Willibrord Dance,” and at once—to the amazement of the unprepared visitor— the whole procession, clergy, choristers, cross-bearers, banner-bearers, taper-bearers, the school children, and all the people, old men and young men, maidens and old women, are seen dancing. The entire procession is immediately in sway and movement, to the cadence and time of the music. The dance consists of 3 or 5 trips forward, and then I or 2 backward, with now and then 3 to the right and 3 to the left. As the forward trips are more than double the number of those which are backward, an onward movement of the procession is secured. From a distance, the appearance of this dancing and jumping is like the waves of a living sea. The emotion that comes on the spectator is rather one of amazement than any sense of the ridiculous: indeed so great is the gravity maintained, and the manifest earnestness of all taking part in the ceremony, that every inclination to laugh dies away. The dancers often hold each other’s hands, or are linked together by pocket-handkerchiefs, during the dancing. Musicians intersperse themselves with the dancers in the long train, to keep up the rhythm, and assist the music. The procession dances through the streets, across the market-place, through S. Willibrord’s square, then round again by another street to the market-place, then through the market-place, and so at last to the church. At the doors of the houses the inhabitants offer wine and water to the exhausted dancers. The dance con- tinues in all for about two hours. In this interesting Festival, we have only to remove a few modern embellishments such as the cannon, the Christian sermon, and the Christian liturgy; to replace RELIGIOUS DANCING. 19I the Saint’s shrine by the Idol-shrine which was doubt- less there before it; and to bring back upon the scene the ancient Heathen priests, with Heathen hymns and prayers; and we have a perfect picture of the old Heathen Festivals of Echternach. The early morning processions, with flying banners, through the corn-fields : the processional singing: the worship and tapers at the decorated shrine: the great procession thence through the town, with the idol (instead of the Cross) at its head: the musicians, the assembled children, the solemn invocations intoned by the chief priest, and the responses thundered forth in unison by hundreds of voices: and then all the bands of musicians striking up, and the beautiful and solemn Processional Dance through these very streets, and the dancers receiving wine and water from the people, and the final gathering at the shrine again:—all these things have come down to us from the old world. The so-called S. Willibrord Religious Dance is a fair specimen of the many beautiful processtonal Dances in use among the Heathen. All religious processional dances have this in common—that they are intended to accomplish locomotion ; the dancers having in some instances to move through the principal streets of a town, and perhaps to circumambulate an altar, or a sanctuary, in a dance of one or two hours’ duration. The Great Sun Dance of the Ponca Indians, in North America, is interesting as a specimen of the most ex- treme type of zon-processtonal Religious Dance. It is accompanied by the usual Indian decorations: bright banners, green boughs,drummers gorgeously attired ; and a profusion of paint, bright feathers, and wreaths, upon the Dancers themselves. The dance is performed by the men only; the women aiding the instrumental music by a wailing chant. The Dancers never move their feet: 192 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. but all their bodies sway together in perfect harmony, their eyes being all the while steadily and solemnly directed to the God in the heavens. The dance is a deeply calm religious act. There is neither break nor mistake from beginning to end. All is done with per- fect precision and regularity. Each Dancer performs his part with unmoved face, oblivious of everything around him in the intensity of his worship, as if his soul were indeed at stake. Between the Processional Religious Dance of S. Willi- brord, on the one hand, and the absolutely S¢ationary Religious Dance of the Ponca Indians, on the other hand, there is room for a great variety of Religious Dances, differing from each other in step and rate of motion. But all these Sacred Dances properly so called, although they are often totally unlike each other, agree in this: that they are all very solemn and impressive, and very beautiful. In different ways, and in different degrees of excellence, they are upon the whole genuine products of the Instinct of Worship. All eye-witnesses seem to be unanimous in their testimony that these Sacred Dances are suitable for their purpose; and are radically different from every other kind of dance. Nor is there any evidence that these dances have ever been injurious to spiritual life, Nevertheless, as I stated above, the experience of mankind appears to be decidedly unfavourable to Religious Dancing. Religious Dancing is sooner or later sure to degenerate. But it is important to notice the process by which this degeneration takes place. | It is not that the solemn and beautiful Sacred Dances alter their character, and become the ministers of vice. But it is, that these really Sacred Dances are too often 1 The Philadelphia Weekly Times, June 24, 1882. GLADNESS. 193 unable to hold their own, and are aft to be driven out of the field, and replaced, by the obscene and hideous Devil-Dances of impure heathen revellers. These lascivious dances, which are obviously Satan’s work, appeal so powerfully to the beast and the devil in man, that, when they appear in any neighbourhood, the ancient Sacred dances become unpopular, and one temple after another adopts the more stimulating Devil-Dances, and becomes a moral pest-house. 5.—Gladness. Always excepting the dark side of Heathenism— its Devil-worship and its cruelties—there is nothing more remarkable or more praiseworthy in Heathen Religions than their frank and hearty recognition of the sacred- ness of human gladness. The Heathen Religions mingled in all the affairs of life, and consecrated all its blessings, joys, and recreations. Games, sports, and harvest homes were all religious. We know, also, how social, how festive, how joyous the Hebrew Religion was: ‘‘singing merrily to God our strength,” “ making a cheerful noise to the God of Jacob.” “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.’ The Jewish Church recognised that there is not only “a time to weep” and “to mourn,” but “a time to laugh and to dance.” ! The circumstances in which Christianity first went forth to conquer the world did not favour gladness, Conflict with the fearful corruptions amid which the old gladness of Heathen worship had then almost disappeared, while the fiery breath of persecution was abroad on every side, would have made Primitive SP gor tis; Etek’3: 4 N 194 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL Christianity dark and stern, if it had been less full of light and love. But we shall, hereafter, have occasion to notice how bright, thankful, and joyous, Primitive Christian Worship was as compared to our own. All who are in charge of our Church’s services should labour to make them more bright and joyous than they have hitherto been. 6.—Dress of Heathen Worshippers. No part of Heathen Religious Ceremonial is more foreign to our ideas than the decoration of the Wor- shippers with flowing white robes. And ‘yet it ought not to be so. Our own lay choristers robe in white. We are familiar with the bright dresses of our brides and bridesmaids at marriages; and with the black garments worn at funerals. All Christian worshippers, almost unconsciously, decorate themselves, as best they can, by wearing their best dress, their “Sunday clothes,” when they go to church. But in northern countries the “Sunday clothes” do not strike us as being ‘decorations,’ because they are of much the same form and colour as the “week-day clothes ;” ordinarily differing from them only in being sewer, or of a some- what finer texture. In the ancient civilisations of Rome, Greece, Egypt, and of the East and South, life and dress were far more ceremonial than they are among ourselves, in the rough and ready North, in this so-called practical age. Consequently, the difference between the working-dress and the ceremonial-dress among the ancients was beyond comparison more marked than with us. Their working-dress, the dress in which all active exertion was carried on, was a simple, close-fitting, Cassock-shaped 7Zumic, with or without arms, and often (among the poor) of some DRESS OF HEATHEN WORSHIPPERS. 195 dark material, In the West, this working-tunic barely reached to the knee: in the East, it was somewhat longer, but was usually girt up about the waist with a girdle (so as not to descend below the knees), when it was necessary to leave the lower limbs free for active exertion. The working or short tunic was not orna- mented, excepting when it was worn as a uniform by military officers, or as a travelling dress by gentlemen of rank; in which cases there was, besides other decora- tions, an ornamented stripe, of black, purple, or scarlet, extending, in front, from between the neck and shoulders, on either side, to the lower edge of the tunic.! The ancient full dress, or dress of ceremony, in civil and religious life, consisted mainly, both for men and women, of fwo garments: Ist, a /ong white cassock or tunic (tunica talaris) “reaching to the feet” or “to the ankles,’ and often touching the ground; and, 2nd, a shining white supervesture, like a Highland plaid, but so arranged as to present the appearance of a flowing sur- plice with skirts descending a little lower than half-way between the knee and the ground. The long full-dress tunic was always provided with a handsome gzrd/e, and was decorated with a deep stripe, or ornamented band, usually of black, purple, or scarlet, extending, in front, from between the neck and shoulders, on either side, to the lower edge of the tunic, and looking in pictures exactly like a modern s¢o/e, as worn by our Priests. In some instances, the ornamental band was worn over one shoulder only, as Deacons wear the stole. This ancient band, however, was not a separate vestment, but a broad ornamental stripe in the tunic itself. The long tunic was sometimes further ornamented by similar stripes running round the lower extremities of the 1 Marriot, Vestiarium Christianum, pp. xxxv, xxxvi, with the woodcut at p. Vi. 196 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. sleeves. The full-dress supervesture was arranged with a wide opening for the neck, so: that the ornamental bands on the shoulders of the tunic were visible; as were also the extremities of the same bands near the feet, below the supervesture. In these white and flowing garments, namely the long ¢unic and the supervesture, which of course varied in texture and ornamentation with the rank and wealth of the wearers, the ancients were expected to appear at Court and in the Senate, and at high ceremonies of state, and at banquets, and above’all at Religious Cere- monies. But except on such occasions, it was regarded as a proof of effeminacy for mex to appear in public in their long garments. They were, of course, much worn in Rome where civil life was burdened with state cere- monies, religious ceremonies, and social ceremonies of every kind. But gentlemen residing in the country had not occasion to take their sacred vestments out more than once or twice a month on “ Temple days,” so to speak. These pure white vestments when worn by a multitude of worshippers produced a brilliant, almost dazzling effect, in the bright light of a southern climate.* Besides wearing their sacred white garments, Heathen Worshippers in many countries covered their heads with white veils. In countries, such as Greece, where it was not customary to cover the head, the worshippers wore crowns or garlands. I have mentioned above that in Religious Processions, and in the beautiful Sacred Dances, many of the worshippers carried flowers, palm branches, banners, lights, and decorated idols.” 1 Marriot, Vestiarium Christianum, pp. vi-xv, xxxvi, 9 mote. Heathen mourners at funerals wore d/ack ; the dead themselves were carried out to burial robed in white. 2 See the authorities given below, Chapter XVI., § 4, on Beautiful Worship. : DRESS OF HEATHEN PRIESTS. 197 7—Dress of Heathen Priests. With reference to the Dress of Heathen Priests much confusion will be avoided if we distinguish between (1) the Dress of Ordinary Sacrificing Priests, and (2) the Dress of High Priests, or Chief Priests. (1) While performing sacrificial rites, the rank and file of Heathen Sacrificing Priests were busily at work. The necessarily active movements connected with kill- ing and dismembering victims, and tending the altar, made it quite impossible for the sacrificing priests to wear a flowing supervesture. Consequently, the official costume of nearly all ancient priesthoods was a white turban or linen cap, and the long white full-dress zuz7c, with girdle and stole-like stripes, which was worn asa sacred under-garment by their own laity, and which (ex- cepting the girdle and tight sleeves) bore a remarkable resemblance to the present official dress of the English clergy. The chief distinction between the Priests’ tunic and that worn by the worshippers appears to have been that the privilege of wearing stripes of purple (the royal colour), which indicated high rank among the laity, seems to have been accorded to almost all priesthoods. Their tunics were, therefore, shining white vestments striped with one or two broad purple bands descending from the shoulders, and often with flowered borders of purple at the sleeves. There were, however, some exceptions to this general type of priestly dress. The Priests of Bacchus, the god of wine, are repre- sented as wearing purple vestments, symbolical of the purple grape. In the savage worship of Bellona, the god- dess of war, her Priests wore black, and mutilated their arms and legs when they offered sacrifices to her. Inthe worship of the powers of evil, the Priests were robed in 198 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. black, or in other vestures intended to inspire awe and terror. In the fouler forms of Heathenism which pre- vailed in many parts of the East, the nakedness of the Priest was a natural accompaniment of rites of revolting grossness. But passing by these evidently abnormal and exceptional forms of worship, we may say that the official robes of the rank and file of the ancient sacri- ficing Priests of Rome, Greece, Egypt, and the East, were of shining white.1. They had no special sacrificial vestment. (2) High Priests among the Heathen, as among the Jews, wore crowns of gold, and supervestures of purple and gold and scarlet, and other gorgeous colours, pro- fusely adorned with gems. In many heathen nations, as among the ancient Romans, the Sovereign was the Pontifex Maximus, or High Priest, and was sometimes an object of worship. The Sovereign Pontiffs, there- fore, wore gorgeous and costly vestments,? symbolical of supreme authority, and of civil and ecclesiastical dignity. When High Priests or Chief Priests were not kings, or objects of worship, they were usually potentates of princely rank, and held various offices? of dignity and authority, the brilliant official vestments and in- signia of which they doubtless wore on great occasions. But it would be an error to regard these magnificent robes of the Heathen High Priests as in any special 1 Smith, Dict. of Bible, I. p. 858, Art. Zdolatry. Marriott, Vestiarium Christianum, pp. xx, xxi, 181, 185, and the corresponding Plates. G,. Rawlinson, Relzgions of the Ancient World, pp. 36, 177, 245. 2 Marriott, p. xxxil. 3 In the Zuscription of Una (see Records of the Past, II. pp. 3-8) we have an instance of an ancient Egyptian (High) Priest, who was Crownbearer to the King, Superintendent of the Storehouse, Secretary of State, Registrar of the Docks, Chief of the Royal Coffer, &c. ; in short, he was a splendid pluralist, and was, as this Inscription shows, immensely proud of his pluralities, which he regarded as so many evidences of his own virtues. DRESS OF HEATHEN PRIESTS. 199 sense sacrificial vestments. They were merely the symbols of high official dignity and authority. The ordinary Sacrificing Priests never wore them. And it is highly suggestive, in this connection, that the Jewish High Priest, when performing his most solemn sacri- ficial acts, namely, offering the special Expiatory Sacrifices and entering the Most Holy Place with blood on the Great Day of Atonement, /azd aside his splendid “Golden Vestments,” and officiated in white only, like an ordinary sacrificing priest.’ 1 Lev. 16. 4, 23. Marriott, Vestiarium Christianum, pp. xx, 7 note. ; Ci2cé6es) CHAPTERIXVN HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL—continued. 1. Responsive and Congregational Worship.—2. Reverent Worship.— 3. Musical Worship.—4. Beautiful Worship.—5. Worship in Un- known Tongues. 1.— Responsive and Congregational Worship. OuR knowledge of Heathen Liturgies is very limited. As a rule, these Liturgies have never been committed to writing. In ancient times, memory was relied upon, and cultivated, to an extent which seems hardly credible in these days of cheap paper, cheap printing, and neatly bound volumes. How marvellous must have been the compass and accuracy of the memories which preserved the Homeric Poems, the Arabian Nights, the Talmud, and the Vedas! To such memories, the longest Liturgy, or even a score of Liturgies, would be as nothing. Memory is, in one sense, the safest, and in another sense, the most zzsecure of storehouses. It is the safest ; because there is no written document which can be copied and passed from hand to hand; and, there- fore, its treasures cannot be stolen and made public. The extreme reticence of Heathen Priests on the sub- ject of religion is well known. Ordinarily, the members of other religions are excluded from heathen worship, and find it quite impossible to obtain reliable informa- tion upon the subject. But in another sense, memory is an insecure storehouse. It does not lose its treasures, but ACTS OF REVERENCE, 201 it carries them out of the world at death; and so they are lost to mankind. It cannot be doubted that many ancient heathen Liturgies have perished in this way. Still, meagre as our information upon this subject is, conclusive evidence will be found in the following chapters, that Responsive Congregational Worship has prevailed, in more or less perfect forms, in all Heathen nations, ancient and modern, European, Asiatic, African, Australian, and American, Sometimes the Heathen priests recited a series of short prayers, to each of which the congregation responded by some short petition or ejaculation (as we do in the Litany). At other times, the priests rehearsed prayers which the people repeated verbatim, either with or after the priests (as we do in the Lord’s Prayer), 2.—Reverent Worship. The frequent Ceremonial Washings of the hands, face, and often of the entire body, which were required in Jewish and Heathen Worship, were acts of profound Reverence, and tended to foster the spirit of inward, as well as of external, Reverence. They declared, by their obvious symbolical teaching, that both body and spirit needed cleansing and preparation for the holy solemnity of worship: that it is not a light thing to appear before God unworthily.2. Take, for example, the Mohammedan ablution preparatory to public or private prayer. The Mohammedans call prayer “the Key of Paradise,” and hold that it will not be accepted from a person ina state of uncleanness. Immediately outside, or immediately within, the door of every + Rican. p, 6, 2 Becker and Marquardt, Handbuch der Rimischen Alterthumer, 1V. p. 464. 3 Lane’s Modern Egyptians, I. pp. 97-102. 202 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. mosque, there is a sacred tank or reservoir. The Mohammedan Worshipper, having reached this tank, tucks up his sleeves a little higher than his elbows, and says in a low voice, “I purpose performing the Woodoo [the sacred ablution] for Prayer.” He then washes his hands three times; saying, “In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful! Praise be to God, who hath given water for purification, and made el-Islam to be a delight and a direction and a guide to Thy cardens, the gardens of delight, and to Thy mansion, the mansion of peace.” I may here observe that many of the Mohammedan religious expressions, “ gardens,” “arbours,” and the like, are, like those in the Song of Solomon, highly figurative; and are so understood by the Mohammedans themselves. Having washed his hands, the worshipper then rinses his mouth three times, saying, “O God, assist me in the reading of Thy Book, and in commemorating Thee, and in thanking Thee, and in the beauty of Thy worship.” Next, he rinses his nostrils three times, saying, “O God, make me to smell the odours of Paradise, and bless me with its delights; and make me not to smell the smell of the fires [of Hell].”. When pouring water upon the upper part of his head, he says, “O God, cover me with Thy mercy, and pour down Thy blessing upon me; and shade me under the shadow of Thy canopy, on the day when there shall be no shade but its shade.” In the Woodoo, there are several other washings, accompanied by appropriate prayers, expressive of devotion and reve- rence of Spirit. The Romans, Jews, Turks, and almost all the ancients, with the exception of the Greeks, covered their heads and faces in Public Worship ;? in order to express the feel- ings of reverence with which they entered the Presence 1 Picart, Religious Ceremonies, 1. pp. 11, 12. ACTS OF REVERENCE. 203 of God. The veils commonly used for this purpose were w/zte, emblematical of purity, and added much to the beauty of the worship. Modern Jews wrap the veil round the neck, that they may hear better. All the Devotional postures and acts of the Heathen were expressive of deep earnestness and reverence in worship. Their principal acts of reverence in worship were ceremonial ablutions, putting off the shoes, covering the head and face, folding the hands in prayer, bowing the head, kneeling, prostration, standing with the eyes uplifted and the hands raised with the palms towards heaven. I have already referred to ablutions and covering the head. Mohammedans, like the Jews, ¢ake off their shoes before entering their places of worship; lest they should bear anything into the sacred place which would defile it. This act of reverence is very general among Eastern nations. Our Saxon ancestors folded their hands in prayer.' The same custom prevailed in Hindu worship? in the second or third century of our era. Arjuna is repre- sented, in Hindu writings of that period, as bowing his head in the vision of God, and folding his hands while he uttered the hymn of adoration, beginning :— “ T see Thee, mighty Lord of all, revealed In forms of infinite diversity. I see Thee like a mass of purest light, Flashing Thy lustre everywhere around ; I see Thee crowned with splendour like the sun, Pervading earth and sky, immeasurable, Boundless, without beginning, middle, end, Preserver of imperishable law, The Eternal Spirit.” 1 Edersheim, Zhe Temple and its Services, p. 127. 2M. Williams’ Hinduism, pp. 215, 216. 204 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. Further on in the same hymn there is an allusion to prostration in worship,— “ Unrivalled God of gods, 7 fall before Thee Prostrate in adoration.” } Prostration, as a mark of humble reverence in worship, is alluded to by Virgil, AEn. il, 93 (Sudmissi petimus terram). It would be easy to multiply allusions to this act of reverence in Heathen devotion. Virgil represents Afneas as spreading forth his hands an prayer with the palms towards heaven :— . “ Duplices tendens ad sidera palmas, Talia voce refert.” ? Again, Anchises is represented as joyfully raising his eyes to the stars, and stretching forth his hands with the palms towards heaven, in prayer :— “At Pater Anchises oculos ad sidera lzetus Extulit, et coelo palmas cum voce tetendit.” 3 Allusions to this devotional posture are frequent in Virgil: “Astonished at this vision and declaration of the gods ...I1 “ft up my hands supine to heaven with my voice, and pour hallowed offerings on the fires, ’— “ Talibus attonitus visis ac voce Deorum . . . Tendoque supinas Ad ccelum cum voce manus, et numera libo Intemerata focis.” 4 Standing, with hands and eyes uplifted towards heaven, was the most common heathen posture in 1 Professor M. Williams’ /induism, pp. 215, 216. See my Hearty Services, pp. 165, 166. 4 VERO. OX 3 Virgil, 2x. ii. 687. 4 4m. ili. 172, 176.. Compare v. 686; ix. 16; x. 844; xii. 172, 196. ACTS OF REVERENCE. 205 prayer. But solemn fvostrations, in which all the people cast themselves upon their faces, occurred at intervals in public worship. The ancient Persians prostrated themselves before the Sacred Fires. Modern Hindus and Chinese prostrate themselves, from time to time, before their idols. All heathen nations do the same. Prostration, although chiefly used by the heathen as the attitude of Adoration, is also, in times of great humiliation, distress, and need, the attitude of Prayer. When the heathen wish to really humble their souls before God, they prostrate themselves. Consequently, heathen converts to Christianity feel that the solemnity and earnestness of Christian Prayer ordinarily require prostration. The sight which a native Christian con- gregation presents in India, at the present day, is said to be very striking. During the prayers, the wor- shippers prostrate themselves with their knees, hands, and foreheads touching the ground.” Add to this, that the responding is really congregational, beyond compari- son better than what we usually hear in English churches at home. It is painful to reflect that Heathenism is a better preparation for the Church’s worship than her own cold services in Christian Eng- land. True Reverence shows itself not only in the outward acts of reverence, but also, and especially, in the tome of those acts. They must be spontaneous and come from the heart: natural, simple, unaffected, free from self- consciousness. A number of acts of reverence may be copied mechanically by any one, however irreverent in heart. But the result will be a hard, and perhaps overdone picture, a mere caricature of reverence. Only 1 Picart, IV. pp. 395, 215-217. 2 Tucker, Under His Banner, p. 52. 206 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. a reverent spirit, conscious of its own weakness, and of the awful Divine Presence, caz give to the isolated acts and movements of worship the true unity and tone of Reverence. But however reverent the spirit of the worshipper may be, cultivation and knowledge of the elementary principles of Reverence cannot be dispensed with, The heathen, rightly, attend much to these matters. The Reverence of Buddhist worshippers has often been referred to by travellers. In Siam, the Buddhist priests and monks sz¢ upon the ground, with their hands somewhat elevated, and close together, whilst they chant their prayers and praises in chorus, without intermission. Gazing about, and other irreverent acts, too common, alas! in modern Christian worship, are absolutely unknown among the Siamese Buddhists, Nothing can for a moment distract their attention, or break the solemn reverence of their worship. All eyes are fixedly directed towards the idol, which they adore without taking notice of any other object! In con- nection with the subject of Sacred Ablutions, I have already referred to the reverence of Mohammedans in their worship. The almost military order, beauty, and decorum of Mohammedan worship are well known. M. Lane? writes :— “The utmost solemnity and decorum are observed in the public worship of the Moslems. Their looks and behaviour in the mosque are not those of enthusiastic devotion, but of calm and modest piety. Never are they guilty of a designedly irregular word or action during their prayers. The pride and fanaticism which they exhibit in common life, in intercourse with persons of their own or of a different faith, seem to be dropped AePicart, 1 Vip. 65: 2 Modern Egyptians, I. p. 120. See also Baker’s The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, p. 67. ACTS OF REVERENCE. 207 on their entering the mosque, and they appear wholly absorbed in the adoration of their Creator; humble and downcast, yet without affected humility, or a forced expression of countenance.” To the same effect, Professor Monier Williams, speaking at the Croydon Church Congress (1877), said: “When I beheld the earnest bearing of the Moslems prostrating themselves in adoration on the cold stone, and apparently worship- ping God in spirit, if not in truth, I felt that there was nothing! in the outward appearance of either building or worshippers incompatible with the spirit of Christian prayer. Nay more—I felt as I watched the devout Moslems, that I also might have prayed in the same place in my own way, and even learnt from them to pray with more solemnity and reverence of manner than I had ever before practised.” Buddhism and Mohammedanism are among the most highly developed of the heathen religious systems. But the many heathen religions which exhibit less intelli- gence, elaboration, and art, can hardly be said to exhibit less Reverence. JKeverence is instinctive in ail races of men: and although, like all instinctive principles, it owes much to cultivation, it does not owe its existence to it. Irreverence in worship is everywhere felt to be, not only a dishonour to God, but an outrage upon human nature itself, which teaches Reverence. The lowest kinds of devotion (so long as they are uncon- taminated by Devil-Worship)—even the religious chants and dances, and the devotional postures of American Indians, African Negroes, and New Zealand savages— are often full of solemnity, beauty,and reverence, The ancient worshippers of the sea-gods prayed reverently, with the palms of both their hands extended towards the 1 ‘The Mohammedans do not use idols in their worship. 208 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. sea,| which those divinities were supposed to inhabit and influence. Heathen soldiers extended their spears, or drew their swords, in prayer, and stood as in the presence of a commanding officer, or of the chief or prince of their tribe. Herodotus? relates that Darius ceremonially shot an arrow towards heaven while he addressed a prayer thither to the Supreme God. The powerful and profound influence of Reverence is best realized by those who, having been accustomed to a Reverent worship, are at any time obliged to worship where there is less Reverence. The change is distressing in the extreme. Irreverence is felt to be, as I have said, not only a dishonour to God, but a wanton outrage upon man’s religious nature. In nothing do the Heathen more successfully express the Reverence of their worship than by the extreme softness with which they chant their prayers. 3.—Musical Worship. Vocal and instrumental Music have ever been largely employed in Heathen worship. We learn from the Sacred Books of the East, that from the remotest ages of antiquity, the singing of odes, with “shrilly sounding flutes” and “ pan-pipes,” with “large bells,” “ hand- drums” and “drums,” “harmonious and loud,” and with “the various dances grandly performed,” accompanied Heathen sacrificial rites.? In the Book of Daniel we have a list of the principal 1 Virgil, n. v. 233— ‘Ni, palmas ponto tendens utrasque, Cloanthus Fudissetque preces, Divosque in vota vocasset.” 2 Herodotus, v. 105. 3 Sacred Books of the East, 111. pp. 304, 305, 324. MUSICAL WORSHIP. 209 musical instruments used in the idolatrous worship of ancient Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, desiring to con- solidate his empire, and to honour the god to whom he owed all his greatness, set up an “image of gold” in the plain of Dura. At the solemn dedication of the image, all the representatives of the empire were assembled, and “they stood before the image.” Doubt- less various sacrifices were offered; and prayers and hymns were chanted. At stated times, as was usual in heathen worship, a signal was given, and the whole assembly (excepting Daniel’s three Hebrew friends) prostrated themselves; “fell down and worshipped the golden image.” The signal for these solemn acts of adoration was a simultaneous outburst of a// the musical instruments. At this signal, the representatives of every province, “the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces,” were required, on pain of death, to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s god, as an open profession, then well understood, of loyalty to his throne. “ Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is com- manded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” } The ancient Persians, almost a thousand years before Christ, formed religious processions, and chanted their services. The worships of India, whether pure or cor- rupt, have always been accompanied by much ceremony, dancing, and music. The modern Hindus chant their prayers and praises, and use drums, trumpets, and other + Dan. 3. I-7. Oo 210 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. musical instruments! In all Buddhist temples, the services are musical throughout; and the choristers are ranged down the sides of the temple, facing each other, as in our churches. In Tibet, Burma, China, and Japan, processions with music, and often with sacred dancing, are constant accompaniments of Public worship ; and all their liturgies are chanted, or monotoned. The Asiatic Mohammedans chant their prayers in an ex- ceedingly low soft tone, which is said to be very impressive.” Passing from Asia to Australia and the Islands of the southern seas, we still find, that religious worship is everywhere Musical. The invocations or prayers, no less than the hymns and praises, are chanted or recited with musical intonation. Captain Cook found that the offering of human sacrifices among the Tahitans was accompanied by the chanting of long prayers. Bishop Selwyn stated that when the New Zealanders became Christians, they said their prayers in a low monotone, which sounded like the swell of a distant surf. Dr. Wolff, when taken prisoner by some people whose bear- ing was very threatening, hit upon the expedient of chanting: they understood not a word that he said, but they recognised the musical recitation as connected with prayer, and said, “Lo! here is a man of God.” Heathen converts delight in the chanting of the Church’s service. They are often listless, when it is merely read.* In every part of the great continent of America, we find the same devotional phenomenon. The worships of the heathen are musical. The Mexican school-boys 1 Picart, IIT. p. 212. Forsyth, 7he Highlands of Central India, p. 145. 3° Tucker, Unacr His Banner, pp. 52, 53. 3 J. G. Wood, Natural History of Man (Australia, &c.), pp. 420, 422. 4 Tucker, pp. 52, 53: MUSICAL WORSHIP. 211 were carefully trained in music, and took part in the religious chants in the temples.1 The priests of the Guiana tribes of South America chant their invoca- tions.2, The Aboriginal Sun-worshippers of Virginia and Canada chanted their prayers.2 At the present time, the Esquimaux of the extreme north of North America chant their invocations. Mr. J. G. Wood mentions an instance of an Esquimaux priest and his wife chanting their service responsively.* Throughout the great continent of Africa, worship is musical. The Kaffirs chant their religious services; and although they have but a slight knowledge of melody, they have a perfect idea of time. They keep such exact time that hundreds of men can join in the chants, with grand effect, as if animated by a single spirit. The Bechuanas chant and clap their hands in worship with creat solemnity. The Zulus excel in unison chanting. The Ashango and Ishoga negroes, and the Fan negroes, chant their prayers and praises, and dance before their idols. The Maningo negroes, who are Mohammedans, chant their prayers like other Mohammedans, but in louder tones. The mournful heart-piercing chants in which the African negroes wail for their dead at sun- set are infinitely sad. The Mohammedan children in Northern Africa are carefully taught to chant the Koran and the prayers in the schools—an example worthy of being followed with respect to the Psalter and the Prayer Book Responses in our Church schools, In Egypt, as in other countries, the Mohammedans chant their calls to prayer, at the appointed hours, and chant the Koran and the appointed prayers in the mosques. Singing and chanting, with dancing, are fundamental ro) Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, I. p. 58. J. G. Wood (America), p. 629. § Picarta lien 773:79,. 109: J. G. Wood (America), p. 717. 1 2 4 212 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. parts of African worship. The negro tribes especially excel in them! In ancient Europe, as in all other parts of the world, worship was Musical. We shall find evidence of this in the next chapter, in connection with both Greek and Roman worship, The heathen worship which still lingers in Lapland is Musical... In short, both vocal Music and instrumental Music have ever been employed in the Heathen Worships of Europe and of the whole world; and the Heathen prayers, praises, and sacred readings have, everywhere and always, been rendered in chants, or monotone with musical cadence.” 4.—Beautiful Worship. The Greek and Roman Temples of the gods were, every- where, models of graceand beauty. The great temple of Diana at Ephesus was one of the wonders of the world. Its splendour was beyond description. The remains of its Eastern external columns, sculptured in relief to a height of nearly twenty feet from the base, reveal some- thing of its former glory. Many of its columns were of green jasper marble. The temple glittered in bril- liant beauty at the head of the harbour. The sun, it was said, saw nothing more magnificent in his course. The Buddhist temples of the East are often of great antiquity, and are always very beautiful. At Ragoon, 1 Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. p. 118; II. pp. 63, 95. Du Chaillu, Adventures in Equatorial Africa, pp. 72, 97, 238. J. G. Wood, Natural History of Man (Africa), pp. 190, 204, 229, 230, 347, 536, 602, 677. Picart, Weligious Ceremonies, 1V. p. 460. Baker, The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, pp. 202, 203. Baker, Albert Nyanza, I. pp. 243, 314. The Music of the African Avads is inferior to that of the a eg tribes. * Pitatty Tepplir8a1py.2¥.p. 375; 3 J. T. Wood, Discoveries at Ephesus, pp. 178, 257, 262-269. BEAUTIFUL WORSHIP. 213 in British Burma, there is a Buddhist temple, quite 2000 years old, which is wonderfully beautiful: it is 300 feet high, gilded from the top to the bottom, a mass of gold, with rows of golden pillars. Bishop Titcomb tells us how profusely and gaily Buddhists decorate the sanctu- aries of their temples, with gold and silver tinsel-work, plates and bowls, lighted candles and banners, and offerings of flowers... The magnificent exteriors of the temples of India are familiar to us by their photo- graphs; and their internal structure and decorations are no less magnificent. Hindu temples and Moham- medan mosques vie with each other in splendour. The ancient temples of Nineveh, Babylon, and Egypt must have been unspeakably grand and impressive buildings ; while their treasures, and the wealth expended on their internal decorations, were almost fabulous. I have already described the great temple of the Sun-god at Cuzco in Peru :—‘“ The place of gold,” as it was called, with its golden sanctuary sparkling with thousands of jewels, almost too bright to look upon in the morning sun. Wondrous Heathen Temples, almost innumerable, since the very dawn of human history, proclaim in all the world that man’s highest instincts teach him that Divine Worship cannot be too beautiful. The laudable desire of the heathen to beautify worship—which was exhibited so remarkably in archi- tectural glory and ornamentation, and in lavishly de- corated sanctuaries—was equally exhibited in their decorations of zdo/s, sacrifices, priests, and worshippers. We read in the Book of Exodus, that Aaron, with the “golden earrings” of the people, made a golden calf in the wilderness.2, This was a reproduction of Egyptian idolatry; the golden calf was a copy of the 1 Bp. Titcomb, Personal Recollections of British Burma, pp. 6, 19. 2 Exod. 32. 2. Keil, 7 loc. 214 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. Egyptian Apzs. The interior of such idols was wood or metal, covered with a sheet of gold plate: but sometimes idols were covered with silver instead of gold. Jeroboam set up “two calves of gold,” one at Bethel and the other at Dan, to prevent his subjects worshipping at Jerusalem.! Isaiah foretells the casting away of the “graven images of silver” and of the “molten images of gold.”2 Nebuchadnezzar set up “an image of gold.’ When the statues or images of the gods were made of wood, metal, or marble, they were usually crowned with gold, or wreathed with laurels and garlands of flowers, and ornamented with gold and silver chains, and with jewels. Sometimes the idols were robed with richly embroidered vestments of blue and purple. The wictzms offered in sacrifice were also decorated with great care. Their horns were gilded, sometimes with gold and sometimes with silver, and were hung with wreaths. Every kind of sacrifice was decorated, even the fruits of the ground. When the ancient Teutonic husband- man cut his corn, he left a clump of ears standing for the god who blessed the harvest; and he gaily deco- rated the consecrated corn with ribbons. Sacred trees, as well as sacred animals, were crowned with wreaths of flowers. Remnants of these ancient sacrificial customs still survive in Europe. On Ascension Day, the girls in many parts of Germany twine garlands of white and red flowers, and hang them up in the house, or over the cattle in the stable, where they remain till replaced by fresh garlands the next year. At the village of Questen- berg in the Harz, the lads carry an oak tree, at Whit- suntide, to the top of the neighbouring hill. There they set up the tree: they fasten to it a garland of foliage as 1 1 Kings 12. 28. 2: [sw30. 22 3240maos BEAUTIFUL WORSHIP. 215 large as a cart wheel; and then, all shouting “The garland hangs!” they dance round the tree. Both the tree and the garland are renewed every year. The very similar custom of wreathing the May Pole and dancing round it, has probably come down to us from our heathen ancestors. Every Easter Monday, bands of youths and maidens, carrying nosegays, enter a cavern, called the Hollow Stone, near the mountain of Meisner in Hesse, and then draw some cooling water. No one will venture down unless he has flowers with him. The lands in some Hessian townships have to pay a bunch of flowers (lilies of the valley) every year for rent. These flowers were probably intended in ancient times for decorating idols and sacrifices." Heathen Priests, when performing their sacerdotal functions, were ordinarily clad in white robes, and crowned with garlands. Heathen Hzgk Priests wore crowns of gold, and gorgeous vestments of the richest texture and colouring, adorned with gold and jewels. Heathen Worshippers were, like the Priests, robed in shining white. In many countries, they covered their heads with white veils. In countries such as Greece, where it was not customary to cover the head, the wor- shippers wore crowns or garlands. In Religious Pro- cessions, and in the beautiful Sacred Dances, many of the worshippers carried flowers, palm branches, banners, and lights. Decorated Idols were usually borne at the head of Religious Processions among the Heathen.’ To the Beauty of magnificent Temples; and the 1 Grimm, Zeutonic Mythology, I. pp. 57-59. 2 See above, Chapter XV. §§ 3-7. Smith, Dict. of the Bible, I. pp. 851, 852, Art. Jdol; p. 858, Art. Jdolatry. Smith, Dect. of Christian Antig.,1. pp. 811, 812, Art. Jdolatry. Herod. ii. 37. Xenophon, Fe//. iv. 3,21. Becker and Marquardt, Handbuch der Romischen Alterthumer, IV.-pp. 86, 96, 411. Grimm, Zeutonic Mythology, I. p. 55. Marriott, Vestiarium Christianum, pp. Vi. xx, e¢ sg. 216 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. Beauty of lavishly decorated Sanctuaries, Idols, Sacri- fices, Priests, and Worshippers; and the Beauty of decorated Processions and lovely Sacred Dances; we must also add the almost spiritual Beauty of Reverent Postures and Reverent demeanour, before we can form an adequate conception of the Beauty of the highest forms of Heathen Worship.} 5.— Worship in Unknown Tongues. Religious worship is, so to speak, a polished blade of high temper: but unless it be kept polished and bright, it is soon covered with rust, and its edge is lost. What centuries of rust are to the blade, that the accretions of archaic and dead languages—Liturgies in Unknown Tongues—are to religious devotion: the use of the “understanding”’ and conscience—the finest edge of devotion—is almost entirely lost. The most remarkable instances of Heathen worship in Unknown Tongues are found, Ist, among the Zoro- asterian Fire - Worshippers of Persia; 2d, among the Mohammedans of India; and 3d, among the Maori savages of New Zealand. The same devotional anomaly is also found in the three most corrupt branches of the Christian Church:—the Roman Church, the Coptic Church of Egypt, and the Nestorian Church of Kurdistan in Persia, The history of Persian Fire-Worship is painfully instructive. The religion which the ancient Persians brought with them into the country which has since been called after them Persia, or Persia Proper, seems to have been of a very simple character. It differed, however, from pure 1 For the effect of Devil-Worship upon the appearance of Heathen Worship see below, Chapter XX, WORSHIP IN UNKNOWN TONGUES. 217 natural religion, in being deeply tainted with Dualism. The One Supreme God, “the Great Giver of Life” and of all blessings, was probably the sole object of worship. But the sun seems to have received a certain amount of homage, as a symbol or manifestation of the true God. The Evil Spirit, though not worshipped, was regarded as almost possessed of divine powers and attributes. The Persians seem to have had no priests; and they had certainly no images. They ordinarily used open altars; but they were not destitute of temples, as Herodotus asserts. They appear to have worshipped with great simplicity of ritual, forming frocessions, and singing religious chants, consisting of prayers and praises, around their altars and in their temples. We may note as characteristics of their pure Aryan form of worship, that it was congregational; in the language of the people; musical; and accompanied by religious processions. From the first immigration of the Persians into their new home, some eight or nine centuries before Christ, their simple Aryan faith and worship were brought into contact with the Magianism which had long been dominant in that region. Magianism had a venerable sacerdotal hierarchy, and an elaborate religious cere- monial. Its most marked feature was its Fire-worship, No sacrifices were allowed to be offered before the sacred Fire, unless a Magian priest was present to chant the prescribed prayers. The Persian and Magian religions, thus brought in contact, struggled for a short time for preéminence, and then amalgamated. The Persian Dualism was retained, and to this were superadded the whole ceremonial and hierarchy of Magianism. We cannot doubt that this amalgamated religion was, from the first, in process of decay. We have seen that, previous to the amalgama- 218 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL RITUAL. tion, the pure Persian faith had shown a tendency to Dualism and Sun-worship. It may have been tainted, as Magianism was, with other superstitions, Whether this were so or not, it is certain that the religious system which resulted from the amalgamation rapidly became corrupt.’ In the sixth century before Christ, Zoroaster appeared as an ardent reformer of this corrupt worship. He taught a purer form of religion than that which he found among his Persian country- men; and he endeavoured to perpetuate his teaching in anew Liturgy. The more ancient liturgies, of which we know nothing, were set aside; and Zoroaster’s followers were required to use the liturgy which he had compiled, and no other. We may well believe that Zoroaster’s Liturgy, which soon became an object of great reverence, was well adapted to his purpose, and beautiful both in thought and expression. His followers, however (if not he himself), resorted to that most unworthy and unwise of all expedients— pious frauds—in order to commend his system to their countrymen, They taught that Zoroaster, having been caught up into heaven, heard God speaking to him out of the midst of a great and bright flame of fire: that he had seen no form, but fire only, which was therefore the only legitimate object of worship, and symbol of the Divine Presence; and that he had received in heaven, and had brought with him to the earth, some of the Sacred Fire, and also a Divine Liturgy, which alone were to be used in Magian worship, for ever. This Sacred Fire, propagated from place to place, and kept continually burning, was thenceforth used on all Persian altars. And Zoroaster’s Divine Liturgy, which was in the vulgar tongue of the Persians, was everywhere used 1 Smith, Dict. of the Bible, Il. p. 189, Art. Aagz; and p. 794, Art. Persians. Herod. i. 132. As to dates, see above, p. 174, 2o@e. WORSHIP IN UNKNOWN TONGUES. 219 by them, and became, equally with the Sacred Fire, an object of superstitious veneration. So great was the veneration for the Sacred Fire, that the priests were commanded never to Jd/ow it, either with bellows or with their breath, lest they should pol- lute it, on pain of death. To such an extreme of cere- monial exactness was the observance of this command carried, that the Priests never approached the Sacred Fire but with cloths over their mouths, \est they should breathe upon it. Even while chanting their Divine Liturgy, at the Fire-Altars, they were obliged to have the cloths upon their mouths. Hence the Public Prayers came to be muttered in a low singing tone, which was quite unintelligible to the worshippers. This unintelligible muttering of the Liturgy must have, in great measure, reduced the worship to a dumb show. But as centuries passed away, a further change for the worse took place in the character of Persian worship. The ancient vernacular language, in which Zoroaster’s Liturgy had been written, became a dead language—as much an unknown tongue in Persia, as Latin is in modern Europe. But the followers of Zoro- aster were bound fast to the ancient form which he had given to them. The Magian priests thought that it would be profanity to translate a Liturgy received from heaven. They forgot that no form of words can be so Divine as human necessity: that forms of words are made for man, and not man for forms of words. Such were the steps by which the ancient congrega- tional melodies of Persian worship died away. Persian worship was reduced to a dumb show: Priests, with cloths over their mouths, muttering inaudibly a dead language before the Fire-Altars.! 1 Prideaux, Connection, I. pp. 306-309. Picart, IV. pp. 412, 416. G. Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, pp. 116, 117. 220 HEATHEN DEVOTIONAL WORSHIP. Mohammedan Worship in /zdza is another instance of worship conducted mainly in an unknown tongue. Arabic, the sacred language of the Mohammedans, in which their Prophet wrote or delivered the Koran, although well understood in Egypt, Arabia, and some other Mohammedan countries, is an unknown tongue in India. The Mohammedans of India are, therefore, obliged to chant the Koran and their Public Prayers in a language of which they do not understand a word. It is remarkable, however, that in this instance, con- gregational worship is maintained, in spite of the unknown tongue. Mohammedan children are so care- fully taught in the schools to recite and chant the Arabic Prayers, that Mohammedan worshippers, even in India, where Arabic is not understood, take their part in the public services without making any mistake. Mr. J. G. Wood tells us that the ancient liturgy, with which the Maori savages of New Zealand worship the invisible God (Atua), is now full of obsolete expressions. It is handed down traditionally from father to son by the Maori priests: the old priests taking great pains to teach the younger priests to recite the liturgy with perfect accuracy. Not aword is allowed to be changed ; and the ancient form is now almost a dead language. The Maori people, however, like the Indian Moham- medans, know their liturgy by rote, although they do not understand it; and they chant it congregationally with great solemnity.! 1 J. G. Wood, Natural History of Man (Australia, &c.), p. 177. Tucker, Onder His Banner, pp. 52, 53- $75 221 « 4) CHAPTER XVII. HEATHEN RESPONSIVE AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP—A neient. I. The Bible.-—2. Homer.—3. Horace and Virgil.—4q. Ancient Assyrian and Babylonian Records and fragments of Liturgies.—5. Ancient Egyptian Records and fragments of Liturgies. 1.—Allusions in the Bible to Heathen Responsive and Congregational Worship. (1.) A remarkable reproduction of ancient Egyptian worship is recorded in the 32d Chapter of Exodus, It must here claim our attention, as an example of the Responsive and Congregational Worship which prevailed in Egyptian temples fifteen centuries before Christ. When receiving the Law, Moses and Joshua remained long on Mount Sinai. The people of Israel, who were camped in the valley beneath, soon began to yearn for the idolatrous worship which they had so recently left behind them in Egypt. The belief which the Egyptians cherished, in common with many other heathen nations, that their worship was, under various idolatrous forms, always paid to the One Supreme and Invisible God,} made it easy for the degraded Israelites to worship an Egyptian idol, and at the same time suppose that they were true worshippers of Jehovah, 1 G. Rawlinson, Zhe Religions of the Ancient World, p. 42. Records of the Past, Il. pp, 125-128; IV. p. 109. 2 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. tN “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount,’ they and Aaron formed a golden representation of the Egyptian Bull-god, Apis. The image, which was in the form of a young bull, was made of wood, overlaid with a covering of gold plate.t They built an altar before the image; and they offered sacrifices upon the altar, with antiphonal singing, danc- ing, hand-clapping, rejoicing, and the usual sacrificial meal; as the Egyptians celebrated the feast of Apis.” Moses, having received the two tables of stone on which the Law was written, and having been told by God of the idolatrous lapse of the people, came down from the mount, accompanied by his chief captain Joshua. Their path, during the greater part of the descent, followed the course of a deep gorge which ran down the shoulder of the mountain. So long as they were in the gorge, the camp, which lay beneath the rocky front of Sinai, was shut out from their view; but broken sounds from the camp, ascending through the still mountain air of that Eastern climate, so favourable to the transmission of sound, soon began to reach their ears. Those who have heard Prussian soldiers singing on the march, or who have approached from ‘a distance any great body of worshippers singing in the open air, will appreciate the minute and lifelike touches of truth which here shine in the sacred narrative. Every interven- ing rock, or tree, or mound, or breath of air, breaks the distant melody. For a few seconds, nothing is heard. Then, with startling clearness, a confused “shout” suddenly reaches the ear, and is in an instant silent. Such broken sounds Moses and Joshua heard ; and each interpreted them according to his own instincts. Joshua, the Chief-captain of the host, true to his instincts asa 1 Kiel and Delitzsch, ix oc. 47 Herod),2. 604432 27.226, WORSHIP OF BAAL (1 Kings 18). 22% man of war, thought of the battlefield. He heard the voices of a multitude, but not always of the same multitude: the “shouts,” which from time to time burst upon his ears, became more distinct: they came evi- dently from adzfferent multitudes—from, as e thought, different armzes. Believing that the people had been attacked by pursuiug Egyptians, or by hostile desert tribes, “he said unto Moses, there is a noise of war in the camp.” While Joshua thought of war and different armies, Moses thought of worship and different choirs. Moses replied, “It is not the voice of them that shout for the mastery [that is, of a victorious army], neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome [that is, of an army being defeated and slaughtered]: but the sound of ANSWERING-SONGS (antiphonal songs, Musical, Responsive, and Congregational Worship) I do hear.” } (2.) In the description of Elijah’s conflict with the Prophets of the Phoenician Sun-god, Baal, we have indications of the responsive and congregational char- acter of both Heathen and Jewish worship. The “450 prophets” of the false god danced around the altar “from morning, even until noon,” crying or chanting, sometimes, no doubt, in unison, and sometimes anti- phonally, “O Baal, hear us.’ We cannot doubt that in similar dances and chants, the people now silent, because of Elijah’s presence, had often joined around the altars of Baal. Elijah’s sacrifice was accompanied by a short special prayer, as the occasion required, and Jehovah imme- diately sent down fire from heaven upon the sacrifice. Then “ALL THE PEOPLE fell on their faces:” and they said, “The Lord, He is the God; The Lord, He is the 1 Ex. 32. 17,18. Keil and Delitzsch, 7 Joc. Stanley, Stzaz and Palestine, in Joc. Smith, Dictionary of the Bible, UI. p. 1327, Art. Szvaz. 224 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. God.” We notice here, how ready “ail the people” were both to prostrate themselves in worship, and to join in the worship with one heart and one voice. They had been accustomed to do so all their lives.? (3.) In the Acts of the Apostles we see a trace of the responsive and congregational worship in the great temple of Diana at Ephesus, The multitude at Ephesus, when they supposed that their goddess had been despised, rushed together into the vast theatre. And “ALL WITH ONE VOICE about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” This was evidently a familiar response which had re- sounded like thunder through the great temple of Ephesus on many a high festival.” 2.—A llusions in Homer to Heathen Responsive and Congregational Worship. (1.) When the Trojans had sustained a reverse in arms, Homer represents Queen Hecuba and the Trojan matrons as repairing to the temple of Minerva, which was situated in the highest part of their city. There, the fair Theano, the Priestess of Minerva, took from Queen Hecuba’s hand the costly embroidered robe which was her offering to the goddess ; placed it upon the knees of the image of Minerva; and offered up a prayer for the safety of the city. In response to this prayer, Hecuba and all the matrons, raising their hands to Minerva, uttered a supplicatory cry. According to the usages of heathen worship, this supplicatory cry must have been a short response, such as “O Minerva, hear us!” or “O Minerva, save us!” It was chanted in a musical wail by the whole assembly; and was re- 1 1 Kings 18, 20-46. Keil, 27 doc. 2 Acts 19. 34. HORACE AND VIRGIL. 225 peated once, twice, or many times, at each pause the Priestess made.} (2.) At the funeral obsequies of Hector, the Trojan hero, the leaders of funeral dirges chanted mournful strains. At each pause, the women responded in a wailing chant.? Herodotus commends the skill with which the Libyan women chanted religious wails in the temples. He suggests that the Greeks must have learned the art from them.? Greek worship was essentially congregational, respon- sive, and musical. In the Doric states, the whole of the men who formed the battle array formed also the chorus in the worship of their principal deity, Apollo. This vast chorus was divided into “strophes” and “ antistrophes,” who sometimes chanted in unison, and sometimes antiphonally, responding to each other.‘ 3.—Horace and Virgil. (1.) One of the greatest festivals of Pagan Rome was the Se@culum. It was celebrated once in every 100 or 110 years; and its solemnities, which were prescribed in the ancient Sibylline Books, lasted three days and three nights, Amongst the rules given in the Sibylline Books for the due performances of these solemnities, it was directed that a hymn in praise of Apollo and Diana, to whom the festival was sacred, should be sung bya choir of youths and maidens. In the year B.C. 17, when Augustus had restored tranquillity to the Roman world, the S@culum was observed with great pomp; and the hymn in honour of Apollo and Diana was, by the 1 Hom. Z/. vi. 300. * Hom. J/, xxiv. 720. 3 Herod. iv. 189. 4 Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiqutties, Art. Chorus, pp. 225, 226. E 226 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. Emperor’s command, composed by the poet Horace, in whose works it is still preserved.} It was almost all sung antiphonally or ceetansivetel the choir of youths and ae choir of maidens respond- ing to each other. The hymn is full of traces of the responsive character of the singing. The choir of youths chanted the stanzas which are addressed to Apollo, and the maidens responded by chanting those addressed to his twin-sister, the goddess Diana. The last stanza was probably sung by both choirs in unison. In connection with this hymn, the poet composed a sraceful ode, in which he exhorts the choirs of wzrgins of the first distinction and youths sprung from illustrious stres—who were to sing his secular hymn—to do it jus- tice. He tells them to “observe the Lesbian measure,” and the cadences of the hymn, as indicated by his lyre? The choirs of youths and maidens in the Roman temples were selected from the most illustrious families in the neighbourhood. Admission to these choirs was considered a high distinction. The noblest families at Rome were proud to have their children admitted as choristers in the temples. This was a pious, just, and honourable pride. There are many wealthy parents in Christian England who might learn something in this matter from the old Romans. How greatly the hands of the English Clergy would be strengthened, if our upper classes, who have the advantage of refined and cultivated voices, would teach their young people to regard it as an honour to be allowed to join the church choirs, and to lead the worship of God in His sanctuaries, If this was the feeling of the Roman 1 Horace, Carmen Saculare. 2 Horace, Carm. iv. 6. Many of Horace’s Odes are addressed to the gods, and were probably sung in the temples :—Carm. i. 10, 21, 30, 31; iLerOs Ml 11, 10, 22,20. avril; ASSYRIAN AND BABYLONIAN RECORDS. 227 aristocracy, with respect to the worship of idols and false gods, how much more should it be the feeling of our own aristocracy and gentry, with respect to the infinitely nobler and purer worship in which it is their privilege to join. (2.) Virgil, who was a contemporary of Horace,} alludes to the annual festival in honour of Ceres, the coddess of the earth and protectress of agriculture. The worship was in the open field. The victim before it was sacrificed was led thrice round the heap of grain. The villagers and farm labourers, having their heads wreathed with crowns of oak, followed the victim, in a joyous pro- cession, dancing, and chanting hymns and invocations to the goddess.? 4.—Ancient Assyrian and Babylonian Records and Sragments of Liturgies. The monumental inscriptions and other records of ancient Assyria and Babylon,’ although mainly occupied with accounts of sanguinary wars, political events, and the public acts of Kings, contain also many deeply interesting allusions to the religious belief and worship prevalent in those countries in the remotest ages of antiquity. These old records give a terrible picture of that ancient world. Blood in the North, blood in the South, blood in the East, blood in the West! Blood- shed everywhere! “ Broken diadems and flying arrows” everywhere! Pride, passionate pride, the frantic mad- ness of uncontrollable pride everywhere, “ trampling on the world,” “trampling on the world,” “trampling on the world!” Victorious warriors making “ cities kiss their 1 Virgil was born B.c. 70: Horace, five years later, B.c. 65. 3 Virgil, Georgica, i. 338-350. 3 Translations of the principal ancient Assyrian and Babylonian Texts have been published in (Records of the Past, Vols. I., IIL, V., VIL, IX., XI. 228 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. feet,’ making scores of ‘‘cities kiss their feet,” making hundreds of “cities kiss their feet!” “throwing down” cities “ without number,” “digging them up,” “ burning them with fire,” “ reducing them to heaps of rubbish!” “slaughtering ” myriads upon myriads everywhere ; “filling valleys with corpses ;” raising enormous “ piles of dead bodies;” raising enormous “ piles of heads ;” inflicting barbarous tortures and mutilations; carrying away multitudes of “captives;” perpetrating nameless and shameless dishonour and outrage everywhere ; and in solemn public inscriptions, on sepulchral monuments, and on monuments at the gates of palaces and temples, clorying! in these deeds! And all this in a highly luxuri- ous and splendid civilisation, with abounding knowledge of science and of the fine arts.2. Truly the world owes much to the mild rule of the Prince of Peace; to the wondrous Divine Light of His Revelation of mercy and humility, of purity and truth and love! While men have been wrangling about Christianity, it has been saving their necks, and blessing their homes. But these stony-hearted, bloody records of the past, also afford abundant evidence 'that the religious in- stincts in man were as powerful at the dawn of history as they are to-day. Amid outrageous pride and cruelty, bloodshed and moral depravity, the religious heart of man filled those renowned Assyrian lands with multi- tudes of temples, religions, sacrifices, and solemn rituals, 2000 years B.C. In those religions, corrupt as they were, pure gleams of the Eternal Light struggled with the darkness, “and the darkness overcame it not.” 3 9) 1 Records of the Fast, 1. pp. 3, 12-18, 21, 27, 28: III. pp. 40, 42, 44, 49-51: V. pp. 58, 60, 61: VII. pp. 12, 16, 28, 29; &c. See also Ezek. 37. 1: Nahum 3. I. 2 Records of the Past, III. p. 5. 3 John I. 5 (Margin of Kevised Version). ASSYRIAN AND BABYLONIAN RECORDS. 229 Of the great antiquity of temple-building there can be no doubt. Many of the temples of Babylonia were founded by kings who reigned either in, or long before, the 16th century B.c.;! that is, before the Exodus. Almost all the ancient Babylonian monarchs describe themselves as the restorers of the temples of their forefathers, the builders of new temples, the “ sanctifiers of the gods,” “the shepherds of sacred places;” and many of the most ancient Assyrian and Babylonian records contain references to the great temples then existing, and to the building and decoration of new temples.? Some of the Assyrian and Babylonian temples had several courts, and were of great extent and magnifi- cence. The great temple of the seven spheres at Birs- Nimrud (anciently Borsippa), which Nebuchadnezzar completed, after it had been partially built by ‘‘ former kings,” was constructed in seven receding stages, which were coloured so as to represent the seven planetary spheres. Its ruins still rise 153 feet above the level of the plain.® The shrines of these temples were “ splen- didly adorned with shining gold,” with “gold, silver, and precious stones,”* and with “carved images of cheru- bim overlaid with gold:”® the idols placed in these shrines were always solemn, calm, impressive;® and were sometimes made of solid gold, or were overlaid with gold, or were dressed in robes “of gold and blue” sparkling with multitudes “of precious stones.”7 The altar was, in many instances, overlaid with silver, or with gold, and the portico “with brilliant gold.” § 1 Records of the Past, II. p. 5. timid? Lepp.+24;: 1212) XII.) pp., 5; (128/129 +) V2. pp. (80,)' 122, 145: Vetpa eel ba LIS tod 1. pp, As. 5, 3 Ibid. VII. pp. 73, 74, 76. * Lhiga Vili p. 75. 5 Ibid. V. p. 78. 6 G. Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, p. 75. 7 Records of the Past, VII. pp. 6, 66. 8 Ibid. V. 119, 120. ° 230 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. The Assyrian nations seem to have believed that the souls of the righteous after death ascended on high, “shining,” “bright,” and “radiant,” with “ garments like pure silver, shining white:” that they were received “into the holy hands of the gods,” “in the light of the abode of blessedness;” and that they “dwelt in life eternal, holy in the presence of the gods,’ and were fed by the gods themselves with celestial food! In all their religious symbolism, d/ack represented evil, wicked- ness; and “shining white” represented righteousness, holiness. In exorcisms, they put a black cloth in the left hand of a sick or dying man, to symbolize that he repudiated all his former evil deeds; and they put a white cloth in his right hand, to symbolize that he put his trust in holiness.? The Assyrians believed that in Heaven “ multitudes ” of gods (or angels) worshipped the Supreme Being by congregational and responsive chanting of hymns. An interesting allusion to this Heavenly worship is found in the ancient Assyrian tablet which describes the revolt of the angels against their Creator. The opening lines of the tablet are broken, but they seem to have related that a great festival of praise and thanksgiving was being held in heaven when the rebellion took place. Perfect harmony was believed to have existed in heaven, previously. The reader will recollect the noble passage in which Job tells us that when God laid the foundations of the world, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.”* By “the sons of God” in this passage are to be understood the angels, In the beginning, therefore, according to this sacred author, all in heaven was joy, and harmony, and loyalty to God, expressed, as I have pointed out in a previous 1 See Records of the Past, III. pp. 133-135. 2 Records of the Past, 111. p. 140. 3 Job 38. 6, 7. REVOLT IN HEAVEN. 231 chapter,! by Responsive, Congregational, and Musical Worship. But this state of perfect union and happi- ness was not to last. At some unknown time, before the creation of man, some of the angels ceased to worship their Creator: thoughts of pride and ingratitude arose in their hearts; and they revolted from God, and were by His just decree expelled from heaven. These were “the angels” of whom it is said in the book of Jude that they “kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation.”? The Babylonian tradi- tion tells us that while the host of heaven were as- sembled, and were all engaged in singing hymns of praise to the Creator, suddenly some evil spirit gave the signal of revolt. The hymns ceased in one part of the assembly, which burst forth into loud curses and im- precations on their Creator. In His wrath, He sounded a loud trumpet-blast, and drove them from His presence forever. “In their room He created mankind.” The Babylonian inscription which preserves this tradi- tion of the Revolt in Heaven is especially interesting, in connection with the subject of this volume, on account of its evident liturgical allusions. The first 4 lines, and the last 9 or 10 lines of the tablet, are too much broken for translation: I give the principal part of the remainder in full, as translated by Mr. H. Fox Talbot.’ The liturgi- cal allusions are marked in z¢alics. The Assyrian scribe annotates in the margin that the same Divine Being is referred to under all the different epithets in this inscription. 1 See above, Chapter XI. § 1. 2 Jude 6 (Revised Version), cf. Rev. 12. 7-9. 3 Records of the Past, VII. pp. 127, 128.. 232 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. “THE REVOLT IN HEAVEN.” “The Divine Being spoke three times the commencement of a psalm. The God of Holy Songs, Lord of Religion and Worship, Seated a thousand singers and musicians; and established a choral band, Who to His hymns were ¢o respond in multitudes.) With a loud cry of contempt they [the rebel angels] broke up His holy song, Spoiling, confusing, confounding His hymn of praise. The God of the Bright Crown, with a wish to summon His adherents, Sounded a trumpet blast which would wake the dead, Which to those rebel angels prohibited return : He stopped their service, and sent them to the gods who were his enemies [i.e., to serve the powers of evil]. In their room He created mankind. The first [men] who received life dwelt along with Him. May He give them strength never to neglect His word, Following the serpent’s voice, whom His hands had made. And may the God of Divine Speech expel from His five thousand that wicked thousand Who i the midst of His heavenly song had shouted evil blasphemies |” The heavenly worship referred to in this ancient record was led by the Divine Being Himself, and was Responsive, Congregational, and Musical. These ancient Assyrian Texts were, for the most part, never intended to impart information with respect to either the general principles or the ritual details of Assyrian worship. But although they are mainly occu- pied with other subjects, we can, nevertheless, glean from them valuable information about those principles and details. The Assyrians and Babylonians worshipped many BABYLONIAN SAINTS’ CALENDAR. 233 cods in their temples.1 They were, in a more marked sense than the Egyptians, polytheists. And yet we find in their records undoubted traces of an ancient mono- theism: the Inscription of Khammurabi, who was “the exalted king, the king of Babylon,’ some centuries before the Exodus, describes him as “the worshipper of the Supreme Deity.”? Their worship was conducted, as generally in the ancient world, by prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. Every day in the year seems to have been sacred to some deity or deities; and some sacrifice or other was appointed to be offered every day by the monarch, who thus set an example to his subjects which they were doubtless not slow to follow.’ Among all the records of antiquity, there is none more remarkable or more suggestive, in connection with our subject, than the Babylonian Saints’ Calendar,4 from which I give extracts below. The occurrence of numerous Accadian expressions and technical terms shows that the original text of this Calendar must have been inscribed at some period anterior to the 17th century B.c., when the Accadian language seems to have become extinct, It bears evidence to the exist- ence of a seventh-day Sabbath, on which certain works were forbidden to be done, among the Babylonians and Assyrians, from primitive Accadian times. The ancient Accadian expression for Sabbath literally signifies a “Day of completion (of labours), a “ Day unlawful (to work upon):” the Assyrian word for the Sabbath, Sabattu, means a “Day of rest for the heart.” This 1 G. Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, pp. 48, 49. 2 Records of the Past, I. p. 8. 3 G. Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, pp. 75, 77. 4 Records of the Past, VII. pp. 157-170. . Many of the gods were deified men. 5 The Buddhists also have a weekly Sabbath: Full-Moon Day, New- Moon Day, and two Days equidistant between these. See Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XI. pp. 253, 254. 234 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. wonderful Calendar also proves the existence of an elaborate Chaldean Ritual and Rubric, and shows that each day of the year had been assigned to its particular deity or patron-saint, in whose honour special cere- monies and services had to be performed. EXTRACTS FROM THE BABYLONIAN CALENDAR. “The Month of the second Elul. THe rirst pay. The feast of ANu and BeL. A Festival. When during the month the moon is seen, the Prince of many nations As his offering a gazelle without blemish to the Moon shall offer. . . His offering to the Sun the Lady of the world, and to the Moon the mighty god, he makes. Sacrifices he offers. Raising his hand, the high place of the god he worships. THE 2ND Day. The feast of the goddesses. A Festival. The King his altar To the Sun the Lady of the world, and the Moon the mighty god, makes. Sacrifices he offers. Raising his hand to the high place of the god, he makes a present. The 3RD pay. A feast of MERODACH and ZiR-PANITU. A Festival. In the night in the presence of MERoDACH and IsTAaR The King his offering makes. Sacrifices he offers. Raising his hand, the high place of the god he worships.” [Somewhat similar entries occur for “ THE 4TH DAY” and for “THE 5TH DAY,” and for all ordinary days.] THE 7TH DAY. A feast of MERODACH and ZiIR-PANITU. A Festival. A Sabbath. The Prince of many nations BABYLONIAN DELIGHTFUL DEVOTION. 2 i>) an The flesh of birds and cooked fruit eats not. The garments of his body he changes not. White robes he puts not on. Sacrifice he offers not. The King in his chariot rides not. In royal fashion he legislates not. A place of garrison the General by word of mouth appoints not. Medicine for his sickness of body he applies not. To make a sacred spot it is suitable. In the night in the presence of MERODACH and IsTAR The King his offering makes. Sacrifices he offers. Raising his hand the high place of the god he worships.” With the exception of constant changes in the names of the patron-deities, and the consequent changes in the clauses relating to sacrifices and offerings, the above extract for THE 7TH DAY is repeated almost verbatim on THE I4TH DAY, on THE 2IST DAY, and on each succeeding SABBATH.: Occasionally, however, in addi- tion to the regular seventh-day Sabbaths, an ordinary week-day is, doubtless for some special reason, marked in this Calendar as a “WHITE DAY” (like the Latin dies candidus) ; that is, a ““HOLYDAY;” and is called a SABBATH, and made subject to all the Sabbath rules. In this ancient calendar we are brought face to face with an elaborate worship and ritual which must have been familiar to Abraham in the great idol-temples of “Ur of the Chaldees.”! The worship in those temples, however corrupt in other respects, appears to have had a pure type of Devotional Ritual. The people seem to have believed that there was a Responsive, Congrega- tional, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful worship in Heaven; and there is evidence that their own worship on earth had all these characteristics. When King Hammarabi built the grand temple of Merodach, called 1 Gen. 11. 28, 236 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. Bit-saggal, at Babylon, the completion and dedication of the work were marked “with shouting and joy” and “delightful devotion ;” and the king “caused music to be performed in it night and day.”? Indeed a solemn and grand worship appears to have been almost inces- sant in the temples of Assyria and Babylonia.’ The following extracts are from an ancient Accadian Penitential Psalm,? which is accompanied by Rubrical directions, showing that it was chanted apparently by prostrate worshippers on the floors of the ancient temples. It is possible that Abraham, before he was called from Ur of the Chaldees, took part in the chant- ing of this Psalm, which was probably ancient and well known in his day. EXTRACTS FROM AN ACCADIAN PENITENTIAL PSALM. “The heart of my Lord was wroth: to his place may he return. From the man that sinned unknowingly, to his place may my god return. } : From him that sinned unknowingly, to her place may the goddess return. The transgression that I committed, my god knew it. The transgression that I committed, my goddess knew it. [The next three lines are obliterated. | The waters of the sea, the waters of my tears, do I drink. That which was forbidden by my god with my mouth IJ ate. That which was forbidden by my goddess in my ignorance I trampled upon.* 1 Records of the Past, V. pp. 69, 70. 2 G. Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, pp. 75, 77. 3 Records of the Past, VII. pp. 151-156. 4 These expressions may be metaphorical, referring to all breaches of the Divine law. The Psalm has evidently special reference to sins of ignorance, brought to mind by suffering. ANCIENT ACCADIAN PENITENTIAL PSALM. 237 O my Lord, my transgression is great, many are my sins. O my god, my transgression is great, my sins are many. O my Bee ay ig ue is —) oh sins are many. The transgression that I Pe re I knew not. The sin that I sinned I knew not. The forbidden thing did I eat. The forbidden thing did I trample upon. My Lord in the wrath of his heart has punished me. God in the strength of his heart has overpowered me. The goddess upon me has laid affliction, and in pain has set me. God who knew, though I knew not, hath pierced me. The goddess who knew, though I knew not, hath caused darkness. I lay on the ground {allusion to the prostrate attitude of the worshippers | and no man seized me by the hand. I wept, and my palms none took. I cried aloud ; there was none that would hear me. I am in darkness and trouble: J “/¢ not myself up. To my god my distress I referred ; my prayer I addressed. The feet a my eae I embraced. How bile O my 68. shall I suffer ? How long, O my goddess, shall I suffer ? How long, O my god, who knewest though I knew not, shall thy strength oppress me? How long, O my goddess, who knewest though I knew not, shall thy heart be wroth ? Of mankind thou writest the number, and there is none that knoweth. Of mankind the name that is fully proclaimed how can I know? Whether it be afflicted, or whether it be blessed, there is none that knoweth. O Lord, thy servant thou dost not restore. In the waters of the raging flood seize his hand. The sin that he has sinned to blessedness bring back. 238 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. The transgression that he has committed let the wind carry away. My manifold affliction like a garment destroy. O my god, seven times seven are my transgressions, my trans- gressions are before me. To be repeated 10 times [A RUBRICAL DIRECTION to the wor- shippers]. O my goddess, seven times seven are my transgressions. O god, who knowest that I knew not, seven times seven are my transgressions. O goddess, who knowest that I knew not, seven times seven are my transgressions. My transgressions are before me: may thy judgment give me life. May thy heart, like the heart of the Mother! of the setting day, to its place return. To be repeated 5 times [A RUBRICAL DIRECTION]. Like the mother of the setting day, and the father of the setting day, to its place may it return. For the tearful supplication of my heart, 65 ¢imes let the name be invoked of ead god [A RUBRICAL DIRECTION I. . Peace afterwards ” [Probably a RUBRICAL DIRECTION, inti- mating that the above Confession and Invocation were to be followed by a Blessing or Absolution]. The following is from an “ ASSYRIAN PRAYER FOR THE KING.’ ‘‘ Holding over all Kings supremacy And royalty and empire, 1 Perhaps Gula or Anunit, the female Sun, wife of Shamas, the Assyrian Sun-god : or the reference may be to some belief like that of the Egyptians, who represent the sun as sinking nightly into the bosom of his mother Neith, who personifies the Lower Hemisphere of heaven.—Records of the fast 1. 0.,1.18. 2 Records of the Past, II. pp. 133, 134. EGYPTIAN POLYTHEISM. 239 May he attain to grey hairs And old age! And after the life of these days, In the feasts of the Silver Mountain, the Heavenly Courts, The abode of blessedness : And in the Light Of the Happy Fields, May he dwell a life Eternal, holy In the presence Of the gods Who inhabit Assyria!” 5.— Ancient Egyptian Records. The popular religion of ancient Egypt was an idol- atrous polytheism of the most corrupt and degrading character. Idol- worship, sun - worship, king - worship, animal-worship, reptile-worship, river-worship, fish-wor- ship, lust-worship, and fetish-worship of every kind abounded in Egypt. Devil-worship also held a pro- minent place in the religious system of the ancient Egyptians. Malignant and evil deities, devil-gods, represented by hideous and grotesque idols and serpents, were feared and hated, and received a deprecatory worship.! Below this popular mythology, however, there lay concealed from general view, but open to the priests and the educated classes, a theological system which distinctly taught and insisted upon the real and essen- tial Unity of the Divine Nature. The sacred texts spoke of a single Divine Being, a Supreme God, un- known and inconceivable, the true and only source of all power and goodness. They taught that the Supreme 1 G, Rawlinson, Religzons of the Ancient World, p. 31. 240 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. God was “the sole producer of all things in heaven and earth,” Himself not produced of any; “ Who exists from the beginning ;” and “Who has made all things, but hast not Himself been made.” This Supreme God seems never to have been represented by any material idol, or symbolical form. This was a remnant of prime- val monotheism. Even Ammon, or Amen, the “con- cealed,’ was a mere external adumbration of this mysterious and unapproachable Deity ; Who was a pure spirit, perfect in every respect, All-wise, All-mighty, supremely, perfectly good.} “ He is not graven in marble, As an image bearing the double crown. He is not beheld : He hath neither ministrants nor offerings: He is not adored in sanctuaries : His abode is not known : No shrine is found with painted figures. There is no building that can contain Him !* There is no counsellor? in Thy heart.” 4 Those who grasped the occult monotheistic doctrine understood clearly that the many gods of the popular mythology were mere names, personified attributes, and manifestations of the One true Deity, Who informed and inspired the whole of nature.° Belief in a future life, and belief in a solemn judgment of all men, immediately after death, according to their works, were fundamental principles of the Egyptian religion. It was taught that the departed soul was con- ducted to the “Hall of Truth” in the unseen world, 1 G, Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, pp. 42, 43. a CET ings 8. 27. itt sa. TY.e0 Saree 4 Allusions to the Supreme God in the “Hymn to the Nile.”—Records of the Past, IV. pp. 109, 110: see Ibid. II. pp. 125-128. 5 G. Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, p. 43. A FUTURE JUDGMENT. 241 where its good and evil deeds were weighed in a pair of scales, and the soul was judged in the presence of Osiris and his forty-two assessors, the “ Lords of Truth.” If the good deeds were sufficient, the soul, after purifica- tion by purgatorial fire (the Egyptians knew nothing of purification by the blood of a Divine Saviour), was con- ducted to the dwelling-places of the blessed for 3000 years: after which period it re-entered its former body, rose from the dead, and lived once more a human life on the earth. This process was gone through again and again, until a mystical cycle of years was completed, when the soul, which had originally emanated from the Divine essence, was again re-united to God, and so attained for ever the full joy, perfection, and true end of its existence. On the other hand, if the good deeds were insufficient, the guilty soul was sentenced, according to the degree of its ill-deserts, to go through a round of transmigrations in the bodies of animals more or less unclean. Ultimately, if, after many trials, sufficient purity was not attained, the soul was judged to be in- curably wicked, and was absolutely annihilated upon the shining steps of Heaven by Shu, the Lord of Light. } The records of ancient Egypt are full of allusions to an Egyptian Calendar of Sacred Festivals with appro- priate religious ceremonies. We read of “sacrifices” and “services daz/y ;” and “at sunset dazl/y ;” and “that the priests should perform ¢hrice daily religious services at the images, and place sacred decorations on them.” ? We read also of “divine offerings” at “the daz/y festi- val:”% of supplying “libations and incense” for “the festivals from the beginning of the year to the end of the year:”* of celebrating a festival “for five days;’® 1 G. Rawlinson, Keligions of the Ancient World, pp. 37-40. 2 Records of the Past, Il. p. 49; IV. p. 76; VIII. pp. 26, 28. 3 Ibid. II. p. 49. A [hid dL p. 50, © IbidyI lh. p.i4y. Q 242 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. of celebrating “all the festivals ;” the “great festivals ;”} “the festivals at the beginning of the year, the open- ing of the year, close of the year, at the great festival, at the festival of the great burning, at the festival of the lesser burning, the five intercalary days, at the festival of the bread-making, at the twelve monthly and twelve half-monthly festivals, all the festivals on the earth terminating on the hill;”2 “‘the Uaka festival,” “the festival of Thoth,” “the festival of Sekar,” “the festival of the appearance of Khem,” “the festival of the rising of Sothis,” and “all the great festi- vals made to Osiris.” Old and young are represented as joyously inviting each other: “Come, let us celebrate the heavenly festivals and the season feasts.”* From time to time kings added mew festivals, and renewed or improved the observance of old ones.® “ All rites,’ ® “all the ceremonies,” 7 or “the customs,” and “the prescribed ceremonies,” ® appear to have been common liturgical expressions in ancient Egypt for the Ritual observances appropriated to the several festivals. The “ First Sallier Papyrus” tells us that the ancient shepherd “king Apapi,” who ruled Egypt, was a mono- theist, worshipping one God only, and “refusing to serve any other god in the whole land.” He “ built for Him a temple of goodly and enduring workmanship,” and “appointed Festivals, days for making sacrifices with all rites.6? The ““Annals“of "Raméses de tellagneis “doubling the ceremonies” at certain “great festivals,” 1° Careful provision was made for the adequate and reverent performance of all religious ceremonies. Short 1 Records of the Past, II. p. 19; IV. p. 113. 3 Ibid, XILpy 7 abide VIA p. 3. * [bid Vv lp, (ta: Pibid, Vitp. 30 2Viil pple 14, § Ibid. II. p. go. 7 Ibid. IV. p. 63. 8 Thids1V. ppv 7592: 9 Ibid. VIII. p. 3. 10 Ibid. VIII. p. 14. ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ‘TEMPLES. 243 of the discovery of the ancient Egyptian Calendar itself, we have the most conclusive evidence possible of its existence, and of the ample provision which it made for daily worship throughout the year, and for the observ- ance of the constantly recurring Great Festivals. A week rarely passed without the performance of some magni- ficent special rite, which filled the streets and temples with bright processions, sacred dancing, and sacred music. Foreigners beheld with astonishment the cease- less round of religious services, which seemed to engage the main attention of all ranks of the people.! The monumental and other records of ancient Egypt contain many allusions to the existence of temples and a magnificent worship from the earliest times. Nearly all the ancient rulers of Egypt claim to have been the builders of new temples, or the restorers of temples which were falling into decay. We have seen that the Shepherd King Apapi “built a temple of goodly and enduring workmanship.” Perhaps the most ancient historical document known is the “ Inscription of Una,” ? written by the Priestly Crown Bearer of King Teta, of the VIth Dynasty. “Inthe name of the King,” writes the Crown Bearer (who recounts with pride all the high Offices of State which he held), “I built the royal seat of the temple of the Hexapolis.” King Thothmes III. ofthe XVIIIth Dynasty, before the Exodus, “erected an obelisk at the gateway of the Temple before Thebes.” 3 The “ Annals of Rameses III.,” of the XIXth Dynasty, who flourished about, or immediately after, the date of the Exodus, speak of his “good prayers, adorations, 1G. Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, p. 37. 2 It contains the earliest known mention of the negroes, who seem at that remote period to have been conquered by the Egyptians and con- scribed for their armies. See Records of the Past, II. pp. 1-3, et seg. 3 Records of the Past, \V. p. 12. 244 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. supplications, and glorious deeds before” his gods; and of his repairing ancient “temples which were decayed,” and building new temples “ with great columns of gold ;” “towers of stone approaching heaven; ” “ doors of gold ;” and “shrines of gold, silver, and real precious stones.” He also made magnificent crowned idols, “ noble figures” of the gods, “of gold and silver,’ “and studded with all precious stones, in the Gold Houses,” or shrines, of his temples.1 He gave to the temples “gold and _ silver vases, censers, lamps, and tables of libation, with inlay- ings of precious stones without number,” and vessels of libation, of “gold, silver, and brass by hundreds of thousands.” ? He scrupulously observed the “ Festi- vals,” and provided munificently for the “ sacrifices” and “daily services.’ ? These “ Annals” contain long lists of the “ Donations” given by Rameses III. tothe Temples of the gods. Very many of the King’s gifts seem to have been intended for the daily sacrifices, and for the maintenance of the nume- rous colleges of Priests and their families. Gifts of slaves, for assisting the Priests in the temples or for cultivating the temple lands, were also numerous, Many of the items in these ancient Lists bring before us very vividly the multitudes of white-robed priests and choristers, with clouds of ascending incense; and the bright processions with gold and silver images, banners, wreaths, and flowers, which made their way, in the solemn and beautiful movements of the sacred dances, through the gay streets on Great Festivals, and through the solemn sphinx avenues and wondrous courts of the colossal temples of ancient Egypt. 1 Records of the Past, VI. pp. 27, 28, 29, 32; cf. II. p. 19; VIII. pp. 5, 8, 9-11, 24; cf. p. 89. 2 Ibid. VI. p. 26: VIII. pp. 13, 24, 26. 3 Ibid. VIII. pp. 26, 28. DONATIONS TO EGYPTIAN TEMPLES. 245 EXTRACTS FROM THE LISTS OF RAMESES III.’S DONATIONS TO THE GODS. ** Incense, measures, 3. Cakes of Incense ; in Ephas, 100. Royal linen dresses, 37. Royal linen garments, 55. Royal linen caps, 11. Royal linen clothes for the statue of Amen, 4. Total of Royal linen of different kinds, 1383. Total of various good South linen clothes, 75. Embroidered caps, 876. Embroidered girdles, 6779. White Incense, jars, 2159. White Incense, jars, 12.” } “Flower crowns, 60,450. Blue flowers, chains, 12,400. Flowers, handfuls, 46,500. Lotus nosegays, 3410. Great nosegays, made of flowers, 19,150. Palm branches, 65,480.” ? “Good bread offered to the Great House of Gold, 460. Good bread, bushels of offerings, 80,500. Good bread, offering loaves, 80,500. Rations of food of bulls, 69,000.” 8 “Incense, pots, 2568. Incense, pots, 1304. Fresh Incense, Azz, 85. Gold figures of the Nile, zusa,* 6784. Silver figures of the Nile, musa, 6784. Alabaster statues of the Nile, zwsa, 6784. Jasper statues of the Nile, musa, 6784.” 1 From the Lists in Records of the Past, VI. pp. 40, 41. ? Ibid. VI. p. 49. 3 Records of the Past, VI. pp. 63, 64. * An Egyptian weight. 5 Records of the Fast, VI. pp. 68, 69. 246 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. “‘ Gold figures of the Nile, 2396. Silver figures of the Nile, 656. Wooden sycamore figures of the Nile, 784. Wooden figures of Repi, wife of the Nile, 784. Southern linen, pieces, 2968. Sweet living flowers, 21,000. Flower crowns, in apts, 29,700. Plant bunches for processions, 21,000.” ! Many other entries similar to the above, but too numerous to be quoted here, appear in the long lists of Rameses III.’s Donations to the great temples of Egypt. Ample provision was made for storing the presses? of the temples with pure white linen vestments for the priests and choristers. The entries for flower crowns, wreaths, nosegays, palm branches, and images for Pro- cessions,® are very numerous, and on an enormous scale: these processional adornments were doubtless given out freely at the temples to all who took part. in the Processions. The above gleanings from the records of ancient Egypt show that, from the earliest ages, the Egyptians endeavoured to make their worship systematic and orderly, popular, beautiful, and even magnificent. Rever- ence was also a marked characteristic of ancient Egyptian worship. Onthe Obelisk of the Latern, King Thothmes III. is represented as kneeling while presenting offer- ings to the god Amen-Ra seated on his throne. On the magnificent Obelisk set up by Rameses II. before the great temple at El Luxor, the King represents himself as on his knees offering two vases of wine 1 Records of the Past, VIII. pp. 20-22. * GLibid. ID’ p. 46. 3 Cf. Ibid. II. pp. 51, 92. Religious Processions were very numerous in Egypt. Ibid. VI. p. 36: VIII. pp. 87, 89. 4 Ibid, IV. pp. 11-13. ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WORSHIP REVERENT. 247 —_————- to the god.1. In the popular mythology of Egypt, the kings ranked as gods, and received Divine homage. They were worshipped both in person, and as repre- sented by images in the temples. That these King- gods should themselves appear reverently kueeling in worship shows how universally the principle of Rever- ence was recognised in Egyptian devotion. All classes of worshippers knelt down; and prostrated themselves in acts of solemn adoration on the floors of Egyptian temples. King Pianchi, when reviewing his troops, gave them the following directions respecting their worship of the idol-god at Thebes: “enter with lustra- tions, purify yourselves in the river;” “array your- selves in your best garments;” “draw out your bows, prepare your arrows;” “sprinkle yourselves with the holy water of his altars;” “prostrate yourselves be- fore his face:” “say to him, ‘Grant us the path of war under the shadow of thy scimitar, let the youths whom thou hast appointed overthrow with their blows myriads,’”’? The king here not only gives precepts of reverence to his troops, but he puts into their mouths words— probably a well-known and ancient Soldiers’ Prayer- Chant—which they were, with united voices, to say at the altars. We are told that “they did according to all which the King had commanded.’ Doubtless the Soldiers’ Prayer-Chant here recorded, resounded in the vast temples of Thebes from tens of thousands of voices, with the perfection of Musical time which dis- tinguishes the chanting of all Africans, and especially of African negroes, of whom the armies of ancient Egypt were largely composed. We have seen, in the opening Section of this Chapter, that the worship of the 1 Records of the Past, \V. p. 19. * Tistd 9 11 p78. 248 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. Egyptian Bull-god, Apis, of which we have a notable instance in Israel’s idolatry of the Golden Calf at Sinai, was responsive, congregational, and musical worship. The same devotional ritual appears to have been em- ployed in the worship of all the Egyptian gods, The “Hymn to Osiris” represents all the inhabitants of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth, gods (or angels) and men, as uniting with one voice in his wor- ship at a great festival. ‘Through him all are in abundance; Lord of fame in heaven and on earth. Multiplied are his acclamations in the feast of Ouak; acclamations are made to him by the two worlds unanimously.” ! When Rameses II, “seated on his great throne of gold,” and “wearing the diadem,” received Divine honours, his worshippers “raised their arms in adora- tion,’ “uttering exclamations and prostrating them- selves” before him:—“ Thou art like the Sun in all that thou doest. Thy heart realises all its wishes, &c.” 2 Allusions to the congregational and musical character of Egyptian worship abound in these ancient records. In happy and prosperous times, ‘‘the whole country rejoiced unto heaven, and burst into hymns of thanks.” At a great festival of four days’ duration, in the temple of Mendes, “all hearts were overflowing with song,” and “all the inhabitants were jubilant.”* At harvest fes- tivals, choirs of “singing men and singing women,” “wearing the crowns of the gods,” and chanting pro- cessional hymns, brought “ears of corn” into the sanctuaries, and placed them before the idols. These hymns were “written by the Sacred Scribes,” and “oiven over to the Precentor,” who “inscribed the same 1 Records of the Past, 1V. p, 100, tor: cf. VI. pp. 73, 75, 78. ? Ibid. VIII. pp. 76,77. © * Ibid. VIII. p.99. 4 Ibid. VIII. p. 102. ANCIENT EGYPTIAN HYMNS. 249 in the sacred writings.”! Of all Egyptian singers, those of Memphis were the sweetest. It was high praise, more than three thousand years ago, to say, “The sweet singers of Aa-nechtu Are of the School of Memphis.” ? I will conclude this Chapter by giving a few extracts from Hymns chanted in the ancient temples of Egypt. FROM “A HYMN TO AMEN-RA.” “‘ Hail to thee, Ra, Lord of truth: Whose shrine is hidden, Lord of the gods: The Creator in his boat: At whose command the gods were made : God of the Setting Sun, Maker of men: Supporting their works, giving them life : Distinguishing the colour of one from another: Listening to the poor who is in distress ; Gentle of heart when one cries unto him. Deliverer of the timid man from the violent: Judging the poor, the poor and the oppressed : Lord of wisdom, whose precepts are wise : At whose pleasure the Nile overflows : Lord of mercy most loving: At whose coming men live : Opener of every eye: Proceeding from the firmament : Causer of pleasure and light. Hail to thee ! say all creatures : Salutation to thee, from every land : To the height of heaven, to the breadth of earth : To the depths of the sea: 1 Records of the Past, VIII. p. go. * Ibid. VI. p. 15. The Mlemphitides puelle of the Latin authors. 250 ANCIENT HEATHEN RESPONSIVE WORSHIP. The gods adore Thy Majesty : The Spirits thou hast created exalt thee. Maker of beings, Creator of existences : Sovereign of life, health, and strength, Chief of the gods: We worship thy spirit who alone hast made us: We whom thou hast made thank thee that thou hast given us birth : We give to thee praises on account of thy mercy to us.” } FROM A “HYMN TO AMEN.” “TI cry, The beginning of wisdom is the way of Amen, The rudder of truth. Thou art he that giveth bread to him who has none, That sustaineth the servant of his house. Let no Prince be my defender in all my troubles. Let not my memorial be placed under the power Of any man who is in the house. . . My Lord is my de- fender « FROM THE “LITANY OF RA.” 3 “ Homage to thee, Ra! Supreme power, the Spirit that walks, that destroys its enemies, that sends pain to the rebels. Homage to thee, Ra! Supreme power, he who shines when he is in his sphere, who sends his darkness into his sphere, and who hides what it contains. Homage to thee, Ra! [&c., &c., through many invocations]. Oh, Ra, come to the King! truly. Lead him into the holy dwelling. Oh, Ra, come to the King! truly. Guide him on the good ways. Oh, Ra, come to the King! truly” [&c., &c., through many petitions]. 1 Records of the Past, Il. pp. 125, 127. 4 Ibid’ VI. p: 99. e"Told., Vv LiiP op 1007 510. ( 251 ) CHAPTER XVIII. HEATHEN RESPONSES—WModern. 1. Africa,—2. Asia. —3. Europe.—q. America.—5. New Zealand and Otaheite. 1.—A frica, THE Heathen Responses which claim our attention in this Chapter may, in one sense, be called ‘/odern : because they form a part of Heathen devotion at the pre- sent time ; and because we have, in many instances, the testimony of living eye-witnesses with respect to them. But we must not allow the word J/odern to mislead us. These Heathen Responses are modern only as the ever- lasting hills are modern—they erzst now ; but they have also existed for ages; and they might, therefore, with equal justice be described as ancient. The devotions of heathen nations are, in a very high degree, immutable. We must bear this in mind. The heathen worships which we witness to-day tell us the story of heathen devotion for thousands of years past. (1.) The Rev. Henry Rowley, soon after his arrival at Magomero, in the Shire Highlands of Central Africa, witnessed an interesting assembly of the natives, for the purpose of praying the Supreme God [Mpambi] to send rain.’ The chief marched out of the village, in solemn procession, at the head of his people, to the 1 Rowley, The Religion of the Africans, pp. 16, 17. 252 MODERN HEATHEN RESPONSES. appointed place of worship—a plot of ground which had been cleared of the bush, and fenced in, and in which a hut had been erected, called the Prayer-hut. Women as well as men took part in the act of worship which followed. When all had entered the sacred enclosure, and had arranged themselves in due order, a woman, who acted as priestess, stood forth. In one hand she had a small basket, containing an offering of Judian-corn meal; and in the other hand, a small earthen pot containing pombi, the native beer. She went into the Prayer-hut, leaving the door open, so that she could be seen and heard. She then nelt down, and, having put the basket and pot on either side of her, she first took up a handful of the meal and dropped it on the floor, and while doing so, she cried out, “ Hear Thou, O God, and send rain” (“Imva Mpambi, Adza mvula”). The whole of the people immediately responded by clapping their hands softly, and singing, “Hear Thou, O God” (Imva Mpambi”). Then the Priestess, again uttering the same prayer, dropped another handful of meal upon the floor; and the people responded as before, by clapping their hands softly, and chanting, “ Hear Thou, O God.” As each handful of meal was dropped upon the floor, the same forms of prayer and response were repeated. This was done several times, until the meal was ex- pended, and the pombi was poured out on the floor of the hut. The Priestess then came out of the Prayer- hut, closed and fastened the door, and threw herself on her back upon the ground. The people, following her example, threw themselves on their backs upon the ground, with their faces towards heaven, God’s habita- tion andthrone. While in this position, they all clapped their hands softly for some time, chanting in unison, “ Hear thou, O God.” AFRICA. 253 Then the whole congregation stood up, clapped their hands as before, and repeatedly and reverently dowed themselves. Afterwards, they concluded the ceremonies of the day by dancing around their chief. (2.) Mr. Rowley? also tells us that on the Gambia the people commenced the rice-sowing season with a solemn religious service. The chief and people went zn procession to the temple. An offering of rvzce was then presented to God, who was represented by an idol, and honey was burnt before Him, while the people prayed zz a loud voice to God, to give a blessing to their harvest. However strange and rude some of the ceremonies of African devotion may seem to us, they are beautiful and solemn to the Africans, and are accompaniments of a really fervent religious worship, which is, in a remarkable degree, Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Processional. ‘Their worship is also as Beautiful as they can make it. Nowhere is the instinct of ornamentation more rude and undeveloped—and nowhere, I may add, is it more obtrusive and powerful— than among the aboriginal tribes of Africa. The African kings and chiefs wear their finest feathers and royal robes in worship, and carry their weapons of war. The people, also, wear such ornaments as they can get, carry their weapons, and march forth in solemn processions to the sacred places appointed for worship; and by serious demeanour, dignified and graceful acts of rever- ence, and religious dancing, they further beautify their worship. (3.) Worship among the Kaffirs has the same world- old and world-wide characteristics. In one case, we find their worship conducted by a Priestess or Pro- 1 The Religion of the Africans, p. 31. 254 MODERN HEATHEN RESPONSES. phetess, who chants the liturgy in a loud voice, while all the assembled host of Kaffirs respond by joining in the burden of each stanza at the full stretch of their Jungs. In another case, we find Kaffir worship of a more elaborate kind. It is conducted by a priest or prophet. The men and women of the congregation are separated into two great assemblies or choirs. The Prophet begins by chanting a short prayer or invoca- tion: then all the men chant a response; and then the women chant a response to the song of the men. In this way the Prophet proceeds through the service, followed at each pause by a double response, first from the men, and then from the women. There are no musicians in the world who keep more exact time than the Kaffirs. Both in their Public Worship, and in their war-songs, great hosts of Kaffirs can join in their chants with grand effect, and in perfect harmony. (4.) The Bechuanas also excel in solemn monoton- ous chanting, accompanied by a soft clapping of the hands. (5.) Among the Ashango and Ishango negroes of Western Africa, the prayers and invocations offered up by the priests are listened to with profound silence, and are, at each pause, responded to by the whole crowd of worshippers, zz deafening chants. As always in Africa, instrumental music and sacred dances are employed in their worship.’ (6.) All the negro tribes celebrate the new moon with religious ceremonies. The Fans, for example, come singing im procession to the place of meeting, where, with eyes and arms raised toward the moon, and hands 1 J. G. Wood, Natural History of Man (Africa), pp. 190, 200, 204, 229. 2 Ibid. pp. 323, 347, 536, 602. | AFRICA. 255 clasped, they dance in a circle, uttering invocations in solemn chants, accompanied by a drum.! After a successful day’s hunting, the Fans perform a solemn act of worship, or grace, before they eat what they have taken. Suppose, for example, that an elephant is killed. They first circumambulate the carcase of the elephant in a sacred Processional Dance, while one or two of their number cut off portions of the elephant’s flesh as an offering to the god. This offering is then solemnly presented in baskets to the idol, while the whole assembly perform a sacred dance, and chant prayers and praises around the idol. They believe that if this grace were neglected, they would fail in their next hunting expedition.? (7.) I have mentioned in a previous chapter, that the Mohammedans have five appointed times for prayer each day. The several hours of prayer are announced with great regularity, in Egypt and Northern Africa, by the Moo-ed’din, or minister of each mosque, ascending the gallery of the mznaret, or tower, and chanting the Call to Prayer, as follows: God is most great! [this is chanted four times. | I testify that there is no deity but God! [twice. | I testify that Mohammed is God’s Apostle! [twice. | Come to Prayer! [twice. ] Come to security ! [twice. | Prayer is better than sleep! [twice. Only used at morning and night calls. ] God is most Great ! [twice. } There is no deity but God!” Two other calls to prayer are made during the night, to arouse persons who desire to perform supererogatory 1 J. G. Wood, Natural History of Man (Africa), p. 603. 2 Du Chaillu, Adientures in Equatorial Africa, pp. 84, 272. 256 MODERN HEATHEN RESPONSES. acts of devotion. Mr. Lane says, “ Most of the dZoo- ed’dins of Cairo have harmonious and sonorous voices, which they strain to the utmost pitch; yet there is a simple and solemn melody in their chants which is very striking, particularly in the stillness of the night.” 4 Although the calls to Prayer are chanted in a loud voice, in order to be heard at a distance, the prayers themselves and the sacred readings from the Koran, which all the Mohammedans know by heart, are chanted with the greatest reverence, zz soft and subdued tones. The Koran says,? “Le not loud in thy prayer, neither pronounce tt too low, but between these follow a middle course.’ YVhis excellent rule is in general well observed by Mohammedans, whose soft and yet audible congre- cational chanting of the prayers, after the minister, is, as I have said, very solemn and devotional. The rever- ent changes of posture and the many devotional gestures, required of Mohammedans during the chanting of their prayers, are performed simultaneously by the minister and the whole congregation, and have a very beautiful and striking effect. Before the sermon, the minister chants a salutation to Mohammed : to which a response is immediately sung. At theend of the sermon, he says to the congregation, “ Supplicate God;” and then all present engage in private prayer for a short time. The congregational and responsive character of Mohammedan worship is as marked in their Public Religious Processions as in the services in the Mosques. Some cry, “Bless the Prophet;” to which the people respond, “O God, favour him.” In their funeral service, when the minister exclaims “God is most great!” each individual of the congregation responds, “God is most creat.” This occurs several times during the funeral 1 Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. p. 104. 2 Sur. xvii. 110. ASIA. 257 service. When he says, “Give your testimony respect- ing him ” (the deceased) ; the congregation respond, “ He was of the virtuous.” } 2.—A sia. (1.) The majority of the inhabitants of Asia are Buddhists. On account of the importance of this vast religious system, I will devote the next chapter to its worship, only observing here that Buddhist worship, as a whole, is Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musi- cal, and Beautiful, in a very high degree. (2.) In Asia, as in Africa, Mohammedan worship 1s responsive and congregational: it is also musical, and remarkably solemn and reverent; and the Mohammedan open-air services have the same characteristics as the services in the mosques. The Bedouin Arabs in the deserts accompany their sacrifice of a lamb by the chanting of long invocations.2. In the worship of the Mohammedan Turks of Asia Minor, even when in the open air, the whole congregation unite in the prayers.* (3.) In Aindu worship the people dance and chant while their sacrifices are being offered. The worshippers of Siva march in procession to the sanctuary of their cod, crying, with united voices, “Jae, Jae, Mahadeo!” (that is, “ Victory to the Great God.”*) I have been told by an English resident in India—who for eighteen years had the closest and most affectionate relations with the natives, and had often been in their temples, and witnessed their worship—that Hindu worship, zv its purest forms, is wonderfully beautiful and reverent. 1 ane; II.) pp! 300; 301. 2 Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 248. 3 J. T. Wood, Discoveries at Ephesus, p. 44. 4 J. G. Wood, Natural History of Man (Australia, &c.), pp. 752, 781. Forsyth, Zhe Highlands of Central India, pp. 145, 168, 198. R 258 MODERN HEATHEN RESPONSES. The priests are clad in white during public worship; and, in a great measure, the people are so too, and wear all their jewels and their brightest garments. The beauty of the temples is almost unearthly; and the sanctuaries and idols are decorated with flowers, gold, silver, and jewels. The whole congregation join as with one voice in the worship, and manifest the most profound reverence and decorum. They really humble themselves before God; and the more intelligent Hindus profess to regard the idol towards which they bow as only a symbol, or reminder, of His Presence. My informant heard a native gentleman, who had just returned from travelling in England, describe to his Hindu friends the shocking irreverence which he had witnessed in English worship. He described the Eng- lish churches and cathedrals, and then, with the dra- matic power which Hindus possess in a remarkable degree, he sat down, bent up one leg, stretched out the other, bent back his arm behind his head, threw back his head upon it, and fixed his countenance as if in profound sleep—he said “that he had seen an English gentleman praying to his god in this way!” He then took an eye-glass, and looked about at everything in the most inquisitive and irreverent manner, he “had also seen an English gentleman praying to his god in this way!” He then mimicked, in a similar manner, the devotions of an English lady, laden with finery, adjusting her gloves and dress, examining her rings, looking at her watch,!and whispering to some one beside her! Had his visit to England been a few generations earlier, he might have described how the principal families haughtily disturbed the worship by coming late into church, as a piece of state (notwith- standing the remonstrances of George Herbert); and had sherry and cakes brought by their servants to their AMERICA. 259 huge box pews, immediately before the sermon; while the ambassador of heaven lingered long on the pulpit steps in the hope of being handed a flowing glass from the neighbouring pew! Happily such scandals are now unknown amongst us; and gross irreverence, such as the Hindu described to his amazed and incredulous countrymen, however common it may have been half a century ago, is now rarely witnessed in the worship of the English Church. 3.— Europe. We have seen that in the solemnity around the shrine of S. Willibrord, at Echternach, we have an undoubted remnant of the Pagan worship of Europe. That worship was thoroughly responsive, congregational, and musical.! The heathen worship which still lingers in Lapland is musical and congregational. If we had a more in- timate knowledge of its details, we should probably find that it is vesponszve: but upon this point I have no direct evidence. Reindeers are the usual victims sacri- ficed by the Laplanders. None but men are allowed to officiate at the sacrifices, or even to enter the sacred places set apart for the worship of the gods. At a certain stage in the offering of the sacrifice, a drum is beaten as a signal, and the whole congregation present unite in chanting a prayer.” 4.—A merica. The ancient races and religions of America are rapidly disappearing, but in Picart’s great work we have many interesting particulars respecting their worship. 1 See above, Chap. XV. § 4. 2 Picart, Religious Ceremonies of all Nations, lV. p. 375- 260 MODERN HEATHEN RESPONSES. (1.) The savage tribes who once had sole possession of the noble banks of the Mzsszsszppz were Sun-wor- shippers. Their public prayers were offered up three times a day, at sun-rise, noon, and sun-set. Sacrifices were offered; and around the flaming altars, the whole congregation offered up their prayers in loud chants} (2.) The Virginian priests always began the chanting of the hymns and prayers, which were immediately joined in by ai the worshippers.” (3.) The aboriginal savages of Canada sacrifice to the Great Spirit, whom they seem to connect with the sun. The warriors szmg and dance round the altar, until the sacrifice is consumed. At the same time, ¢he old men address themselves to the Great Spirit, and raise towards the sun their calumets, or smoking-pipes, which are regarded as emblems of peace. The subject of their hymns is the praises of the beauty and works of nature, their victories in battle, and the goodness of God. In their prayers and solemn invocations, they acknowledge that the Great Spirit presides over their lives. They supplicate Him to protect them, and their children, against wicked men and wicked spirits: to preserve the strength and bravery of their warriors; to strengthen the spirit of their old men, and to inspire them with good counsels. They also beseech God to shed His blessings on the harvest, on the villages, and on the hunters: to teach them His willin dreams; and after death, to waft them to the happy region of souls. (4.) The South American Indians, when they come in their wanderings to one of their ancient altars, offer their adorations to the Great Spirit with rude chants which resemble shouting.4 (5.) We know that in past generations the noble RSPicart, Llp. 77; 2 Ibid. IT. p..109. 3 Ibid. II. pp. 78, 79. 4 Darwin, Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, 11. p. 79. NEW ZEALAND AND OTAHEITE. 261 responsive and congregational worship of the Church of England was allowed to degenerate in the majority of churches into a droning duet between the clergyman and the clerk. The only instance of anything like this that I have been able to discover in Heathen Worship, is among the Esquimaux, in the extreme North of North America. There the Priest’s wife sometimes acts as clerk, answering the responses which were doubtless in better times answered by the congregation. But the Esquimaux Priest and his wife preserve the muszcal intonation, chanting their service throughout respon- sively; which, in a ritual point of view, raises the Esquimaux duet somewhat above the English one.! 5.—New Zealand and Otahette. The native Heathen Worship in the islands of New Zealand and Otaheite is responsive, congregational, and musical; and the people have a very correct musical ear. In addition to the evidence of this which I have given above, I would here refer to the testimony of Admiral Fitz-Roy: who tells us that the congrega- tions of native Christian converts in these islands excel in rendering the Church of England services. Accustomed to congregational and musical responding in Heathen Worship, the native Christian congregations render the Church’s responses so simultaneously, and in such per- fect harmony, that Admiral Fitz-Roy could no more distinguish the different voices than he could those of a number of good choristers singing together. Their singing is very melodious and beautiful, especially in Otaheite.? 1 J. G. Wood, Natural History of Man (America, &c.), p. 717. 2 Fitz-Roy, Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, Il. p. 589. (:+262-)) CHAT Rex BUDDHIST WORSHIP AND LITURGY. 1. Buddhism.—2. Buddhist Worship—3. Buddhist Liturgy. 1.—Buddhism. AT the Annual Meeting of the Church Missionary Society (1883), the Archbishop of Canterbury, referring to the conversion to Christianity of the great Eastern communities, is reported to have said :—“ Christianity too would gain by the contact [with them]. It would take what was best from the Buddhist, Hindu, and Con- fucian systems, which would no longer be known by those wretched names, and the whole Church would be, as S. Paul expressed it, both high and low, deep and broad, There were noble and beautiful fruits that be- longed to those civilisations which we should work into our Church, and we should wonder how we could find the Gospel quite complete without them. The Buddhist has taught us how everything that /zves is a sacred thing. He saw a difference between that which has life, and everything else that God had made, and it gave to man a tenderness, a sweetness, and a power of communion with creation, which when we had apprehended, we should be better able to appreciate the deep and noble meaning of S. Paul in the eighth chapter of Romans than we are now.” We shall find in the present Chapter that Buddhism has also much to teach us with respect to Public Worship. BUDDHISM. 263 Buddhism, although less ancient than some of the religious systems which have engaged our attention, is nevertheless a religion of great antiquity, dating from not later than the year 500 B.C. But to us it is chiefly important as a vast Modern Religion, including among its adherents about 500,000,000 of souls, or almost one half of the entire population of the globe. It extends over Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Anam, Korea, Tibet, Japan, China, and other places.! As originally given to the world by Guatama, Buddhism, besides possessing many high moral and spiritual excellences, had the great popular attraction of being an absolutely Non-Sacerdotal system. Its cradle was India, and it originated in an extreme antag- onism to the corrupt sacerdotal orders of that country. But although Buddhism‘is still Non-Sacerdotal in ¢heory, the whole tendency of the system, from the first, has been towards the development of a practical Sacerdotal- ism, of the most mechanical and chilling kind which the world has ever seen. We have not to go to Buddhism to learn that Laymen can play at Priestcraft quite as effectively as Priests themselves. Fanatical Anti- Sacerdotal movements have many times in history developed into the worst and most tyrannical of Sacer- dotal systems. There seem to be, in this matter, two extremes—extreme Sacerdotalism and extreme Anti- Sacerdotalism—both of which fail in practice, however attractive they may be in theory. 2.— Buddhist Worship. In Tibet, where Buddhist Formalism has reached its highest development,” Congregational Responding 1 Rhys Davids, Buddhism, pp. 4-6, 25. 2 See above, Chapter XIII. § 4. 264 HEATHEN RESPONSES. appears to have become extinct. Not so, however, in the adjacent region of Mongolia. There, as in Tibet, the Buddhists have a Sovereign Pontiff, called the Kutuchta, to whom they pay Divine honours. When the Mongolian Pontiff takes his seat in the temple, all the instruments of music instantly cease; and the whole assembly prostrate themselves on the ground, and chant doxologies in praise of God and of the Supreme Pontiff.t In the great Burmese peninsula, the Buddhist laity still have their full share in the Public Services. The Priests or Monks seng their parts of the Public Liturgy. The laity know the Liturgy by heart, and are able to take their part without books. They chant many of the prayers with, or after, the priests.? Mr. J. F. Campbell gives a graphic account of the Buddhist Worship which he witnessed in the beautiful temple at Kioto, in Japan. A gleam of sunlight fell upon a kneeling congregation of men, women, and child- ren, and upon the shaven heads of three or four priests who knelt in the first row. An old priest, in sacerdotal robes, with a gilt fanin his hand, was preaching a sermon behind a reading-desk. Presently he finished, and retired to an altar, whose gilded pillars and brilliant ornaments shone inthe dark background. Here he knelt in private prayer for about five minutes, bowing at intervals towards the altar, until his forehead seemed to touch the floor. Meanwhile the other priests began to beat a drum, and the whole congregation chanted until the preacher had finished his prayers at the altar. He then came back to his desk, unfolded a silken cover, opened a book, and began a second short sermon.® The sacred books of the Chinese Buddhists are re- 1 Picart, IV. p. 357. 2 Ibid., IV. p. 67. 3 J. F. Campbell, AZy Circular Notes, II. pp. 38, 43. BUDDHIST WORSHIP. 265 markable for the constant stress laid upon the necessity of a firm Fazth in God. They teach that no religious exercises can be effectual without Faith. The Great Buddha God is called Amitabha. His name signifies “Boundless Light,’ and His attributes are Infinite Love and Compassion for man. “ What is it,” say the Chinese Scriptures, “to take refuge in Him and to believe in Him? Nothing less than to secure the destruction of sins as innumerable as the sands of the Ganges... . Every person desirous of invoking [Him] should erczte in himself a believing heart. If a man doubts, the flower [that is, his inner heart, his soul] zw2// not open [to God]. Lut of he believes, then his heart, pure and calm, will open like a flower, and he will forthwith see God and hear Hts Law.’ The Buddhist Scriptures declare that there are jive parts or elements in true worship; and in the per- formance of all these five parts, faztk must be present: ViZ.,— 1. Lodily Reverence. 2. Chanting Praises. 3. /utense Aspiration, that is, fervent heart-prayer in every act of worship. 4. Meditation. 5. Recollection+ The Buddhist Priests, so called, are only religious Lay Teachers, Lay-Monks bound to celibacy, who dwell in monasteries. In theory, Buddhism has, I repeat, no priesthood. But for all practical purposes, the celibate Lay-Monks have become a powerful Sacerdotal Order of the most extreme kind. As Buddhism forbids the taking away of life, the only offerings are flowers, incense, and alms. Buddhist monastic establishments and rules, 1 Beal, Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese, pp. 371, 375; 377- 266 HEATHEN RESPONSES. with the adoration of relics, and the religious use of rich vestments, bells, candles, winking images, and rosaries, were established in the East before the beginning of the Christian era. The use of the glory in sacred pictures is also of Buddhist origin. The theory that Buddhism borrowed these things, with her fixed liturgies and method of worship, from Roman Catholicism, has become quite untenable in the light which modern research has thrown on the history of the Buddhist Faith. There is, however, a high probability that Roman Christianity borrowed largely from Buddhism, There was ample opportunity for doing so. Roman Coins of the date of Julius Cesar, Tiberius, and Caligula, which have been found, in considerable numbers, and admirably preserved, in Tinnevelly and in Ceylon, bear witness to the intercourse which existed between Rome and India, the cradle of Buddhism. The observation of Chrysostom, that the devil, “ finding himself unable to win Christians to idolatry, took a roundabout way to seduce them,” points to a large introduction of Pagan elements into Christian faith and worship as early as the beginning of the 5th century.! 3.—Buddhist Liturgy. Before the beginning of the Christian era, Buddhism had embraced a remarkable article of Faith, whence derived we cannot tell. Sjeech, or the mystical Word, was regarded as the Son of the Eternal Self, and was adored by the Buddhists as the Manzfested God This Divinity, who is almost universally reverenced in China 1 Tucker, Under His Banner, p- 2. Bp. Titcomb, Personal Recollections of British Burma, pp. 6, 18,19. Beal, Catena, pp. 6,7, 140. Smith, Déct. of Christian Antig. Il. pp. 1542, 1543, Art. Paganism, * Beal, Catena, pp. 374, 383, 385: BUDDHIST LITURGY. 267 and Japan, is called in the Chinese language K wan-shat- yin, or simply Kwan-yin, and is especially worshipped as the “ Saviour of men,” who has power to remove the obstacles which prevent men from attaining the happy state of the blessed. Kwan-yin is believed to have declared his purpose, under the most solemn oath, to manifest himself to every creature in the universe, in order to deliver all from the consequences of sin. The rise of this Saviour-worship in the heart of Buddhism appears to date from about the year B.c. 50. We can hardly forbear to ask ourselves, was the rise of this Faith in Buddhism a flash of real inspiration designed to prepare the East for Christ’s Incarnation ? God, Who prepared the Roman Empire by the Sibylline prophecies of Christ (which are said to have come from the East), and Who sent His star to the Persian Magi, seems at the same time to have vouchsafed no mean revelation of His will to the millions of His children who were darkly feeling after Him in Buddhism. The Buddhists have a special Liturgical Office—called the Lzturgy of Kwan-yin—for the worship of their Saviour-God. This Liturgy is probably of great anti- quity. The Rev. S. Beal has made a literal translation of it from the Chinese. I will now present the reader with a few extracts from this remarkable Liturgy, which I hope will be sufficient to convey a just idea of its character and contents. Mr. Beal tells us that he has been present at the use of this Liturgy in the monas- teries of South China. ‘“ Nor can I omit to add,’ he says, “that in point of ritual, the Service has made a very lasting impression on my mind, and not an unfa- vourable one in respect to its devotional character.’ ? The TITLE of the Liturgy is, “THE LITURGICAL 1 Beal, Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese, pp. 398-409. 268 HEATHEN RESPONSES. SERVICES OF THE GREAT COMPASSIONATE SAVIOUR” (Kwan-yin). The Liturgy has a PREFACE, which begins, “Tn preparing the altar of the Great Merciful One, the rules are these :— “The image of Sakya Tathagata Buddha [the Supreme God] must be reverently placed on an altar facing the South. “The image of the Omnipotent and Omnipresent Saviour (Kwan-yin Bédhis-atwa, with the thousand hands and thousand eyes) should be reverently placed in the Western quarter of the temple, facing East.” Side altars with idols are common in heathen temples. But the idol which is the principal object of worship occupies the place of honour at the West End, facing Eastward. The above direction, therefore, means that, whenever this Liturgy is used, the Image of the Supreme God is to be temporarily removed from the principal sanctuary at the West end, and reverently placed ata side altar; and at the same time, the Image of the Saviour-God, being then the principal object of wor- ship, is to be carried, probably from a side altar, and reverently placed in the principal sanctuary at the West end of the temple. ‘I noticed in a former Chapter! that Primitive Budd- hism opposed the Westward worship of the Heathen world, and enjoined Eastward worship. But this East- ward worship had probably a hard struggle against the Westward worship of the time. The result was that in many Buddhist countries both Eastward and West- ward worship perished in the contest; and Buddhist temples were, and still are, built in every direction. It is clear, however, from the Preface to the Laturgy of 1 See above, Chapter XIV. § 3. BUDDHIST LITURGY, 269 Kwan-yin—which probably represents a worship a little older than Christianity—that nearly 2000 years ago the Buddhists of South China had relapsed into the Pagan custom of placing their altars at the West end of their temples, and worshipping Westward. After various directions respecting the boundaries of the sanctuary, flowing streamers, burning lamps, incense, flowers and offerings, the PREFACE continues :— “The Western portion of the building [that is, the place immediately before the Altar and the Idol of the Saviour-God, where the congregation assembled for worship] should be covered with mats, or, if the ground be damp, kneeling-stools may be provided.” “One hour before and after Service there should be no mixed conversation ... merely the ordinary mode of respectful salutation. ... If at time of prayer there be no devotional thoughts, but only a confused way of going through external duties, and if after worship there be indifferent conversation, gossiping and babbling, hurrying to and fro, lounging about or sleeping, just as on ordinary days; if there be such criminal acts of careless self-indulgence, what benefit or assistance can we look for from our religious exercises ?” “ The rules and directions for the Service must also be properly studied and prepared ; so that in going through it, there may be outward decorum observed, as well as inward devotion, whilst each portion of it is properly ren- dered.” “Finally, let all worshippers strive after a firm faith. ... Engaging in this worship in a spirit of entire devotion, they shall obtain their prayers.” How much is Christian worship marred, amongst ourselves, by the neglect of the obvious devotiona! principles enforced in this Heathen Liturgy ! Careful provision for kneeling is made in Buddhist 270 HEATHEN RESPONSES. temples. In many Christian churches there are no hassocks for kneeling, and the benches are placed so close together that kneeling is impossible. Our Church’s rules respecting this attitude in devotion are systemati- cally disregarded by the majority of worshippers. Again. Very many Church people talk all the gossip and business of the week, up to the very door of the church; and they are hardly dismissed with the Church’s blessing, when the same talk is resumed. And so the good seed which has been sown is lost in a few minutes: for “then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.”! But the Buddhists are more upon their guard. They prohibit all “ mixed conversation” and “ gossip- ing” for an hour before and an hour after Service. Again. Our Church’s worship would be immensely improved if all who take part in it—clergy, choristers, and congregation—were to act upon the Buddhist prin- ciple, and give a short time at home, previous to each service, to collect their thoughts, and to “properly study and prepare” the “rules and directions for the Service ;” “so that in going through it, there may be outward decorum observed, as well as inward devotion, whilst each portion of it is properly rendered.” Perhaps their rule with respect to fazt# is in our time the most necessary and important of all. We hold that all questions, religious and ethical, are open to free investigation and enquiry. We recognise our right to study Christian evidences, and to examine all the foun- dations of faith and morals. It is no doubt necessary to test foundations. But there is a time when a true philosophy, having thoroughly tested its foundations, will stop testing them, and will begin, with all the 1 Luke 8. 12. BUDDHIST LITURGY. a7i energy of “firm faith,” to build upon them. We re- cognise this in morals. We are more timid, however, in recognising the same principle in religion. Never- theless, it is a principle of great practical importance. There is a time to weigh objections and resolve doubts. But this done, the soul which has found God should thenceforth study to obey and trust Him. A life of philosophic scepticism with respect to the foundations of religion, is the most vapid, empty, and worthless thing imaginable. Such a scepticism, unreasonably protracted, soon becomes a chronic malady of the mind, and debilitates the whole heart and spirit. I repeat, there is a time when “all worshippers” should banish doubt, and should de/eve and rest in God’s Love and Presence; always striving, by the assistance of His Spirit, to maintain “a firm faith” in Him. The PREFACE ended, the LITURGY itself opens with the following direction :— “ The worshippers, ov entering the main court of the Temple, shall reverently bow the head.” We must not regard this rule as idolatrous. It en- forced a devout custom, by which the worshippers showed respect for God’s house, and reminded themselves of His Presence. The same rule was observed by all worshippers in the Jewish Temple. Christ and His Apostles bowed their heads when entering the Temple. The same custom has largely prevailed in Christendom. It is still observed in some village churches in England. Dr. Johnson always raised his hat when passing a church. In the Middle Ages, the naves of churches and cathedrals were used, in wet weather, as cattle-markets and bazaars, and were in other ways shamefully desecrated. The chancels alone. were then regarded as holy. Hence the sood old habit of reverently bowing at the nave door was abandoned; and instead, the worshippers bowed at, or 272 HEATHEN RESPONSES. near, the entrance of the chancel. In Durham Cathedral the custom of bowing at the entrance of the chancel is still kept up. Buddhist worshippers, having reverently bowed the head on entering the main court of the temple, proceed across this court towards the sanctuary. They are then directed to “enter the sanctuary” itself, “slowly and reverently reciting this invocation [Hail! Great Com- passionate Saviour].” “Having znvested the altar three times, and arranged themselves in an upright position, let them, after reflec- tion, begin the following Hymn of Praise.” The custom of making a circuit round the altar is general in heathenism. The circle thus described is considered to be symbolical of the zmmensity of God. Before beginning worship, the Buddhists go round the altar three times. But it is to be noted, that they do not then instantly rush into their devotions. They ‘arrange themselves ;’ and there are a few moments for quietly collecting their thoughts and realizing the Divine Presence. “After reflection,” they begin a hymn of praise. This hymn opens with an allusion to the Buddhist custom of keeping incense continually burn- ing before the various objects of worship in their temples :— “Hymn | “Hail, diffusive Incense-cloud! Bright mirror of the Divine excellences ! Far-spreading, boundless is the Divine Essence. Wherever lights one single ray (of the Divine Wisdom) There 1s worship—there is praise— To honour Him Who reigns as King in the midst of all.” 1 See above, Chapter XV. § 2. BUDDHIST LITURGY. 273 Then follows a short invocation, “to be repeated three times,’ and apparently intended to collect the thoughts, and prepare for the next part of the worship. “| Direction.|—Then chanting the following :— [Chant.] Profoundly Reverent, In close communion we adore The Everlasting Buddha [one bow], And the Everlasting Law [one bow], And the Everlasting Assembly [one bow]. This whole assembly, prostrate in adoration, Holding flowers and incense, presents this bounden sacrifice. [ Dzrection.|—Here the worshippers, holding flowers and incense in their hands, shall prostrate themselves and chant—” Then follows a long hymn or chant. “ | Direction.|—Having finished this chant bow once. Let the worshippers now repeat the following invoca- tions,” Then there are several short ejaculatory invocations: after which there is a prayer that God would descend amongst the worshippers, receive their offerings, and remove the three great obstacles to true devotion (viz., impure thought, impure speech, and impure action). Some other short invocations follow, which are only to be used on the first day of the solemnity. “| Direction.|\—On other days, after the oblation of incense and flowers, proceed as follows :— | Chant. |— ‘i The chant, which is here sung, is divided into three parts by a mark, ©, denoting a change of tone in the recitation of the chant. On coming to this mark, the celebrant priest, by ringing a small bell, reminds the S 274 HEATHEN RESPONSES. worshippers that they must here change the tone of the chant. During this chant, “the worshippers should be filled with holy joy and pious reverence.” The Divine Name occurs three times in this chant, and at each “ men- tion of” the Name, “the worshippers should render due homage, bowing three times.” Jewish worship in the Temple presented a remarkable parallel to these rules. Each Psalm was divided into three parts. At the close of each part, the chanting ceased for a few moments, the silver trumpets sounded, and the worshippers bowed their heads, or prostrated themselves upon the marble floor of the temple. There was probably a change of tone at each division of the Psalm. Also, whenever the Divine Name was mentioned in Jewish worship, all the people bowed or prostrated themselves, The Buddhist Liturgy next gives a short invocation. “| Invocation.|—One in heart and mind, we worship Thee our own Teacher Sakya Muni Lokajit !” This invocation is to be repeated “ three times,’ the worshippers bowing each time. They then prostrate themselves upon their “face and hands,” and “with deep reflection” repeat a silent prayer or meditation, beginning, “ The nature both of the object and subject in worship is spiritual. Difficult is it to explain the blending of the one with the other.” Then follows a chant ; then, an act of adoration; and then, the reading of the LESSON by the officiating priest. Extracts from the “ LESSON [read by the Priest]. The Scripture saith: Whatever layman or laywoman desires to recite the sentences of this Service, in order BUDDHIST LITURGY. 275 to excite in the midst of all sentient creatures the operation of the Compassionate Merciful Heart [of the Saviour], ought first to go through the following vows :— [Dzrectzon.|—Then all prostrate themselves and say,— All hail! Great Compassionate Saviour (Kwan-shai-yin). Oh ! may I soon acquire perfect knowledge. All hail! Great Compassionate Saviour, Oh! may I soon attain the eyes of Divine Wisdom ! All hail ! Great Compassionate Saviour, Oh! may I soon pass over the sea of sorrow ! All hail! Great Compassionate Saviour, Oh ! may I quickly obtain holiness, All hail! Great Compassionate Saviour, Oh! may I quickly return to unconditioned Being. Though I were cast upon the mountain of knives, They should not hurt me ! Though through the midst of the lake of fire, It should not burn me! Though hurled down to the lowest hell, It should not hold me! Then follows a short invocation, “To be repeated ten times quickly :” after which, the worshippers are to pray privately for deliverance from particular calamities: then, another short invocation, “ten times quickly repeated.” “[Dzrection.|—Then let the officiating priest continue (the Lesson) thus’””— The reading of the Lesson, which is of great length, is frequently relieved by short pauses for acts of worship. The last portion of the Lesson is preceded by “an entire prostration” of all the worshippers, and is 276 HEATHEN RESPONSES. evidently intended to be chanted by them after the priest. It begins,— “With all our hearts do we (mentioning each one his own name) repent of our sins. We all here prostrate ourselves before the Sacred Presence with all the count- less beings of the infinite universe. [Here follow par- ticular confessions of sin.] ... So were we helpless and lost till we found out the Saviour [Kwan-shai-yin], the great Teacher of the ten regions, Who has mani- fested to all the source of true wisdom. ... So have recepented andareturned 2 aac. Next come several short invocations: then a proces- sion three times round the altar: then a prayer “before the image of the Saviour” “for all men”—that they may be endued with perfect wisdom, perfect knowledge, peace, reverence, and agreement in the great principles of truth. After this prayer, there is “one bow,” followed by a short invocation. The service is now over. But the worshippers are not to rush with irreverent haste out of the sacred building. This wonderful Liturgy, in its last direction, provides a solemn termination for the service. “{ Direction.|—Three times invest the altar, and then leave the sanctuary.” CHAP LIER AX: ARCHAIC IDOLS. DEVIL-WORSHIP. HEATHENISM ATHIRST FOR GOD. 1. Archaic Idols.—2. Devil-Worship.—3. Heathenism Athirst for God. 1.—A rchatc Idols. WE have seen that the instinctive craving of the human heart for the Beautiful in worship, has everywhere led the Heathen to beautify their Idols! with silver, gold, and jewels, and decorations of every kind. Many of the ancient Greek and Roman Idols, still preserved in the Sculpture Galleries of Europe, must always be regarded as among the most perfect and beautiful creations of human genius. But on the other hand, it must be owned, that many Heathen Idols, including those held in the highest veneration by their worshippers, are, apart from their decorations, so rude, ill-shapen, and grotesque, that our first impulse on seeing them is to exclaim, “ What wretchedly rude and ugly things! Can the Heathen find no higher specimens of art to decorate so lavishly, and worship so reverently! Do they really think that these miserable idols are Beautiful !” The use of Archaic Idols is, however, no real depar- ture from the universal principle of Heathenism that 1 See above, Chapter XVI. § 4. 278 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. Divine Worship ought to be Beautiful. In primitive times savage men set up a rude pillar of wood or stone, - in some ancient sanctuary: they cut something like human eyes and ears, mouth and nose, on the head of the pillar; and perhaps they painted the supposed face black or copper-colour, and the eyes white and black, or white and bright (red), with the best paints that they had. They carved something like hands on the sides of the pillar. But they rarely thought it necessary to carve feet at the base: for had they not already a sufficiently erand and tall figure, like a chief of their own tribe, a worthy representation (as they thought) of the Great Chief who created all things and dwells in the skies? Around this idol they danced, and chanted prayers and praises, and bowed down and worshipped. Before it, they offered their sacrifices: they no doubt thought it beautiful ; and, in order to make it more beautiful, they decorated it with wreaths, and painted great marks upon its body, like those of which they were so proud on their own persons. And their little children, and their children’s children, danced, and sang, and said their prayers, and, when they grew up, offered their sacrifices, before the same grand Idol God, the God of their fathers. A millennium afterwards, the same rude Idol stands crowned with exquisitely wrought gold, and robed with a vesture glittering with gems, in the gilded sanctuary of a magnificent temple reared upon the same sacred spot. While more modern idols, artistically con- structed, are comparatively neglected in side chapels, highly civilized men with refined tastes, cultivated minds, and polished manners, bow down before the rude IJdol God of their fathers, and exhibit a marked preference and veneration for it: which, to superficial observers, seems utterly perverse and unaccountable. Nay more, wherever men of this race spread, exact copies of their ARCHAIC IDOLS. 279 most ancient and most sacred idol are carried by them, and are set up in one temple after another. In all this, there is a feeling at work which, however often ill- directed, is fundamental in man’s religious nature: viz., Reverence for things which have long been esteemed sacred, and which carry with them a world of historical associations in connection with the fortunes and religion of his own family or nation. The same feeling is as strong in Christianity as it is in Heathenism. One of the chief treasures of the ancient Church in which it is my privilege to officiate, is a fine old Norman Font,! vast, massive, and rude, where the forefathers of this Parish have been Baptized for nearly eight hundred years. When restoring the Church a few years ago, I took care that this venerable Font should be reverently preserved, in its original condition, and for its original use. Occasionally, how- ever, an unappreciative visitor to the Church exclaims, “What a huge, ugly thing! For a few pounds, you could have got a nice new Font, that qwou/d have been pretty!” Notwithstanding that such criticisms are occa- sionally heard, we all love the old Font, and much prefer it to any modern one. I have no doubt that Christian criticisms of the many archaisms in Heathen worship are equally beside the mark. In all true and earnest worship, Beauty and Reverence go hand in hand: but Reverence is the stronger principle. Where the most approved maxims of modern art come into conflict with our Reverence for sacred objects, or for things whose historical associations are unusually vener- able and instructive: there Reverence, being the stronger principle, prevails; and mere art.Beauty gains higher charms by judiciously yielding a portion of her claims. 1 Bishop Flambard’s Font (A.D. 1112), in S. Giles’ Church, Durham. 280 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. The Archaic Idols of the heathen gods must be dis- tinguished from the Devil-Idols. The former, repre- senting the Supreme God, or inferior gods who are supposed to be good, are preserved and worshipped lovingly and reverently; and are regarded by the worshippers as having an interest and a rude beauty peculiarly their own. The latter, representing evil beings, are intended to be objects of terror. 2.—Devil- Worship. Buddhists believe that there is an order of heavenly beings who have /uminous voices. Brightness issues from their mouths when they speak! Whatever we may think of this fantastic belief, understood in its literal sense, we cannot doubt that every voice is, in a spiritual sense, either luminous or dark: and that, too often, “out of the same mouth”? proceed, as it were, two wholly distinct and separate voices; one, the luminous voice of truth, love, purity, and “blessing ;” and the other, the dark voice of lies, terror, foulness, and “ curs- ing.” This is terribly exemplified in the case of Heathenism. NHeathenism has one voice which ascends, in broken accents, to the Universal Father: a voice crying for expiation, for pardon, for peace, for holiness, for light, for communion with God; a voice which has filled all the world, for many thousands of years, with earnest prayers, and with hymns of joy, thanksgiving, and praise, to the Unseen, and often Unknown, Father of Love,—a very luminous voice. But heathenism has also another and a very different voice: a voice which chants the praises of murder, of theft, of impurity ; and which yells its hideous anti- 1 Beal’s Catena of Budihist Scriptures, pp. 84, 2 James 3. 10, DEVIL-WORSHIP. 281 phonies at the Altars of Devils,—a fearfully dark votce, which deepens a thousandfold the natural darkness which surrounds the guilty soul of man. In the preceding Chapters, we have tried to discover some of the ritual characteristics of heathen worship. We have seen that heathen worship was, and is, Respon- sive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful. But in tracing the presence of these characteristics— which are not only primitive and universal features of human devotion, but are also features of the pure and eternal worship in the skies—our subject has naturally brought us into contact mainly with the purest and most primitive elements of heathen religious life. Both in outward form and inward spirit there is much that is truly Divine still lingering in heathenism. We have heard and seen its /wmznous voice. But it has, I repeat, a dark voice too, and a dark side. It is necessary to remind the general reader (the learned reader will not require to be reminded), that my subject has led me to dwell, almost exclusively, upon the more attractive side of heathenism. I have either altogether omitted, or have but cursorily alluded to, a great deal which might be said with regard to the less attractive side of the Pagan religions. I. First, I have altogether omitted to notice the vast accumulations of mere ¢vash which we everywhere meet with in heathen ritual and theology. A few genuine traces of primitive revelation, and a few genuine pro- ducts of the profoundest spiritual intuitions of the human heart, shine brightly, where they can, in heathen- ism. But they are like grains of diamond, pure and stainless, amid masses of refuse and dust. They are almost completely buried and obscured in the popular theology. It is hardly possible to imagine or to de- scribe the myriads of pagan witchcrafts, charms, relics, 282 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. impositions, tricks, winking images, vain repetitions, frivolous ceremonies, frivolous legends, and fatuitous prognostications from the flights of birds and the en- trails of victims; together with a howling wilderness of utterly monstrous and fanciful theologies, containing such dogmata as we have in the Buddhist scriptures with regard to “ people’s faces being of the same shape as the country they live in,” triangular, half-moon, full- moon, oblong, or square, as the case may bet We must call these things ¢rash, if not some harder name. 2. I have also omitted worse things in heathenism than accumulations of not very innocent trash. I have omitted to dwell upon the moral impurities which almost everywhere gather around idolatrous worship, and are consecrated by it. Religion itself becomes transformed into an angel of darkness; and almost every temple becomes an agency for polluting the land. I have drawn a veil over these things. 3. I have also omitted to describe the degrading and interminable polytheism and fetish-worship, which, like ever-spreading rampant weeds, have overgrown the en- tire field of heathenism ; and have choked, or are fast choking, better things. 4. Nor have I dwelt upon the crue/tzes of heathenism. It would be easy to fill Chapter after Chapter with the inhuman barbarities of heathen worship. Almost every traveller who has written upon heathenism has added something to-our already ample stores of information upon this subject. “The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.” In Asia, Africa, and Australia we find human sacrifices. In America, we are introduced to a magnificent temple, ornamented with profuse splendour of stonework without, and of 1 Beal’s Catena, pp. 35-37. DEVIL-WORSHIP. 283 marble, gold, and jewels within; and in front of the creat idol are many spears, bearing rows of human heads, fresh cut off, and streaming with blood, the sacrifice for the day. The glorious marble floor and marble walls, and all the glorious gold work, studded with gems, and the decorated pillars of the sanctuary, are everywhere fouled and smeared with blood ; and the stench of decaying human remains is loathsome and sickening beyond endurance—except to people accus- tomed to it! And all these physical pollutions may be regarded as but too truly representative of the abominable and pestilential moral pollutions of the place! It is surely evident that the Spirit of Evil has possessed himself of this worship. Next, we are brought before a hideous idol, of gigantic size, seated upon snakes, with its eyes staring, its mouth open, and its terrible fangs exposed. The human victim is brought near to the idol. Two or three priests approach him, one with a sharp knife. They seize him, hold him firmly; in an instant he is slit open, and a priest, thrusting in his hand, clutches the heart, tears it from the living body, and inserts it throbbing and streaming between the idol’s jaws.1 The Evil Spirit has beyond doubt possessed himself of this worship also, and of a greal deal of heathen worship besides. 5. Closely connected with these hideous atrocities, there is another feature of heathen worship which must here claim our attention. I mean its Devzl- Worship. Plutarch tells us that human sacrifices, and the awful rites associated with them, were instituted, for the most part, for the purpose of propitiating malignant demons, or devils. The descent to this debased and debasing wor- ship is easy, once the first step has beentaken. What is 1 Magee, On the Atonement, Dis. 5. Robertson, Hestory of America, III. Pp. 336, 391, 404, 405. Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture, p. 148. 284 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. this first step? It is departure of the heart from God. So long as men seek to know and serve the One Supreme God, religion remains in a great measure pure. But the tendency of idolatrous polytheism is to obscure the Personality of the Author of Good, and to interrupt communion with Him. When delight in this com- munion vanishes, the highest motive for devotion is lost; and no effective motives are left but cupidity and fear. The Author of Good is always regarded by the heathen as showering down blessings ; and owing to their defec- tive views of His Personality and Holiness, they are apt to think that He will continue to do so, whether men sacrifice to Him or not. He will, they think, “acquit the wicked,” and will probably punish no one. All worship and service paid to Him are, therefore, considered to be, in a great degree, superfluous. Not so with regard to the spirits of evil. They are insatiable in malignity and cruelty. Unless they are propitiated and served, they will bring famine, disease, discord, and death into every dwelling. Sacrifices.to devils and acts of worship paid to devils are, therefore, regarded in the greater part of heathenism as the only sacrifices and worship which are really indispensable. Once man’s heart wanders from God, and ceases to trust and to delight in Him, it requires but a small amount of false philosophy to smooth the descent to Devil-Worship. In this respect, Devil-Worship re- sembles all the vices and crimes of humanity. So long as we are ignorant of them, and of their motives, they seem strange and shocking to us, almost incredible. But a closer knowledge shows that descent to them is easy —“ facilis descensus”—however all but impossible return may be. Life is a mystic network in which good is linked to good, and evil to evil, by connections which are often too subtle for us to discover, and too mighty DEVIL-WORSHIP. 285 for us to resist; and if we cut the links which connect the whole web of our existence to God, it drifts away further and further from Him, and gathers in a tangled mass around the Author of Evil. Even religious instincts and worship enjoy no exemption from this fate. As soon as men degenerate into idolatrous polytheism, and fail to give the Eternal God the honour due unto His Name, the beginning of the end has come: it is thenceforth only a question of time and circumstance when worship will be openly or covertly withdrawn from Him, and given to the spirits of evil who usurp His throne. “ They sacrifice to devils, and not to God.”? Devil-worship, diffusing its baleful principles far and wide in heathen lands, is ever extending its borders and making new conquests. Its tendency is to drive all higher forms of worship out of the world. Where its influences are abroad, the surrounding idols, temples, and worship of the gods become demonized, without changing their names. The old idols are worshipped under the old names: but these names lose their original signification, as representing the Powers of good, and become identified with Malignant Spirits. Thus, with- out any violent revolution of opinion on the part of the worshippers, heathen Gods gradually change their sup- posed character, and are transformed into Devils; and the temples and worship of the Gods become the temples and worship of Devils.” The presence and influence of Devils in Heathen Worship is not in any way inconsistent with the exist- ence of remnants of Divine truth and Holy Devotion, wesetson eitvecG, Ley. 17, 7, LWeut.. 32. 27, Ps... 106, 37, ‘Rev: 9. 20. Smith, Dict. of the B., Art. Demon. Rowley, Religion of the Africans, p- 54. Henderson, Folk-Lore, pp. 302-304. Fitz-Roy, Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, Il. p. 162. * Grimm, Zeutonic Mythology, I. p. 11. 286 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. even in the worst forms of Heathenism. In the worst of religions, as in the worst of men, the expiring light flickers and struggles long against the darkness. The religious history of the heathen world is inexpressibly sad. Religious reformers have been raised up in heathenism, some of whom have lived lives, and done works, which have been in the main great and holy. Amongst these, the Biblical names of Melchisedeck, Abraham, Job, Jethro, stand out conspicuous; and on a much lower spiritual level, Zoroaster, Guatama (the founder of Budd- hism), Confucius, Mohammed, and a host of others have laboured, well or ill, for the purification of religion in heathen lands. But how soon have the old idolatries infected the reformed systems, and reduced them, in creat measure, to the dead level of ordinary idolatrous polytheism, if not to Devil-worship! The lives of some great heathen reformers remind us of fire-works thrown into water, which for a time blaze brightly and illuminate the surface ; but soon all is over, and the water is as deep, dark, and cold as before. This aspect of Heathenism— its powerlessness to retain and diffuse, in their original purity, the Divine truths communicated to it—shows the Divine Wisdom in giving to Christianity not only a Divine Creed, but a Holy Catholic Church, to conserve and propagate that Creed in all the world. Churches, however, are by no means exempt from the malice and fraud of Satan. The Bible witnesses that the Jewish Church enjoyed no immunity from the seductions of Devil-Worship. Devils drew to them- selves the Worship of that Church in her times of dead- ness and apostasy. Moses expressly prohibited devil- worship: “ They shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils:” nevertheless, when the people lapsed into idolatry, “they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils;” and the horrors and atrocities connected DEVIL-WORSHIP. 287 with human sacrifices to Devil-Idols defiled the holy land; “the land was polluted with blood.” ! And what shall we say of the Christian Church? Has she nothing to fear from the power of the Spirit of Evil? Satan’s kingdom has, indeed, been shaken by the mission and work of Christ: but neither from the Bible nor from history have we any reason to believe that the Christian Church will enjoy a charmed exist- ence, in which the adversary cannot assault or hurt her. On the contrary, Scripture seems to foreshadow the partial triumph of Satan’s power, and the rise of a wide- spread apostasy within the Church herself. We Chris- tians have no reason to point, in an over-confident and self-righteous spirit, to the darker features of heathen worship. We have much reason to be warned by them. “Be not highminded, but fear.”? It is plain matter of history that the Church’s Divine origin and Divine Commission, her Sacraments and graces, her pure Creeds and matchless Worship and wondrous Architec- ture, her long list of apostles and saints and martyrs who in every age have shone “as lights in the world,” her heroic efforts and her marvellous victories for God, have never for a moment shielded her from the deadly assaults of her spiritual adversary. She has ever been the Church Militant; and has had to fight every inch of ground, and to struggle hard to maintain in purity and faith every individual soul that she has won. When she has become ensnared by the world, and has at all ceased to live near to her Lord, the adversary has been upon her. Her medieval saints prayed and fasted and preached in all lands: her stately temples, dedicated to the God of Love, showed forth, in the mystic revelations of inspired architecture, His eternal majesty and strength, and the MLA Te 7 ae S105. 37; a oni ki. .20. 3 Philip. 2. 15. 288 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. pure and holy calm of His peace: her lofty spires pointed in sweet and mute solemnity to Heaven: the Divine Glory itself seemed to shine through wondrous windows full of holy symbolism, enhancing by unspeakable heavenly lights and shades the grace and beauty of matchless arches and columns: and all the while, pride, profusion, profligacy, reigned in her palaces; and the victims of the Inquisition shrieked and moaned and foamed in the convulsions of death, almost within hear- ing of her solemn chants and soft organ notes! “Be not highminded, but fear.” Our contest with the spirits of Evil is not yet over. It seems to have become the fashion of the hour to avert the eyes from evil, and then to vaunt in the dis- covery that evil is not! The belief in the existence of Evil and of a Spirit of Evil is regarded as a mere imagination, a painful hallucination from the dark and troubled past. Many have become laughing philo- sophers, and this is their great discovery. They have abundant demonstrations that all crimes, however re- volting and hideous, if only they are separated from us by a considerable interval of time and space (so that they in no way touch or threaten ourselves), should be philosophically regarded by the whole human race (including the immediate sufferers) as mere unorganised accidents sentimentally, somewhat distressing ; but in themselves perfectly innocent, with much positive good in them, and requiring only to be known to appear almost amiable. Throbbing human hearts between the teeth of Devil-Idols, rows of bleeding heads on spears before Devil-Altars, and the mangled forms in the Inquisitors’ Torture-Room, with the moral and spiritual characters of the people who rejoice in, and live by, such things—all of which have their shocking counterparts in the Money-worship, Drink-worship, Lust-worship, with DEVIL-WORSHIP. 289 countless bleeding sacrifices and tortured victims, amongst ourselves—ought, according to the new philo- sophy, to be regarded as the respectable misfortunes of a respectable order of beings: and ought not fora moment to be regarded as evidence that Spiritual Evil is an ever-present organized reality, under a personal head, and acting by personal agents. The times are favourable to this philosophy. Soft plants thrive in blood. And so this age, having struck its roots deep into the blood of the French Revolution, and being mightily stimulated by the hot-house warmth of burning Paris and Alexandria, is growing up wonderfully soft and succulent, and luxuriant in crops of soft scepticisms against all that God and Conscience and History tell us of Evil and of the Powers of Evil. But a little experience has often a solvent influence upon philo- sophies of this kind. If an attempt were made to tear out the humane heart of the philosopher, and to put it between the teeth of a Devil-Idol, he would raise the world with his cries, and would (if he escaped) publish learned volumes to prove the reality and the enormous extent of Demoniacal influence. Before leaving the subject of Devil-Worship, I must notice its effect upon Devotional Ritual, The ritual of Devil-Worship was not a new and independent ritual, but a modification of the old. The ancient Devotional Ritual of the human family was estranged from the worship of God, and was applied, with necessary altera- tions, to the worship of Devils, Devil-Worship is, there- fore, Responsive and Congregational. It also employs Music: but Music in which the sweet, solemn, and heavenly strains which uplift the soul to God are re- placed by wild notes of terror, or by the lascivious revel- chanting of Bacchanalian orgies. Instead of the pure and lovely Sacred Dances, there are unspeakable Devil- fh 290 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. Dances, shocking to witness, and infinitely degrading to the dancers, Instead of lowly and loving Reverence, there is cowering fear, or prurient effrontery. Instead of Beauty, there is hideous and terrible Ugliness. The priests of the gods wear robes of pure white: the devil- priests frequently wear black, or some more terrible uniform. Among barbarians, the devil-priest usually wears horns, and is completely concealed beneath the skin of a bear, tiger, or other savage animal, whose form he assumes, and whose cries he imitates. The Idols or Devil-Images, used in such worship, are (with the exception of those borrowed from the worship of the gods) as hideous as they can be made. The Spirit of Evil is most frequently worshipped in the form of a _ Serpent (in which he tempted our first parents), or of a scaled Dragon, with extended claws, flashing eyes, open mouth, and exposed fangs. He was thus worshipped in ancient Egypt and Persia; and is figured under similar forms in the hieroglyphics of Mexico and China. But Devil-idols of other forms are also in use. The image of the “Great Black Devil,” worshipped in Ceylon, is a hideous human form, in the act of seizing an elephant with its teeth, and drinking the blood, the bowels hanging down from its mouth. Another Devil- Idol has its face smeared with blood. Another is a monster with a golden body, blue eyes, a savage face, a pot of fire, and on its head, as a wreath, the heads of twenty snakes. Another has the face, jaws, and teeth of a bear, a spear in its right hand, and in its left an elephant whose blood it is sucking. Grace and Beauty and Reverence perish in the presence of such a worship. 1 Upham, istory of Buddhism, pp. 130, 131. Henderson, Folk-Lore, pp. 302-304, and the frontispiece representing the “ Imperial Dragon of China.” The Chinese call their country ‘‘ the land of the Dragon Throne.” HEATHENISM ATHIRST FOR GOD. 291 3. — Heathenism Athirst for God. The Psalmist saith, “Like as the hart desireth the water brooks, so longeth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the Living God.”! Ah, ves! God has made all men’s souls for Himself, and. they must needs thirst for Him. Even Heathenism is “ athirst for God.” Gross Idolatries, Devil- Idols, degrading Fetish-worship, Unknown Tongues, withering Formalism, false views of the Divine Nature and Character and false theories of Prayer, cannot altogether extinguish the natural piety of pure and humble hearts. In spite of these things, their souls, with infinite longings, are “athirst for God, yea, even for the living God.” “In every nation” there are those . who, according to their measure of light, fear God, and work righteousness, and are acceptable to Him. The deep religious instincts of man’s heart, and the strivings of the Holy Spirit, are often mightier for good than all the Powers of darkness, and all the worst devices of avarice, superstition, vanity, and passion, are for evil. See those ancient Egyptians worshipping creeping things! How shocking! Surely this is the extinc- tion of all spiritual religion, all higher feeling! Oh, no! Presently these same worshippers stand before a worthier sacrifice, and lay their hands and their sins on its head, that they may find rest to their souls in the Divine Presence. See those ancient Romans, idolatrous, cor- rupt, worldly, proud, cruel: and yet they are not dead to all right feeling; they stand beneath the sacrificial platform, that the victim’s blood may stream upon them,? and wash them whiter than snow in God’s most holy sight. Their souls are “athirst for God.” See those Magian Priests, Zoroaster’s degenerate followers, with 4 PSs Aa ly 2s 2 See above, Chapter XIII. § 1. 292 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. cloths upon their mouths, muttering inaudibly an Unknown Tongue:! is not this shameful mummery the extinction of all that is pure and spiritual in religion ? Oh, no! the men have God-made human hearts still; and even now, as they stand at the fire-altar, their eyes are on the jewelled firmament of Persia, beholding the long-predicted “Star!” Their souls are “athirst for God ;” and He has come; and they will journey to a distant land with joyous hearts to pour their offerings at His feet! And while the Magi journey towards Beth- lehem, the Buddhists, in the far East, notwithstanding their multitudes of idols, rosaries, praying flags, and all the paraphernalia of superstition, crowd to their temples, with deep reverence and “firm faith,” to wor- ship the “Divine Saviour of Men,” the Son of the Eternal, Who is pledged to reveal Himself to every creature; and they chant His praises, and pour out their supplications for Pardon and Peace, and for the removal of the three obstructions to holiness—impure thoughts, impure words, impure acts. The temples ring with their anthem :— ‘« All hail ! Great Compassionate Saviour (Kwan-shai-yin), Oh! may I soon attain the eyes of Divine Wisdom ! All hail ! Great Compassionate Saviour, Oh! may I soon pass over the sea of sorrow! All hail ! Great Compassionate Saviour, Oh! may I quickly obtain holiness.” ? Amid the corrupt homage paid to the thirty-three? gods of ancient Hinduism, the Vedic prophet Vasishtha thus prayed to Varuna, the God Who dwells in the sky :-— 1 See above, Chapter XVI.§ 5. _ 2 See above, Chapter XIX. § 3. 3M. Williams, Ainduism, p.25. HEATHENISM ATHIRST FOR GOD. 293 “Wise and mighty are the works of Him Who stemmed asunder the wide firmaments (heaven and earth). He lifts on high the bright and glorious heaven; He stretched out apart the starry sky and the earth. ... How can I get near to Varuna? Will He accept my offering without displeasure ? When shall IJ, with a quiet mind, see Him propitiated? . Absolve us from the sins of our fathers, and from those which we have committed with our own bodies. . . . The Lord God enlighteneth the foolish: He, the wisest, leads His worship- per to wealth. . . . O Lord Veruna, may this song go well to Thy heart ! May we prosper in keeping and acquiring. Pro- tect us, O God, always with Thy blessings.” 4 Ancient Heathenism was “athirst for God, yea, even for the Living God;” and Modern Heathenism is “athirst ” for Him also, Mr. J. G. Wood relates, in his Natural History of Man,* that the Chief of the Ashangos —a negro tribe of Western Africa—was a religious man. In addition to the temples which the Ashangos used for public worship, the Chief had a private temple, or chapel, of his own, to which he repaired every morning and evening, and shut himself up for private prayer. Doubtless the prayers of this devout child of nature, who delighted to approach the Divine Presence, were heard by him “Who seeth in secret.” Which was nobler, the refined majestic prayer of the ancient Vedic prophet, or the secret devout life-long worship of the African savage? We can thank God for both. How far even the darkest of the Heathen may ‘feel after God and find Him, we may gather from the following beautiful saying of the Mountain Bushmen :—“ One does not see Him with the eyes, but knows Him with the heart.” They say that God is the Kaang or Chief, Who rules in the sky. Their name for Him is “ Mokoma,’ that is, 1 Max Miiller, troduction to the Science of Religion, pp. 233, 234. 2 J. G. Wood, Natural History of Man (Africa), p. 537. 294 WORSHIP IN HEATHENISM. “He that ts in Heaven:” which reminds us of the familiar words, “Our Father which art in Heaven.” } We have seen that when the American Indians approach the Great Spirit in worship, they hold up their calumets, their most sacred emblems of Peace, towards heaven. They would be at peace with God, Whom they recog- nize as the source of all blessings. Heathenism has its “ /umzinous voice” as well as its dark voice ; and both plead with us to send the Everlasting Light to all nations. | 1 Rowley, Religion of the Africans, p. 28. L295'.4) PART: LV. Sewish Wlorsbip. CHAPTER XXII. JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. 1. Threefold Division of Jewish Worship: A. Open-Air Service ; B Temple (and Tabernacle) Services; C. Synagogue Services,—z. Patriarchal Worship.—3. Thanksgiving Service at the Red Sea (Exod. 15). 1.—Threefold Division of Fewish Worship. JEWISH Worship may conveniently be described under three divisions :— A. Open-Air Services. B. Temple (and Tabernacle) Services. C. Synagogue Services. A. I use the expression “ Open-Air Services” in its modern popular sense. It refers to all those Services which were conducted in the open, as occasion required, and not in any sacred tent or building. They were the most ancient kind of services. They were in use long before the Tabernacle or Temple or Synagogues were built ; and in later times, they continued to hold an 296 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. important place in Jewish worship, supplementing the regular services of the Temple and the Synagogues. B. The Services in the Temple (and Tabernacle) were, in part, conducted under the open sky, in roofless courts: nevertheless, they were, as we would say, “in a sacred building ;” being within a consecrated en- closure, beautified and prepared, by architectural and other adornments, for the regular offices of Public Worship. C. The Synagogue Services were conducted in sacred buildings which bore the closest possible resemblance to our own parish churches. In describing the Devotional Ritual of the above Services, I shall follow the historic order. The Open- Air Services, as being the most ancient form of Hebrew worship, will first claim our attention. Then we shall pass on to the Services in the Tabernacle and its suc- cessor the Temple.. The Synagogue worship, which was of much later origin, will next come under review ; and will bring us to the close of Jewish worship and to the beginning of Christian. worship: for the Jewish synagogues and the synagogue services were the his- toric ancestors of our Christian churches and church services. | We have already traced a certain type of Devotional Ritual—Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful, in Heathen Public Worship. We have seen reason to regard this universal type as representa- tive of the most ancient Public Worship of the human family. Itseems to have prevailed in the original stock of mankind ; and to have spread down the ages with the spread of our race: and it may still be found, in greater or less perfection, in every country under heaven. We shall now trace this universal type of devotion running through all the forms of Hebrew Worship. First, we PATRIARCHAL WORSHIP. 297 shall find it in the ancient Open-Air Services: next it will reappear in the Temple Services; and, thirdly, it will be found in the Synagogue Services, through which it passed into the Christian Church. Hebrew worship was, therefore, threefold and one: it was broadly marked off into three great divisions; but in each of these divisions, the same type of devotional Ritual prevailed. 2.—FPatriarchal Worship. The opening Chapters of the Bible record the existence, in the family of Adam, of the institution of sacrifice. Cain’s sacrifice, which was “of the fruit of the ground,” was rejected. Abel’s sacrifice, which was “of the firstlings of his flock,”* was acceptable to God. This record appears to have been preserved on account of its Messianic reference. It pointed to the coming of the “Lamb of God,” Who should, in the fulness of time, die as an acceptable sacrifice to. His Father, “ for the sins of the whole world.” The sacred narrative seems to imply that, from the beginning, the offering of sacrifices was guarded by strict rules, which Cain transgressed ; and that the object of these rules was to preserve the Messianic refer- ence of the sacrifices. Ifthis was so, the przmztive revela- tion to our first parents, and the J/osaic revelation, some thousands of years later, resembled each other in the ap- pointment of an obligatory Sacrificial Ritual, which fore- shadowed continually the death of Christ. But beyond this, the przmitive revelation does not appear to have gone. Like the Mosaic revelation, it prescribed no particular form of Devotional Ritual. It does not even mention the existence of sucha ritual. The narrative shows that, for a time after the expulsion from Eden, God mercifully maintained supernatural communications 1 Gen’ 4. 4. 298 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. with Adam and his family. These communications, even with Cain, were free and merciful; and they may have accompanied every sacrifice. If we may argue from the silence of Scripture, the primitive revelation left God’s family on earth absolutely free and unrestricted in the matter of Devotional Ritual. Not that God despises congregational worship, praises, and thanks- givings: we know that He requires these of both angels and men, and delights in them: but from the first, His Divine method of government was to entrust to the Instinct of Worship the development and preser- vation of a Devotional Ritual. He Who implanted this Instinct in us, knew what it could do. The view just suggested, and upon which I have enlarged in the open- ing Chapters of this work, gains in probability from the circumstance that the same Divine method reappears in the Mosaic and Christian revelations. Except in the prohibition of Idols, Polytheism, and Unknown Tongues, these revelations maintained, in general, a remarkable silence upon the subject of Devotional Ritual. While the human family consisted of a very few individuals, and while God maintained direct open communications with each of them, worship (including sacrifice) may have been very much a private individual act. It may have been only as numbers increased, and as supernatural communications from God became infre- quent, andasthe miseries of discord and evil pressed every year more heavily upon the human family, that Public Congregational Worship, as known to us, would come into use, and its uniting and healing influences be felt to be necessary. The very difficult verse which closes the Fourth Chapter of Genesis is generally interpreted as describing the origin of Public Worship. After the death of Abel, Seth was born, who became the father of a righteous posterity. “And to Seth, to him also PATRIARCHAL WORSHIP. 299 there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” (literally, then they began to call—to pray or worship—zx the name of Jehovah). This seems to be an account of the com- mencement of that Public Worship which consists in the offering of Prayers, Praises, and Thanksgivings to God.! In the name of Mahalaleel,? the grandson of Enos, and the fourth from Adam, there is probably a reference to the use of vocal music in religious worship. Maka- laleel signifies giving praise to God. The invention of instrumental music came at a later date.® These ancient religious solemnities, although proba- bly not confined to “the seventh day,’ were doubtless observed principally on that day. The Biblical records, and modern investigations into the early condition of our race, afford strong evidence that “the seventh day,” which God had “blessed” and “ sanctified,” was very generally observed by the human family, in primitive and patriarchal times, as a day of rest and worship. Enoch, the grandson of Mahalaleel, “walked with God,” in evil times living a life of eminent holiness: and he preached, no doubt, to assembled congregations, of righteousness and judgment tocome. What converts he gained, and what precepts of holiness and worship he gave, we are not told. Ina still worse age, his great- grandson Noah preached of righteousness, and offered sacrifices acceptably. Wherever Abraham settled, it appears that “he builded an altar unto the Lord,” and “called upon the name of the Lord, the everlast- 1 Gen. 4. 26. Keil, 27 loc. Speaker's Commentary, in loc. Wright’s Genesis in Hebrew, p. 23. 2 Gen. 5. 12. Smith, Dict. of the Bible, U1. p. 442, Art. Music. = (en, AnZt; 300 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. ing God.” He was the Prince and High Priest of a powerful tribe, and, in this capacity, he “com- manded his children and his household after him that they should keep the way of the Lord.” His “command,” which, in time of war, assembled from his household three hundred and eighteen trained men ready for battle, doubtless regularly assembled on sacred days a much larger number of worshippers to witness the solemn sacrifices, and to chant the praises of God. The employment, at these solemnities, of both vocal and instrumental music, “songs and tabret and harp,’ together with beautiful processions and joyous sacred dances, may be regarded as certain.! On these occasions, no Sacred Tent, or Building, was used. The patriarchal Hebrew Services were conducted around open Altars, and were, in the strictest sense, Open-Air Services. 3.— Thanksgiving Service at the Red Sca (Exod. 15). The great Thanksgiving Service which Moses con- ducted, at the time of the Exodus, on the Arabian shore of the Red Sea, must now claim our attention. It was an Open-Air Service of the first magnitude and importance. The circumstances which led up to it were also of the first importance. The Israelites had long groaned under the cruel bondage of Egypt. God heard their cry, “knew their sorrow ;” and, in His own time and way, He stretched forth His hand to deliver them. By a terrible succes- sion of avenging strokes, he sent plague after plague upon Egypt. Inthe awful night of the tenth plague, all the first-born of Egypt were slain. There was not an Egyptian house in which there was not one dead, and Gen. 12.8593) 4314, 14 5°10, 10-21. 33 5° 3 ieee SERVICE AT THE RED SEA. 301 that one the first-born. The exceeding bitterness of death-parting wrung every heart. There was “a great cry” throughout all the land of Egypt; horror and panic spread; and the people of Israel were thrust out of Egypt by their oppressors: the Egyptians hasted them, saying, “‘ We be all dead men.” Knowing the manner in which Arab tribes break up their encampments, and swiftly and silently move away, in perfect order, during the cool hours of the night, we can picture to ourselves the midnight flight of these two millions of liberated Israelites,—the heavily-laden camels and asses moving off, in long regular lines, from the vari- ous starting-points of the several tribes and families, ' with torches flaming brightly before them, and droves of cattle following after them. They “journeyed,” on the first day, “from Rameses to Succoth,” and, on the second day, from Succoth to “ Etham in the edge of the wilderness.” Here, where the green verdure of Egypt abruptly terminated, and the pathless sands and stones of the desert or “ wilderness” began, Jehovah in person began to direct the march of the people. He went before them in a pillar of cloud by day; and at nicht, the same cloudy column, filled with fire, led the way by its shining brightness. “ Fire was im 7it.’4 “And the Lord. went before them by day ina pillar of cloud, to lead them in the way; and by night in a pillar of fire. to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.” Thus led from Etham, the Israelites pursued their march across the desert, until, by God’s command, they encamped, at the end of the third day, on the shore of the Red Sea, “ between Migdol and the sea.” Here the Israelites saw the well-known horses and 1 Ex. 40. 38, literally translated. See Ts 21) 22 302 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. the terrible chariots of Egypt, coming in hot pursuit over the heights behind them. All human possibility of escape was cut off : defence by force of arms was out of the question: the hour of vengeance and slaughter seemed to be near at hand ; and great and sudden was the terror of the people. But ‘man’s extremity’ proved to be ‘God’s opportunity.’ That evening, as the dark- ness began to close over the troubled camp, Moses, standing by Divine command upon the _ sea-shore, reached forth “his hand over the sea,” pointing with the rod of God towards the Arabian mountains beyond. The Lord’s way that night was “in the sea” and “in the storm:” “the thunders were heard and the light- nings shone.” A tempest swept down from the Arabian mountains, and tore up the waters. ‘“ The Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind.” The deep was “divided.” “A pathway was made in the great waters.”1 The people entered that deep pathway, which extended about 15 miles to the opposite shore: they pressed on with the black billows piled up on either side, the tempest blowing against them, and the storm-light on their faces. The mysterious cloud, in- stead of going before the people, followed behind them, keeping a space between them and their pursuers. “It gave light” on the side next to the Israelites: on the other side, towards the Egyptians, it was a black mass, “cloud and darkness.” Nevertheless, the Egyptians in hot haste, sure of their prey, pursued “after them to the midst of the sea.” “And it came to pass, that in the morning watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud,” and “troubled” them, and threw them into confusion. What that “look” was which so “ troubled” the Egyp- + Pss.77, and 95, SERVICE AT THE RED SEA. 303 tians we cannot say with certainty. The narrative seems to imply that from the hitherto impenetrable blackness of the cloud, some dreadful fiery appearances, revealing then the awful Presence and wrath of God, became visible to the Egyptians. , One “ look” of wrath from God can make the fountains of fear in the hardest heart burst forth, as torrents from a stony rock. “And (Jehovah) took off their chariot-wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.” Moses and the people of Israel had now arrived in safety upon the further shore. “ And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared ; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” The people of Israel had now passed from Africa to Asia, and from slavery to freedom. Before them were the Arabian hills, glowing in the morning sun, anda glorious free future: behind them, the avenging sea, still heaving with the tumult of the recent storm; and beyond that sea, the frontier mountains of Africa, and Egypt’s gigantic cities and temples and monuments, and her prison-houses and brick-kilns,—to be seen no more forever! It wasagreat deliverance! In modern missionary records and books of travel, we often read of the plaintive rejoicings of little bands of African slaves, when set free from their captors. Spectators can hardly witness their joy without weeping. A few years ago, many of us heard the “ Jubilee Singers” who visited this country,—some two dozen liberated slaves 304 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. from America,—and we cannot easily forget how affecting they were, at times. In many of their songs, deep wild sadness, and deep wild joy, and, alas! deep wild rage against the oppressor, were strangely and terribly blended ; and reminded us that we, in this highly favoured land of peace and liberty, are really very ignorant of the fierce and passionate depths of a nation’s greater sorrows, and the tumultuous heart- shaking joys of a nation’s greater deliverances. Israel had long known these sorrows, and was now in the highest transports of these joys. Every heart swelled with gratitude to God, the Deliverer of His people. This great:national deliverance was celebrated, and the boundless adoring gratitude of the whole nation of Israel was expressed, by a great Thanksgiving Service whose echoes shall never die in the Church of God. The whole nation took part in this Service on the shore of the Red Sea, and chanted the Song of Moses. They were “a great multitude,” gloriously typical of the future Assembly of the Church Tri- umphant in Heaven, who shall stand on the radiant shores of the “glassy” “crystal sea,” and “sing the Song of Moses the servant of God, and the Song of the Lamb.”! Never before, and never since on earth, has so vast a multitude united in one great act of Worship.” It was a great Open-Air Service of Praise and Thanksgiving. Moses divided the multitude: standing himself, on one side, at the head of the Men; while Miriam, the Prophetess, the sister of Moses, stood on ar IReY, L5e ae 2 This was, in the most literal sense, an assemblage of the whole nation, men and women, old and young. The assemblage of the tribes at the Solemnity on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal was probably much less numer- ously attended. The vast assemblages at Jerusalem, at the Feasts, cannot be regarded as actually united in any one Religious Service, as the Israelites were at the Red Sea. SERVICE: AT THE RED SEA.” \ 305 the other side, at the head of the Women. All were marshalled in ranks, with the strictest military precision, as the Arab tribes of Egypt and Arabia are, to the pre- sent day, when assembled for worship. The worship was Responsive, Congregational, and Musical; both vocal and instrumental music being employed. We cannot doubt that it was also Reverent: the whole multitude, according to immemorial Hebrew custom, bowing down, or falling prostrate, at each mention of the Divine Name. The Women, following Miriam, arrived at the appointed place of worship in solemn and joyous Processions, playing upon timbrels, and dancing the lovely Sacred Dances. Moses and the Men of Israel, on the one side, led the chant in chorus. On the other side, Miriam and the Women of Israel sang the response, with instrumental accompaniment, dancing to the music as they sang. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel [that is, the Men] this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously : The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song,—and He is become my salvation : He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation ; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him. And Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand: and all the Women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam [with the Women| answered them [that is, answered the song of the men, led the response|— Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously : The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.” ! eo Sr Say 2) 202i. 306 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. This response was repeated by Miriam and “all the Women” at the end of each verse chanted by the men. The responsive and musical worship of primitive men had nowhere found a more magnificent and nowhere a more degrading home, than in the great temples of Egypt. It is noteworthy that Moses took the earliest opportunity afforded him of honouring this form of devotional ritual. He well knew that it had been allied with all that he detested in Egyptian worship. But he did not argue that because responsive congregational chanting had been abused in Egypt, and might be abused again, it should be prohibited in the Church of God. This kind of argument, which would deprive the Church not only of responsive and musical worship, but of worship itself, had not so much weight with him as it has with many people in our own time and country. There is a curious and very ancient tradition, that Moses taught Orpheus,! the father of Greek music, the use of the golden harp, whose sweet sounds the trees and rocks followed from Olympus. Educated in Pharaoh’s palace, Moses doubtless possessed the highest musical knowledge which could be acquired in Egypt. The music in the worship at the Red Sea, when Israel had just emerged from contact with Egyptian civilization, was probably more perfect than on any subsequent occasion till the great musical revival under Samuel and David. It must also have been characterized by that perfection in the keeping of ‘me, for which all the African races are to this day distinguished, and which enables great numbers to engage in common worship with grand effect. In this greatest of earthly Thanks- giving Services, verse and response, strophe and anti- strophe, the voices of a nation of Men and a nation of 1 Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, Il. p. 426, Art. ALoses. SERVICE AT THE RED SEA. 307 Women answering to each other in highest religious enthusiasm and the fulness of joy, with the perfection of musical time and of musical cadence, and with timbrels and dances, must have resounded over “ Egypt’s dark waters” like answering seas and thunders, “as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, and as the voice of harpers harping with their harps.” } m Revi '14712, ( 308 ) CPA Hie ls JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES—continued. 1. The Solemnity on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal.—2. Barak’s Victory.— 3. Jephthah’s Victory.—4. David’s Victory.x—5. Judith’s Thanks- giving Service for Victory. 1.—The Solemnity on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal. LEST the people of Israel, when settled in Canaan, should regard the Sinaitic Law as antiquated—suitable for the wilderness but not for the promised Land— Moses ordained that, as soon as God brought them into the promised Land, there should be a solemn republication of the Law, and a renewal by all the people of their solemn declarations of assent to it. This solemnity was also intended to serve another purpose. It was the recognition of a higher tribunal of justice than that of man. Violations of the Law often escaped the vigilance of the human officials who were responsible for enforcing its enactments. Moses, therefore, provided that this solemnity should include a declaration of the reality and righteousness of God’s wrath against all transgressions of His Law, however secret they might be, and beyond the reach of human jurisdiction. The ceremony was to take place on mounts Gerizim 1 See Keil and Delitzsch, Commentaries, on Deut. I1. 29, 30 ; 27. 11-13; Joshua 8. 30-35. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, Arts. EHbal and Gerizim. Stanley, Jewish Church, I. p. 279. — ho GERIZIM AND EBAL. 309 and Ebal. These two mountains are situated close together, in the centre of Palestine. They run East and West, with a narrow valley, about a third of a mile wide, between them. Ebal is on the north, and rises precipitously about 1000 feet above the valley. The steep side of this mountain is bare, barren, and rocky, and full of rock-hewn tombs. Gerizim, on the south, rises about goo feet above the valley; and from its slopes burst forth thirty-two springs which cover the base of the mountain and the valley beneath with a mass of living verdure, in striking contrast to the barrenness of Ebal. The lower spurs of the mountains almost meet across the bottom of the valley. In the clear still atmosphere of the East, sound travels better than in our own country. The human voice can easily be heard from Gerizim to Ebal. Moses ordained that the first part of the solemnity should be the erection of an altar of great unhewn stones upon Mount Ebal.! The stones of this altar were to be “ plaistered with plaister:” “and Thou shalt write upon them [that is, upon the plaister covering them] all the words of this Law.” In an age when books were scarce, public monumental records of this kind were of great importance. Upon the altar, thus prepared, “burnt offerings unto the Lord,” “and peace offerings,” were to.be offered. Then around the altar, the people were to have a sacrificial feast, with the usual accompaniments of sacred dances and hymns chanted : “and thou shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God.” Ebal, with its barren sides, its many sepulchres, its inscribed and threatening Law, and its located curse, represented this fallen world. Its altar foreshadowed the high altar of Calvary. Its sacrificial 1 Deut. 27. 4, 5. 310 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. feast and rejoicings revealed that God had found a Sacri- fice by which a cursed and desolate world could be made to “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” After the sacrifice and sacrificial feast upon mount Ebal, the people of Israel were to proceed with the most unique and characteristic part of the solemnity. The Divine “ blessing,” connected with obedience to the Law, was to be “put upon mount Gerizim;” and the Divine “curse,” for disobedience, “upon mount Ebal.”? The “blessing” and the “curse” were to be sacrament- ally located, and transferred, through Gerizim and Ebal, to the whole land, to be apportioned to its inhabitants according to their attitude towards the Divine Law. In the ceremony by which this was done, the national assent to the terms of the “curse” was to be pronounced upon rocky and barren Ebal ; and the assent to the “ blessing ” was to be pronounced upon green and fertile Gerizim. Six of the tribes (Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin) were to “stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people;” and the other six tribes (Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali) were to “stand upon mount Ebal to curse.’? The Levitical Przests, standing in the valley between, and turning, in the first instance, towards mount Ebal, were to “say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice [chanting with a 4zgh voice] :— “Cursed be [or, cursed zs] the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. “And all the people {that is, all the people of the six tribes on Ebal] shall answer [vespond] and say, “ Amen.” +- Deut,’ 115° 29. 2 Deut. 27. 11-14. GERIZIM AND EBAL. 311 Then the Priests were to say :—“ Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother.” “ And all the people |on Ebal] shall say, hAmen.2 And so on, through all the sentences of malediction. These sentences were twelve in number, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel. | The priests were then, as we infer from the sacred narrative, to turn towards mount Gerizim, and to recite the blessings of obedience. After each sentence of blessing, a// the people of the six tribes stationed on mount Gerizim were to respond, “Amen.” The bless- ings, which were probably twelve in number, are not given in detail in the sacred narrative: for the Law was, primarily, a revealer, not of blessing, but of the curse against sin, and of the consequent need of a Great Expiatory Sacrifice. This solemnity upon mounts Gerizim and Ebal was evidently intended to be an isolated ceremony. It was not a recurring religious ordinance. Once performed, it was not to be repeated. It is, however, interesting in connection with the sub- ject of this volume: for it isan example of the essentially congregational and responsive character of Hebrew worship, From the expression “all the men of Israel,” we learn that Moses required all the people, and not the heads of houses only, to be present at this ceremony, and to unite in chanting each Amen. In the book of Joshua! we have a detailed account of the observance of this ceremony. The altar was built upon mount Ebal: “a copy of the law of Moses” was written upon it; and sacrifices, both “burnt offer- ings” and “ peace offerings,” were offered. Then, half 1 Josh. 8. 30-35. 312 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. of the tribes stood on the slopes and spurs of the northern mountain, “over against mount Ebal:” the rest of the tribes stood on the slopes of Gerizim; and Joshua and the priests stood, with the ark, in the valley between them. Then Joshua (in the measured chant- ing tone used always in reading the Hebrew Scriptures) read “the blessings and the cursings” (beginning with the latter); and as he read them, the Levitical Priests, turning first towards Ebal and then towards Gerizim, chanted in a high voice, either with or after him, all the words he uttered. The tribes on Ebal responded to the cursings: and those on Gerizim to the blessings. All was done “as Moses the servant of the Lord had com- manded before.” From Joshua we learn that the vast multitude, whose voices on this occasion must have been echoed back like thunder from the surrounding hills, included, besides all the men of Israel, “the women and the little ones and the strangers.” The ceremony must have been, in the highest degree, grand and solemn. The voices of a whole nation, so far as they could be assembled to- gether, took part in it. Such a ceremony, on such a scale of magnitude, could hardly have been thought of, or worthily performed, among a people who were not habituated to the congregational, responsive, and musical method of public worship. 2.—Larak’s Victory (Judges 4. and 5.) The victory of Barak over Sisera, by which Israel was freed from the oppression of “Jabin, king of Canaan,” appears to have been made the occasion of a Thanksgiving Service similar to that which was held under Moses at the Red Sea. Deborah, the prophetess, composed, for the occa- JEPHTHAH'S VICTORY. 313 sion, one of the most spirited odes in the Hebrew language. This ode is preserved in the fifth Chapter of Judges. The historical introduction to the ode is, “ Zhen sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying.” That is, Barak at the head of the men of Israel led the song; while the response, or chorus, and the dance of the women, were led by Deborah. It is certain, on independent grounds, that both vocal and instrumental music were employed. There is an allu- sion in verse 3 to the employment of musical instru- ments. “I w¢/l sing praise to the Lord God of Israel” is, in the original, the technical expression for senging with an instrumental accompaniment. 3.— Fephthah’s Victory (Judges '11.) Jephthah, having won his fame as the captain of a company of freebooters in the outskirts of Ammon, held the faith of Jehovah with no small admixture of the gloomy and ferocious superstitions so often found in connection with a life of violence and bloodshed, spent in proximity to degrading forms of heathenism. God’s call to higher work did not alter the fixed lines of his character. When the “ Spirit of the Lord came upon him,” before going forth against the Ammonites, he uttered a rash and terrible vow. ‘ Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If Thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be that whatsoever [or, he who] cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall 1 Judg. 5. Keiland Delitzsch, i foc. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, I. p. 388, Art. Dane. Stanley, Jewish Church, 1. p. 335- 314 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it [or, zm] up for a burnt offering.” The Ammonites were routed with great slaughter. Twenty cities were taken from them. The tidings of Jephthah’s victories filled the oppressed Israelites with thankfulness and joy. When the conqueror returned to Mizpeh, “his daughter,” who was his only child, “came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: ” she came at the head of a company of women, who received Jephthah with joyous music and dances, The company of women on such occasions was divided into two bands, who, crowned with garlands, bearing palm branches, and advancing in processional dances, sang in alternate choruses, responding to each other! The ode which Jephthah’s daughter and her companions chanted has not been preserved. It was probably of a religious character, setting forth the praises of the Lord, and of the conqueror and his men of war. As the joyous procession, advancing with songs and dances, approached near and nearer to the returning warriors, the heart-stricken father perceived that it was led by “his only child.’ His joy was turned into despair and anguish. “And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.” It was a terrible and dark ending to a victorious campaign and a joyous Thanksgiving Service: but in the dark- ness there was a gleam of light. The high-minded maid, reared in a roving freebooter’s tent, was as wild and ignorant, and withal as heroic and religious, as her father. God’s wild children, like the wild winds and 1 1 Sam. 18. 6, 7. Judith 15. and 16. DAVID’S VICTORY. 315 waves, serve Him in their own wild way. The vow which all civilised posterity have execrated, with just horror, and have called “ Fephthah's rash vow,’ seemed neither horrible nor rash to her, but a religious and noble vow, worthy of her great father. She would not be behind him in self-denial and piety. If she must die for the victory of her father, of her country, of her God, she will weep for her sad lot, and will then dry her tears, and die bravely as a pure-hearted noble Jewish maiden ought to die. “And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me accord- ing to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.” ? The rash vow, and the fulfilment of the vow, must ever be reckoned among the darkest and saddest passages in human history. But the sfzrztof Jephthah’s daughter is the kind of spirit which, if guided by Christian light and love, would make life noble, holy, devoted. 4.—Davia’s Victory (1 Sam. 18.) After the slaughter of Goliath, David continued to render valuable military services to his country. “David went out (to war) whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely.” He was soon ad- vanced to high command: ‘Saul set him over the men of war.” ?” On the return of Saul and David, at the close of their victorious war against the Philistines, there was a joyous Service of Thanksgiving to God and Welcome to the returning conquerors. “The women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet 1 Judges 11. 36. 2 1 Sam. 18, 5. 316 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music.”! This was evidently a ational Service and Welcome: it was on a magnificent scale of magnitude: “the women came out of all the cities of Israel ;” and, having formed a double procession, they advanced, dancing, and chanting alternate choruses, with instru- mental accompaniments, until they met Saul and David, and their warriors, The ode sung was doubt- less in great part religious, but the sacred writer has only recorded the words which inflamed the jealousy of Saul. The two processional companies of “the women answered (responded to) one another as they played :” one company chanting, ‘Saul hath slain his thousands ;” and the other company singing the response, “ And David his ¢en thousands.” The responsive, congregational, and musical character- istics of this ceremony appear on the surface of the narrative. But there is another characteristic, namely, its beauty, which, although less obvious to the reader, would most of all strike the spectator. The vast double pro- cession of women: dressed, for the most part, in pure white: adorned with all their jewels; crowned with gar- lands; and bearing palm branches, which they moved to and fro, to the time of the music, and the wavelike motion of the dance, must have been very picturesque and beautiiul. 5.—Judith’s Thanksgiving Service for Victory (Judith 16.) The Apocryphal book of Judith is a work of fiction. Its exact date cannot be determined with certainty: 1 x Sam. 18. 6-8. JUDITH’S THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 317 but it was probably written about the year B.C. 170. The value of the book, however, as a portrayal of the ideas and customs of the age in which it was written, is not lessened by its fictitious character: it reflects truly the spirit and many of the traits of Hebrew life in the Maccabzan period.}! After a great victory over the Assyrians, “the high priest and the ancients of the children of Israel that dwelt in Jerusalem” are represented as coming “to see Judith, and to salute her.’ “And when they came unto her, they blessed her with one accord.” The blessing which the “igh priest and the ancients” recited or chanted on this occasion, concluded with the words, “Thou hast done much good to Israel, and God is pleased therewith: blessed be thou of the Almighty Lord for evermore.” At the close of this blessing, “all the people” re- sponded “So be it.” 3 “Then all the women of Israel” came “to see Judith, and to bless her;” and as an accompaniment of the blessing, the women “ made a dance” in her presence. This dance concluded, Judith “took dranches in her hand ;” and “a garland of olive” was put upon her head, and another garland wpon the head of the “ maid that was with her.” Branches were also distributed “ to the women that were with her.” Then Judith “went forth before all the people in the dance, leading all the women,’ in a joyous procession. Next after the women followed “all the men of Israel,” in a second procession, ‘“‘in their armour, with garlands, and with songs in their mouth.” “Then Judith” (and the procession of women) “ began to sing this thanksgiving in all Israel; and all the 1 See Professor Westcott’s Article on the Book of Judith in Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, I. p. 1174. . ' 2 Judith 15. 8. $ Judith 15. 10. 318 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. people” (that is, all the mez of Israel, who formed the second procession) “sang after her this song of praise. And Judith said— Begin unto my God with timbrels, Sing unto my Lord with cymbals: Tune unto Him a new psalm: Exalt Him, and call upon His name. “Now as soon as they entered into Jerusalem, they worshipped the Lord ; and as soon as the people were purified, they offered their burnt offerings, and their peace offerings, and their gifts,” ? We have here represented a religious procession of Women to Jerusalem. Judith, crowned with “a garland of olive,” holding “branches in her hand,” and adorned with all her jewels, danced a sacred dance and chanted at the head of this procession; while all the women, clad in white, and wearing their jewels, danced and chanted with her, playing on musical instruments, and beating time with branches in their hands. After the procession of women, and chanting in response to them, followed a procession of warriors clad in armour, crowned with garlands, and wearing all their jewels and trinkets. The wearing of jewels is a religious act amongst the Jews, and has been carefully observed on all great occasions, since the time of the Exodus, when their ancestors came forth out of bondage wearing the jewels of Egypt. When the gate of the Holy City was reached, all ‘“‘worshipped the Lord,” bowing their heads, or prostrat- ing themselves. Then followed rites of purification ; + Judith 16.1, 2,°18, JUDITH’S THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 319 after which the processions—or rather, the double pro- cession—entered the temple, dancing and chanting as before. As they entered the temple, they all bowed down again, and worshipped the Lord, according to the reverent custom of Jewish worshippers. And “they offered their burnt offerings, and their free offerings, and their gifts,” before the Great Altar. ( 320 ) GCHAP PE RA ASGLLL JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES—continued. 1. The Schools of the Prophets.—2. The removal of the Ark to Jerusalem. 1.—The Schools of the Prophets. THE Jews had, from the time of Moses, a Divinely appointed hierarchy of Priests, whose commission was twofold : first, they were to offer sacrifices ; and secondly, they were to ¢éeach, “teaching the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.”! But although there was a Divinely appointed sacerdotal order of teachers, they held their commission as teachers under no narrow and exclusive tenure. Alongside this sacerdotal order of teachers, there were from the first non-sacerdotal Lay-Teachers, called Prophets, who supplemented the labours of the Priestly order. The Prophetical order having deteriorated under the later Judges, Samuel reorganized and re-formed it. With a true appreciation of the value of systematic study and culture, he instituted companies or colleges of pro- phets, not unlike our own Theological Colleges. Into these colleges promising students were gathered, and were sedulously trained in the knowledge of the inspired writings, and in the arts of sacred poetry, and sacred Sa eyetO. 1g, SCHOOLS OF THE PROPHETS. 321 music. Eventually the whole teaching power of the nation seems to have passed into their hands. The head of each College, or School, was, in accordance with Oriental usage, called the “ Father” or the “Master:” the students were called his “Sons,” ! Their religious services appear to have been held in the Open-Air, and from place to place, as distinguished from the regular ministrations of the Sacerdotal Order in the Tabernacle and Temple. The first allusion to the Schools of the Prophets is found in the tenth Chapter of the First Book of Samuel. Samuel, having consecrated Saul to be king over Israel, gave him three signs that the anointing which he had just received was by Divine command: “that the Lord had anointed him to be captain over his inheritance.” Weare here concerned with the third only of these three signs, “After that”—after the first two signs—‘thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass when thou art come thither to the city that thou shalt meet a company ”—in the original, a cord or procession— of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophecy ”—literally, prophesying ; “thou shalt meet” them coming down 77 the act of pro- phesying ; that is, expressing religious feeling, under the influence of inspiration; the word is used, in 1 Chron. 25. 1-3, of chanting Psalms and set Service “ with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals.” “And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.” ? This long line of prophets, chanting with instru- 1 ; Sam. 10, 12; 2 Kings 2.3. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, Il. p. 930, Art. Prophet. * 1 Sam. Io. 5-7. Xx 322 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. mental accompaniment, was evidently an Open-Air religious procession. They were “coming down,” full of religious enthusiasm, and in processional ‘order, walking or dancing to sacred music, “from the high place,” the ancient place of worship, on the summit of “the hill of God;” where they had been holding an Open-Air Service. 2.—Removal of the Ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6; TLOnTONe 13 eal Sami On When David had obtained Jerusalem as the capital of his kingdom, he directed his attention to the great work of making it the religious centre of Palestine. The old Mosaic Tabernacle, which had been stationed at Shiloh, Nob, Gibeon, and other places, and in which Divine Worship had recently lost much of its glory and purity, was not removed to Jerusalem. It would not have been convenient to prematurely unsettle the worship and ministrations connected with it. The structure itself had probably fallen much into decay, and had become unsuitable for the religious require- ments of the new capital. Indeed, the Mosaic Taber- nacle was from the first intended only for a nation which lived a roving and unsettled life. Foreseeing the near approach of its end, David erected a new tabernacle at Jerusalem to serve as a temporary sanctuary until the temple should be built. This new tabernacle was a copy of the old tabernacle. But it was obviously necessary to have in the new tabernacle the Mosaic Ark of the Covenant, which was the true centre of Hebrew worship. The Ark was still in the house of Abinadab, at Kirjath- 1 Keil and Delitzsch, 2 loc. Cambridge Bible for Schools, in loc. Stanley, Jewish Church, 1. p. 399. THE REMOVAL OF THE ARK. 323 Jearim, about ten miles to the West of Jerusalem, where it had remained seventy years, from the time when the Philistines had sent it back on a new cart to the land of Israel. David, therefore, resolved to fetch the Ark from Kirjath-Jearim, and to place it in the sanctuary of his new tabernacle. In accordance with the ritual customs of the East, the removal of the Ark was made the occasion of a great Open-Air Religious Procession. This Procession, which was national in character and of vast extent, was intended to accompany the Ark along the ten miles of road which led up to the capital. When the new Tent was ready at Jerusalem, David, after consultation “with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader,’ sent messengers throughout the whole of his kingdom, and assembled the nation in the person of thirty thousand male repre- sentatives. “David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.” } A vast procession was then formed at Kirjath-Jearim. The sacred Ark was brought forth “out of the house of Abinidab;” and in accordance with the example of the Philistines seventy years before, but in violation of the Mosaic Law which directed that the Ark should be carried by the Levites? it was “placed upon a new cart.” The procession then moved off, with a sacred dance, and with solemn chanting and instrumental music, towards the Holy City. “And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart” on which the Ark had been placed: Uzzah walking beside the Ark ; and Ahio going before, to lead the oxen which drew it. “ And David and all the house of Israel (danced and) 1 2Sam. 6.1. 1 Chron. 13. 1-6. See also Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, III. p. 1415, Art. Zadernacle. 7 Nuns. 4.15. 324 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. plaved before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.” “ And David and all Israel played before God with all their might and with songs .. . and with trumpets.” } The chanting was doubtless of the usual kind, vespon- sive and congregational, The mention of six different kinds of instruments shows that the Minstrel King had given special attention to the instrumental part of the music. In all the usual circumstances of beauty—snow- white robes, rhythmic dancing, jewels, wreaths, palm branches, and probably bright banners—this procession was, we may feel sure, inferior to none which had ever been in the land of Israel. When the procession had advanced some two or three miles, and was passing “the threshing-floor of Chidon,” “the oxen stumbled ;” and Uzzah, who was walking beside the cart, “ put forth his hand to hold the Ark.” As a Levite, Uzzah must have known that only the staves of the Ark were to be touched. But the whole of the proceedings on this occasion were characterised by zeal without Aumzlity, and therefore without reverence, and without obedience. Such zeal God could not accept. “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote Him there for his error; and there he died by the Ark of God.’? At this manifestation of the Divine displeasure, a fear and dread came upon all; and the Procession was at once stopped. The Ark was taken no further: it was left, close to the scene of Uzzah’s death, in the house of a Levite, Obed-edom the Gittite. “ David carried it aside unto the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the Ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed- 1 2 Sam. 6. 3-5. 1 Chron. 13. 8 *eam,.0. 6).9.. ol Chronvia otc THE REMOVAL OF THE ARK. 325 edom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obed-edom, and all his household.” When David heard that the presence of the Ark had brought marks of Divine favour to the household of Obed-edom, his desire revived to transfer the Ark to Jerusalem. He could not doubt that God would bless Jerusalem also if the Ark were conveyed there in a manner according to His will. He therefore determined to fetch it to the capital. But on this occasion, he took pious care that all should be done humbly, reverently, and in strict obedience to the Mosaic law. “The Lord our God,’ he said, “made a breach upon us,’ on the former occasion, “ for that we sought Him not after the due order.” ! ‘Then David said, None ought to carry the Ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the Ark of God.” Having, there- fore, made careful preparations for the reception of the Ark in Jerusalem, David commanded the Priests and the Levites to “sanctify” themselves for the sacred duty of removing it. He then gathered all Israel together at the house of Obed-edom. Not only the Priests, but David himself and the Levites and all the Singers and Musicians, and probably also the thirty thousand representative men of all Israel, or the greater part of them, were clad in pure white byssus. White byssus, the outer garment of all Israelites of rank and distinction (the “ fine linen” in which the “rich man” of the parable was “clothed” *), was the material for the priests garments. But on great occasions, not only the Levitical ministers and singers, but all other worshippers, were, as far as possible, robed in white, like the priests. A solemn procession was formed at the house of Obed-edom. The order of the procession appears to have been as follows :— 1 y Chron. 15. 13. 2 Luke 16. 19. 326 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. 1. First, at the head of the procession were Heman, Asaph, Ethen, and probably a band of others, with cymbals, sounding clear and loud, in order to heighten the sound (both of the song and of the instrumental music) to joy ; that is, to the expression of high festive joy. 2. Next to these came a choir of Soprano Singers, accompanying themselves with musical instruments. 3. Next came a choir of Bass voices, with instrumental accompaniments. 4. Chenaniah, who, as “ chief of the Levites,” was the captain of the bearers, walked immediately behind the choir of bass voices. 5. After Chenaniah came two doorkeepers of the Ark. 6. Next came a band of Priests blowing with silver trumpets. 7. Then came the Ark of God itself, borne in the pre- scribed manner with staves resting upon the shoulders of the Levites. “The children of the Levites bore the Ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord.” 8. Immediately after the Ark and its bearers, there was another band of Priests blowing with silver trumpets. g. Next came two other doorkeepers for the Ark. 10. Thencame King David clothed in byssus, like the other processionalists, and wearing besides, as the head of a priestly nation, the white ephod of the high-priest- hood. He was the leader of the chorus. II. Following the king, came the vast chorus of the whole nation, 30,000 voices, supported by musical instruments of all kinds. The procession moved off in a choral dance, with a joyous outburst of music. But, lest there should have THE REMOVAL OF THE ARK. 327 been any error or unatoned guilt, it was arranged that a halt should take place at the sixth pace, in order that sacrifices might be offered. ‘“ And it was so, that when they that bear the Ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings.”! The procession then advanced, as before, with sacred music and sacred danc- ing, towards Jerusalem. “And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.” “Thus all Israel brought up the Ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cym- bals, making a noise with psalteries and harps.” When the procession reached its destination, and the Ark was deposited safely in the sanctuary of the new Tabernacle prepared for it in Jerusalem, “ burnt offerings and peace offerings ” were again offered before the Lord: a noble hymn was chanted by all the united choirs and worshippers; and the people were dismissed with the King’s blessing. “ So they brought the Ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God. And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine.” Then followed a ‘sacrificial feast, after which “all the people departed every one to his house.” These sacrifices in the new Tabernacle were the beginning of the noble liturgical worship which David had organized to be carried on continually in his capital. The hymn chanted in the Tabernacle on that 25am) 6.\13. cP I 328 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. memorable day has been preserved in the Sixteenth Chapter of the First Book of Chronicles. “ Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord into the hands of Asaph and his brethren. Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, Make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him, &c. &c. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the people said Amen, and pratsed the Lord.” We have here an interesting allusion to the people’s chanting responses and choruses in the Tabernacle. Their voices, which had sung in the open air, doubtless with grand effect, as the procession passed from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem, did not become silent when they entered the sacred precincts of the Taber- nacle. The music which had been heard by the high- way passed into the courts of the Lord’s house and resounded at His altar. There are many allusions in the Psalms to the share which all Hebrew worshippers had in the services of the Tabernacle and Temple. “Tet all the people say Amen. Praise ye the Lord.” “Ye people, pour out your hearts before Him.” “Let the peoples (all nations) praise Thee, O God: let all the peoples praise Thee.”? These are evidently allusions to the liturgical usages of Hebrew worship. The Open-Air Procession which we have been con- sidering ended in a Service within the sacred enclosure of the new Tabernacle. So it has ever been in human worship. The ancient Open-Air Services, with their multitudes of white-robed singers and minstrels; their 1 Ps, 62.8); O73n54 106. 48. THE REMOVAL OF THE ARK. 329 wreaths, bright banners, and palm branches; their choral chants, sacred dances, and solemn acts of re- verence—in a word the Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful rituals and worships of primitive times—have marched in joyous Processions, from sacred hill-tops, open plains, and primeval forests, into the great temples which civilized men have reared for the glory of God. Within these temples, Worship, with all its ancient characteristics, finds, or ought to find, a glorious and abiding home and shelter. The original worshippers themselves pass swiftly away—a vast invisible procession of kings and priests and people —to the eternal world; but others as swiftly take their places; and the ceaseless hymns and chants resound down the ages, from millennium to millennium. (330 ) CHAPTERUXAE, JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES—continued. 1. The Founding of the Second Temple.—2. The Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem.—3. ‘‘ Songs of Degrees,” or Pilgrim Songs.—4. Sama- ritan Passover on Gerizim. 1.— The Founding of the Second Temple (Ezra 3. 10-13. I Esdras 5. 59-65.) THE laying of the foundation of the Second Temple, under Ezra, after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity, was the occasion of a great Open- Air solemnity on Mount Zion. The brief account of this solemnity given by Ezra, taken in conjunction with the later account in the fifth Chapter of the First Book of Esdras, shows that the Worship on this occasion was, as usual, Responsive, Congregational, Musical, and Beautiful. Acts of Reverence, although not here alluded to, were certainly not absent: they were zever omitted in Hebrew Worship. “And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the Priests in their apparel” —their beautiful robes of office—“ with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David, king of Israel.” “And,” guiding their voices with the musical instru- ments, “they sang together by course ”—rather, they sang antiphonally, responding to each other—“in prais- DEDICATION OF THE WALL OF JERUSALEM. 331 ing and giving thanks unto the Lord; because He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever towards Israel.” One portion of the Levitical Choir sang, “ Praise the Lord, for He is good;” and the other portion of the Choir responded, “ His mercy endureth for ever.” In the refrain, “ ALL THE PEOPLE shouted with a great shout:” that is, they responded in the thundering chants of a vast and joyous multitude. We gather from the later account, that the great congregation, like the Priests and Levites themselves, used musical instru- ments to guide and unite their voices, while they sang —as our congregations ought to sing—like a mighty choir. At the time of the response, or chorus, “all the people sounded trumpets, and shouted [in the chant] with loud voices, singing songs of thanksgiving unto the Lord for the rearing up of the house of the Lord.” 3 It was this joyous worship which was interrupted by the weeping of the “ancient men,” the aged “ priests and Levites and chief of the fathers,” who had seen the lost glories of Solomon’s wondrous temple: they “ wept with a loud voice,” while the “many shouted aloud for joy,” in ringing chants, 2.—TLhe Dedication of the Wall of Ferusalem (Neh. 12.) After the Babylonish Captivity, the returned exiles of Israel, encouraged by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, eventually succeeded, notwithstanding great difficulties and long delays, in rebuilding their Holy Temple, and their City, and the great Wall of circum- vallation round the City. The completion of the Wall was, as it were, the completion of all their great and arduous labours. They were now established and 1 y Esdras 5. 61, 62. Ga Ga N JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. secure. The predicted restoration of Israel to their own land and city was an accomplished fact. On reviewing the whole of the circumstances, the returned exiles now felt that all their efforts and suffer- ings had been wonderfully blessed, and crowned with success. Their long national agony was over; and they had solid grounds for the greatest joy. The vast Wall itself was a witness that God had been with them, and that He had gloriously prospered and blessed them. He Himself had built the Temple, and the City, and the Wall, although by their hands. “The Lord had built up Jerusalem; He had gathered together the outcasts of Israel.’ He had done it all; and His was all the glory. They, therefore, celebrated the joyous completion of their labours, and expressed their deep loving gratitude for the boundless goodness of God, by Dedicating the Wall to Him, and with it the City and nation, in a great and joyous Thanksgiving Service. The elaborate and reverent Preparations for the Dedication Service are described in Neh. 12. 27-30. First. AW the Levites were assembled “out of all their places.” The Levites, like the Priests, were divided into twenty-four courses, which served the sanctuary by turns. On ordinary occasions, one course served alone: but at Great Solemnities, as on this occa- sion, the entire religious resources of the nation were called forth; and the whole twenty-four courses of the Levites were assembled to swell the sacred choirs. The whole twenty-four courses of Priests, and all the Princes and People, were also gathered together. Secondly. There was a great act of Purification. The sacrificial and typical ritual of the Mosaic Code taught, with great clearness, the momentous spiritual truth, that all men, and their works, and their worship, are, since the Fall, deeply tainted with sin; and there- DEDICATION OF THE WALL OF JERUSALEM. 333 fore that they all need expiatory cleansing, to render them acceptable to a holy God. Consequently, by way of preparation for this great Dedication Service, sacri- fices of purification were offered: “and the Priests and the Levites purified ¢hemselvés, and purified the people, and the gazes, and the wa/v.” When the purificatory rites were performed, all was ready for the Dedication Service itself ; which was, in great part, an Open-Air Service, conducted upon the Wall. Owing to the immense thickness of the mason- work, the top of the Wall formed a spacious avenue around the city. Upon the top of the wall, therefore, at the extreme Western side of the city, the side remote from the Temple, Nehemiah assembled all the Priests and Levites, with all the Princes and representatives of the nation. Here he divided them into two great Pro- cessions, one under himself, and one under Ezra. The composition of the Procession under Ezra was as follows :— I. First, the Procession was headed by “a great company of them that gave thanks:” that is, one-half of the Levitical Singers, arranged doubtless in smaller companies, according to the qualities of their voices. 2. “ After them went half of the Princes of Judah.” 3. Next, came Lzva (who was a Priest) followed by half of the Przeszs, “ with trumpets.” 4. Next to these came an instrumental band, com- posed of half of the Levztical players on musical instru- ments, “ with the musical instruments of David the man of God.” 5. The fifth, and final portion of the Procession under Ezra was the great chorus composed of “the half of the People.” The other great Procession, under Nehemiah, was in all points, except one, the exact counterpart of the Pro- 334 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. cession under Ezra. The point of difference was, that Nehemiah, being the Governor of Jerusalem, and pro- bably a Prince of the house of David, took his place in the Procession at the head of the Princes and Rulers; and not, as Ezra, at the head of the Priests. Nehemiah’s Procession was headed by the other half of the Levitical Singers: after them went WVehemiah himself, followed by half of the Princes and Rulers: after these, half of the Priests, with trumpets: then, half of the Levztical Instru- mentalists ; and, last in the Procession, the great chorus composed of the other “half of the People.” These two great Processions—doubtless bright and beautiful with banners, rich vestments and jewels, white robes! and robes of state—started at the same time, and from the same point, at the extreme West of the city, and marched in opposite directions upon the top of the Wall: the Procession under Ezra going round the South side of the city, and the Procession under Nehemiah going round the North side; until, at length, both Processions met at the East side of the city adjacent to the Temple. During the entire march upon the wall, there were probably few, if any parts of the city, in which the chanting of one or both of these vast Processional Choirs could not be distinctly heard ; and the battlements and towers of the Wall, and the housetops in the city, were crowded with women and children, who beheld the beautiful Processions with delight, and united their voices jovfully with the choruses: “so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.” 1 Jews of high rank always wore dyssus, or fine white linen, on great occasions. A Jewish Deputation to Alexander the Great is described as composed of the High Priest and Priests in their robes, with the nobles, and a thousand counsellors robed in white. Geikie, Life and Words of Christ, I. p. 586. DEDICATION OF THE WALL OF JERUSALEM. 335 The two Processions, having compassed, respectively, the Southern and Northern portions of the Wall, met, as I have said, at the East of the city, close to the Temple. Both Processions here descended from the Wall: marched, probably abreast, into the Temple; and stood before the great Altar of burnt-offering. Here festive sacrifices were offered, and Psalm 147 was chanted antiphonally,) by a multitude of Priests and Levites, with trumpets and all “the musical instruments of David,” and with the customary solemn acts of Rever- ence; and the responses or choruses were thundered forth by many thousands of joyous voices: — *‘ Praise ye the Lord : For it is good to sing praises unto our God ; For it is pleasant ; and praise is comely. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem : He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, And bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars ; He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord and of great power: His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifteth up the meek, He casteth the wicked down to the ground. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving ; Sing praise upon the harp unto our God. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem ; Praise thy God, O Zion: For He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates ; He hath blessed thy children within thee.” See the Commentaries of Delitzsch, Perowne, and Littledale, on eel Ay. 336 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES.. 3. “ Songs of Degrees” or Pilgrim Songs. The inscriptions of many of the Psalms indicate their musical and liturgical use in Hebrew worship. ‘Thus, the inscription of Psalm 5—*“ For the Precentor. WITH FLUTE ACCOMPANIMENT (or, to the flutes). A Psalm of David”—refers to the musical instruments (flutes) by which the chanting of this Psalm was to be accom- panied in the Temple Services. Similarly, the inscrip- tion of Psalm 4—“ For the Precentor. WITH STRINGED INSTRUMENTS. A Psalm of David”—shows that it was to be chanted with an accompaniment of stringed instruments, Psalms 6, 54, 55, 67, 76, were also to be sung with stringed instruments. There are fifteen Psalms whose character and title seem to show that they were intended to be sung in the Open-Air, and not as a part of the stated worship in the Temple. I refer to those Psalms which are called, in the Authorised Version, “Songs of Degrees.”! The most probable explanation of this title is that it means “ Songs of Goings-up” or “ Pilgrim Songs.” These were processional Psalms composed to be sung by the caravans and pilgrim-bands of Jews who “went UP”? year by year to the great festivals at Jerusalem. Isaiah alludes to the custom of chanting Psalms and playing flutes on the march to these festivals. These Psalms are also supposed to have been chanted by the pilgrim- bands of Jews on their way home from Babylon? 1 Psalms 120-134. 2 Jericho—13 miles to the North-East of Jerusalem—is 3624 feet below it. Ramleh—25 miles to the West of Jerusalem—is 2274 feet below it. (Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, 1. 984, Art. Jerusalem.) 3 Perowne, Zhe Psalms, I. pp. 86, 87. Isaiah 30. 29. SAMARITAN PASSOVER ON GERIZIM. 337 4.—The Samaritan Passover on Gertzim, The elaborate Sacrzficial Ritual of the Passover, as instituted by Moses, is fully described in the twelfth Chapter of Exodus. The design of the Holy Ghost in this institution seéms to have been to fix unalterably those parts of the rite which foreshadowed the One Great Sacrifice for men. All the symbolical details of the rite were, therefore, fixed and settled by Divine authority. But beyond these details, the sacred narrative does not so. It gives no indication of the Devotional Ritual of prayers and praises, with which the piety of the Jewish Church should clothe the naked sacrificial skeleton of the rite. In a future Chapter,! we shall learn that the Devotional Ritual with which the Passover was cele- brated in the Temple was responsive and congrega- tional. But here I would notice the presence of the same characteristics in the Open-Air celebration of the Paschal rite, which is still continued by the Samaritans upon mount Gerizim. Gerizim appears to have been a sanctuary from very ancient times, and was, therefore, selected by the Samaritan colonists as their Holy Mount, the site of their Temple. It was with reference to Gerizim that the woman of Samaria said to our Lord, “ Our (Samari- tan) fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye (the Jews) say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Many were the legends and relics 2 by which the Samaritans tried to establish the superior sanctity of Gerizim as compared with all other mountains. Upon mount Gerizim, the small remaining remnant 1 See below, Chapter XXXI. § 1. 2 See those enumerated in Geikie’s Life and Words of Christ, I. pp. 525, 526. we 338 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. of the Samaritans still sacrifice their Paschal lambs year by year, with a ritual which many modern tra- vellers have witnessed, and which is almost certainly, in its main features, a faithful representation of the ancient Paschal celebrations on this mount. With the Sacri- ficial part of this ritual we are not concerned in the present volume: but the still remaining traces of the Devotional Ritual show that the ancient Paschal sacri- fices on mount Gerizim (which we know to have been borrowed from those of the Jews on mount Zion) were surrounded by a_ vresponsive, congregational, reverent, musical, and beautiful worship. Down to the year 1854, a// the men who were present at this solemnity on mount Gerizim wore long white robes. What must have been the joyous splendour and beauty of many a great Hebrew Service at which thousands of worshippers were so clad! The ancient Samaritan race and worship are now quickly passing away. Of late years, the custom of wearing white robes at their Passover has dwindled down to the wearing of white by the Priest and by about 15 of the elder men, and 6 youths, who assist at the sacrifice, The Priest begins the ceremony by standing on a rough stone on the top of the mount, and reciting, by heart, zz @ loud chant, various prayers and praises. AM present, who are mostly provided with service-books, join with the Priest in chanting these prayers and praises. At a further stage in the ceremony, namely, when the sheep which are to be sacrificed appear among the wor- shippers, the entire history of the Exodus, from the be- ginning of the Plagues of Egypt, is rapidly and vehe- mently chanted by the whole assembly. At the various stages of the sacrificial rite, other chants and prayers are 1 Stanley, Jewesh Church, I. pp. 517-525. Farrar, Life of Christ, II. pp. 290, 291. SAMARITAN PASSOVER ON GERIZIM. 339 sung. The attitude of the Samaritans is that of all Orientals in prayer: standing, occasionally diversified by the stretching out of the hands, and by bowing down upon their knees, with their faces reverently wrapt in their clothes, and bent to the ground. I may here mention that since the destruction oft Jerusalem by Titus, the Jews have ceased to offer up the Paschal lamb, which could only be sacrificed in the Temple. But there are still Paschal observances of creat antiquity among the Jews, which contain traces of the congregational character of the worship by which this ancient rite was surrounded. In keeping the Pass- over at Jerusalem at the present day, a little boy, one of the youngest members of the family, asks the com- pany present, “What mean ye by this service?”! Upon which all the males stand up and recite very rapidly, from Hebrew books which they have_before them, the story of the deliverance from Egypt. All present are dressed in their best and gayest clothes, and the women have jewels and flowers in their hair.’ pexo0, 52, 20. * Geikie, Life and Words of Christ, I. p. 568. {. 340.) CHAPTER XXV. JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES—continued. 1. The Dedication of the First-fruits—2. A Singing People.—3. Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. I1—The Dedication of the First-fruits) THAT nothing is absolutely our own, has always been one of the deepest and clearest revelations of man’s intuitive religious consciousness, and one of the funda- mental principles of all religious systems. All that we have of good, and all that we are, come from God, and belong to Him. We enjoy but a short loan of His gifts; and we are to use them as His, and not as our own. In recognition of this great principle, all the first-born of man and beast were, under the Mosaic Law, dedicated to God. The first-born were so dedicated as the representatives of a//; their dedication expressed that all are God’s, and that all should live to Him and for His service. In like manner, the fruits of the sround are all from God, and belong entirely,:to Him. In using them, we use what we should regard as His, not as our own. The Mosaic Law, therefore, required that the first-fruits of produce, as representing all produce, should also be set apart as offerings to God, the Giver and Owner of all.? 1 Edersheim, Zhe Zemple and its Services, pp. 331-340. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, I. pp. 623, 624, Art. First-fruzts. A x22, 20 $323,819 23a 20s Num. 15.520, 21 5, 10.01e eee T5420 ee-1 Ie THE DEDICATION OF THE FIRST-FRUITS. 341 The Devotional Ritual by which the piety of the Hebrew Church surrounded this Mosaic enactment was very beautiful and impressive; and as a great part of the ceremony took place in the Open-Air, it may be here described as one of the Jewish Open-Air Services. The Dedication of the First-fruits probably entered more than any other rite into the family religion and family life of the Hebrew people. No child of Israel, within the boundaries of the Holy Land, could have been ignorant of all connected with this beautiful and instructive Service. Long before the little ones had the privilege of accompanying their parents to the glorious “City of the Great King,” and gazing in wonder and awe upon the Temple of Jehovah, they had learnt the simple piety and joy and beauty of this sweetest of Jewish Services. In the early summer, with the first appearance of maturing fruit, and long before the time of harvest, each Jewish household prepared for this observance. The head of the family, accompanied by his children and servants, went forth into his fields; and selecting the most promising portion of the crop—for only ¢he best might be presented to the Lord—he dedicated it with the words, ‘Lo, these are the first-fruits.’ The dedicated portion was marked off from the rest of the field; and was then left to ripen for the harvest. The head of the household and his family party also went into his vineyards, and into his groves of fig-trees, pomegranates, olives, and palms; and stopping short at some of the best and most promising trees, he marked them by tying ribbons or rushes round their stems, and said, “ Lo, these are the first-fruits.” And thenceforth from time to time, as the Israelite and his family went forth to watch the ripening of the golden harvest, they were constantly reminded by the marked portions, that 342 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. God is the Giver and Owner of all the abundance of the,earth; As there were different kinds of produce, which reached maturity at different dates, there were several ceremonies of dedication each summer; and the three Great Festivals, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, afforded three public occasions for the presentation of the various kinds of first-fruits in the Temple. When the harvest was ripe, the first-fruits were cut first, and presented to God in His Temple. After this, the harvesting of the rest of the crop might be carried on. As every family could not undertake a journey to Jerusalem, a special arrangement was made for con- veying the first-fruits to the Temple. The People of Israel were, like the Priests and Levites, divided into twenty-four courses; and each course, comprising the inhabitants of a certain district, was represented in the Temple Services by leaders, or “stationary men.” All the first-fruits from each division of the country were carried in baskets to the capital town of the district. Here, under the leadership of a ‘stationary man,” all those assembled who were able to go up with the first- fruits to the Temple. A procession was formed: first, at the head of the procession, went one who played upon a pipe: then followed a sacrificial bullock, having his horns gilt, and crowned with olive garlands: next came the multitude, some carrying baskets, and others singing the ‘‘ Psalms of Degrees,” that is, tne “Songs of the Goings-up” or the “ Pilgrim-Songs.” When all were ready to start, the “ Stationary Man” addressed the procession by chanting the words of Jeremiah 31. 6 :— “ Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion—unto the Lord our God.” THE DEDICATION OF THE FIRST-FRUITS. 343 To this summons all the people responded in the words of Psalm 122. I :— “‘T was glad when they said unto me—Let us go into the house of the Lord.” The procession then moved off towards the Holy City; and as they passed through the land, the pilgrims everywhere awaked echoes of praise. When they ap- proached the city, they were met and welcomed by a company of priests, Levites, and citizens. On entering the city gate, they sang Psalm 122. 2:— ‘Our feet ave standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem.” In the streets of Jerusalem, the people welcomed them with shouts of, “Brethren of (naming the place), ye come to peace, welcome!” “Ye come in peace, ye bring peace, and peace be upon you!” Hitherto the baskets had been borne by servants and persons of inferior rank. But when ascending the Temple Mount, and entering the Temple itself, the prin- cipal members of the procession, whatever their rank or condition, took the baskets on their shoulders. King Agrippa bore his part in this highly picturesque national ceremony, by carrying his basket up to the Temple. The baskets of the poor were of peeled willow: those of the rich were of gold or silver. The procession, while slowly ascending to the Temple gate—there was to be 20 haste, as all was to be joy without weariness—chanted Psalm 150 :— “ Hallelujah ! Praise God in His Sanctuary :! Praise Him in the firmament of His power.? 1 The Temple on Earth. 2 The Temple in Heaven, 344 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. Praise Him for His mighty acts: Praise Him according to His excellent greatness, Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet ; Praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance : Praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals : Praise Him upon the high-sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. HALLELUJAH ! ” As the procession: of joyous pilgrims, reverently bowing their heads, entered the Temple gate, the last Hallelujah of this glorious anthem rang through all the courts of God’s “holy and beautiful house.” The Levitical choirs, at the Altar, immediately responded by chanting Psalm 30, :— ‘“¢T will extol Thee, O Lord ; for Thou hast lifted me up, And hast not made my foes to rejoice over me,” &c. Then they sacrificed burnt-offerings ; after which, the pilgrims presented their baskets of gifts, repeating to the priests in a solemn, measured chant the profession prescribed by the Law :—“I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us... . And now, behold, I have brought the first-fruits of the land which Thou, O Lord, hast given me.” So say- ing, the pilgrims placed the baskets at the side of the altar; and then reverently cast themselves on their faces to worship, and departed.? As there were twenty-four courses or divisions of the people, and each presented First-fruits three times annually, according to their kind, seventy-two of these 1 Deut. 26. 3-10. 2 Offerings of first-fruits were customary in almost all heathen nations. A SINGING PEOPLE. 345 joyous Processions entered the Temple every year. The reader will have observed that these interesting observances were throughout thoroughly Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful. 2.—A Singing People. A dreary, cold, unjoyous worship, such as was till lately too common among ourselves, is surely rebuked by the exuberant joyousness of Hebrew devotion. The Jews rejoiced and sang aloud in worship: “singing merrily to God our strength,’ and “making a cheerful noise to the God of Jacob;” “ praising Him with joyful lips ;” “coming before His presence with thanksgiving, and making a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.” } They understood the duty and the blessedness of brightness and gladness of spirit. Their national love of music fostered this spirit. The Jews were a singing people. The bridal processions, as they passed through the streets, were accompanied by music and song, and these ceased only when the land was desolate. “The voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride,” ‘the noise of songs, and the sound of harps,” 2 never ceased in the land of Israel, while Israel was true to her God. The national sorrow in Babylon showed itself in no way more sadly than by silencing the national music: “ By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.” ? In their own land, while the Divine blessing was upon them, the song and the sound of the harp never ceased. They had music at their banquets,* and music in the field. # Ps. G3 25)5° Goa 1g: 2 Jer. 7. 34. Ezek. 26. 13. ae Diet 390 8 2. Sebake 15225, 346 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. The grape-gatherers sang as they gathered the vintage: the wine-presses were trodden with the shout of song;1 the women sang as they toiled at the mill; and on every occasion the land of the Hebrews during their national prosperity was a land of music and melody. 3.—Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on the First Palm Sunday. To understand the full significance of Christ’s trium- phal Entry into Jerusalem on the First Palm Sunday, we must bear in mind the following circumstances. I. In the first place, we must remember that this was the Sunday immediately preceding the Great Paschal Festival. It is said that three millions of Jews crowded to the Holy City in the week of this Feast.2 Already, on the first day of this week, not only Jerusalem itself, but the whole of the open ground around it, and the beautiful slopes of the Mount of Olives, which com- manded a magnificent view of the city and temple, were rapidly becoming filled with pilgrims. It is probably no exaggeration to say that hundreds of thousands were arriving daily. 2. But how did they arrive? Did the several bands of worshippers enter the Holy City in confused crowds, or in ceremonial order? The pilgrims from the various towns and districts of Palestine, and from the Jewish settlements abroad, came up to the Great Festivals in large companies and in processional order. These pro- cessions, bearing palm branches and banners, playing on musical instruments, and chanting the Pilgrim-Songs or hymns from the Hallel, made public entries into the Holy City, whose streets were profusely decorated with 4154, 26, 10...) h4os 233: 2 Farrar, Life of Christ, II. p. 205. THE FIRST PALM SUNDAY. 347 flags and banners for the Feast." On the First Palm Sunday, therefore, and on the days immediately follow- ing it, a public Procession into Jerusalem was no isolated or unusual occurrence; on the contrary, every road to Jerusalem was filled with such Processions; which streamed in from morning to night through all the gates of the City. In many instances, as we have seen, these Processions bore with them Offerings of First-fruits and other Sacrifices. 3. Further. In connection with our Lord’s Public Entry into Jerusalem, we must also bear in mind that the Feast of the Passover was one of the great annual occasions on which the Hallel—comprising Psalms 113-118—was sung in the Temple; and that all the people knew it by heart, and were thoroughly trained from childhood in chanting it. Not only were they familiar with the Hallel in the public services of the Sanctuary ; but, in private, each Jewish family sang the first part of it, namely, Psalms 113 and 114, immedi- ately before the Paschal meal, and the second part, Psalms 115 to 118, immediately after the meal. When we come, in a future Chapter,? to examine more particularly the manner in which the Hallel was sung in the Temple, we shall find that, besides the ordinary and oft-recurring response of the multitude, “Praise ye the Lord (Hallelujah),” there were special and highly significant responses towards the close of this great national hymn. Verses 25 and 26 of Psalm 118 were understood as referring to the Messiah, In order, therefore, to add peculiar solemnity and dignity to the chanting of these verses, and to uplift the thoughts of all to the coming Messiah, it was ordained in the Temple services that the congregation should 1 Geikie, Life and Words of Christ, Il. p. 399. 2 See below, Chapter XXXI. § 1, 348 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. chant these verses verbatim in response to the Levites, instead of the usual “Hallelujah.” Thus, in the earlier verses, for example v. 24, The Levites chanted :—‘“ This is the day which the Lord hath made.” The People chanted the response :—“ Hallelujah.” The Levites chanted :—‘‘ We will rejoice and be glad in it.” The People chanted as before :—“ Hallelujah.” But in the Messianic passages, vv. 25 and 26, The Levites chanted :—“ Save now (Hosanna), I be- seech Thee, O Lord.” The People responded by chanting: — “Save now (Hosanna), I beseech Thee, O Lord.” The Levites:—‘O Lord, I beseech Thee, send now prosperity.” The People :—‘O Lord, I beseech Thee, send now prosperity.” The Levites :-—“ Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” The Peopie:— Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” The same words, with iterations and variations, were chanted as the “Great Hosanna” anthem at the Feast of Tabernacles. We now come to consider more closely, in the light of the above facts, Christ’s Public Entry into Jerusalem, on the First Palm Sunday. It was the first day of the week, the day after the Jewish Sabbath. Our Lord had spent the preceding night at Bethany. His last entry into the Holy City, at the Feast of Tabernacles, had been designedly secret: but the time had now come when He must enter openly. Hitherto, He had entered on foot: but on this day He would, in fulfilment of THE FIRST PALM SUNDAY. 349 ancient prophecy, ride in state, like David and the Judges of Israel, on the noble Jewishass. His intention seems to have been previously made known, not only to His disciples, but to the multitude, and to the Phari- sees and Chief Priests. Of the many Processions which entered the Holy City at that season, this was probably the only one which was unusual in character, and which occasioned anxiety to the faithless rulers of the Jewish Church. On the morning of Palm Sunday, Jesus and the Twelve left the hospitable shelter of Bethany. “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and came unto Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto Me. And if any one say aught unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straight- way he will send them.” “And the disciples went, and did even as Jesus appointed them, and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their garments: and He sat thereon. And the most part of the multitude,” recognising his royalty, as the long-expected Messiah, Son of David and Son of God, “spread their garments in the way; and others cut down branches from the trees, and spread them in the way.”* Knowing what was to take place, “a great multitude” who sympathized with His work, and expected the sudden manifestation of His Messianic Kingdom and Glory, had now assembled from Bethany, from Bethphage, from the slopes of Olivet, and from Jerusalem itself—and among them many of His enemies—to take part in, or to witness, His Triumphal Procession to the City of His Father 1 Matt. 21. 1-4, 6-8. See also Mark 11. 1-11; Luke 19. 28-40; John 12. 12-19 (Revised Version). 350 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. David. They all felt that the ancient prophecy was being fulfilled :— “Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto Thee, Meek, and riding upon an ass, And upon a colt, the foal of an ass.” It was a wondrous Procession: not the ephemeral triumph of an earthly conqueror, with the spoils of cities, and trains of weeping captives destined to slavery and death: but the meek triumph of the Prince of Peace, the lowly Lord of Heaven and Earth, the King of Purity and of Love, with only the trophies of mercy in His train, the lost who had been saved, the dead who had been raised, the sick, the deaf, the dumb, the blind who had been healed, restored to the joy of life, and blessed. All felt that the time had come for the glorious Messianic antiphonies of the Hallel, which alone could adequately express the fulness of their conviction that the Messiah and Lord of all had indeed come, and was in their midst. “ And the multitudes that went before Him, and that fol- lowed,” playing joyfully upon their musical instruments, and beating time with their uplifted palm branches, chanted with a mighty voice the “Great Hosanna” anthem, the most sacred words of Hebrew worship :— * Hosanna to the Son of David : Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord ; Hosanna in the highest.” His enemies among the multitude were filled with consternation and dismay, and in vain attempted to silence the acclamations. Failing to persuade the people, they remonstrated with Christ Himself. “ And some of the Pharisees from the multitude said unto Him, Master, rebuke Thy disciples. And He answered THE FIRST PALM SUNDAY. 351 and said, I tell you that, if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.” So the triumphal Procession grew, the inspired enthusiasm spread, and the Joyful Messianic Hosannas waxed louder and louder. The Procession, following the main road from the East, soon reached the brow of the Mount of Olives, where the road, rounding the crest of the Mount, and turning abruptly downwards, suddenly brought Jeru- salem and all its glories full in view. The whole mul- titude seem to have involuntarily paused—or perhaps it was customary for Processions to halt a few minutes here—in order to gaze upon the matchless splendours of the scene. Jerusalem was justly regarded as one of the wonders of the world. Straight in front of the spot on which the multitude stood, and two or three hundred feet below them,! were the summits of the Temple Mount, and of the other holy mountains, upon which the City was built. As the bird flies, the distance across to the Temple was less than half a mile: although there intervened the deep umbrageous valley through which the brook of Kedron flowed, 114 feet below the foundations of the City. As the entire site of Jerusalem slopes upwards towards the West, this City of Palaces and Sanctuaries 2 looked Eastward towards Olivet, and was at that moment glittering in the morning sun, From Kedron to the base of the Temple wall was a precipitous mass of rock and mason-work, which was, as I have said, 114 feet high. Above this rocky mass, rose the East Wall of the Great Outer Court of the Temple, which was 152 feet high, and more than double the length of a side of the Gree Pyramid. About 160 feet higher still than the summit of the Outer Wall, the golden Pinnacles of the Sanctuary and Holy House pointed 1 Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, I. p.. 986, Art. Jerusalem. 2 Besides the hate ee were 480 Synagogues in Ladies Edersheim, Zhe Zemple, p 352 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. heavenward, in unspeakable glory and majesty. The total height from Kedron to the top of the highest Pinnacle, 426 feet, although 59 feet less than the height of the Great Pyramid,! seemed far greater and more impressive than the height of the Pyramid; inasmuch as the successive ascents from Kedron to the base of the Wall, and from the base of the Wall to its lofty top, and from the top of the Wall to the summits of the Pinnacles, were clearly marked off, and effectively illus- trated to the eye the vast proportions and height of the entire structure. The Temple buildings occupied an area nearly 1000 feet square,” upon which four Cathedrals like S. Paul’s in London could stand. Its wondrous courts and principal gateways, all facing Olivet and the East, and its majestic colonnades, rose one above the other on successive platforms. Its vast white walls and buildings, gilded roofs and marble pinnacles, mounting up in suc- cessive tiers to an enormous height, shone in the morning sunlight like a radiant “mass of gold and snow:” while the lower slopes of the gigantic rocks on which the Sanctuary was built, and the deep valleys around, were so thickly clothed with rich woods and verdure, that the mighty structure above seemed founded upon cushions of living green. Over all rested the mystic spell of a sacred and wondrous history. The whole scene was overpowering: most of all, it must have been so to Jesus Himself, Who knew that the glorious City had, by a long series of crimes, filled up the measure of its iniquity, and would soon be desolated by the outpouring of the Divine wrath. Where all seemed to be joy and glory, there would soon be lamentation and mourning and woe: bloodshed and famine and fiery overthrow; then ages of blank desolation. Jesus Himself was even then crossing the 1 Edersheim, 7he Temple, p. 45. 2 Dr, Edersheim gives it as 950 feet square. Zhe Temple, p. 16. THE FIRST PALM SUNDAY. 353 sround on which, a generation later, the tenth Roman legion would be encamped, as part of the besieging force destined to lay all the splendour before Him in ashes. The Saviour was deeply moved. “When He drew nigh, He saw the City and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known in this thy day, even thou, the things which belong unto peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the day shall come upon thee, when thine enemies shall cast up a bank about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall dash thee to the ground, and thy children within thee: and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” A strange and sad Messianic triumph! a strange and sad interruption to feelings of joy and pride, and festal cries! “The Deliverer weeps over the City which it is now too late to save; the King pro- phesies the utter ruin of the nation which He came to.rule,” But despite of sorrow, the inexorable course of events must move on. The ancient prophecy must be fulfilled in every jot and tittle. The meek Procession of the Divine Saviour King must enter the gaily decorated streets of the bloody city, and make them re-echo with Messianic chants. As the Procession entered, singing, ‘¢ Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord ; Hosanna in the highest :” “ all the city was stirred, saying, Who is this? Andthe multitudes said, This is the prophet, Jesus, from Naza- reth of Galilee.” At the gate of the Temple, Jesus and the multitudes reverently bowed their heads, while the 1 Luke 19. 41-44 (Revised Version). See the descriptions of Jeru- salem and the Temple by Stanley, Farrar, Edersheim, and Geikie. Zz 354 JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES. Messianic chants resounded through the glorious courts. The enthusiasm spread to the children of the Temple choir, who, accustomed to sing in response to the chant- ing of entering Processions, uplifted their sweet voices in oft-repeated Hosannas of welcome to the coming Saviour :— “ Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!” } His enemies, “ The chief priests and the scribes,” “ were moved with indignation, and said unto Him, Hearest Thou what these are saying? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea: did ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise?” At the Saviour’s Nativity, the angelic hosts brought down Heavenly Worship to Bethlehem, to kindle the sacred fire in the Shepherds’ hearts, and inspire them for the first act of Christian Worship on Earth.” At Christ’s Public Entry into the City and Temple of Jerusalem, on the First Palm Suuday—the day of His Triumph, and withal the day of His sacrificial Dedication as the Divine First-fruit and Crown of all Creation—the glories of Hebrew Worship gathered around Him, and became His. Heavenly Worship and Earthly Worship have united in communicating their glories to the Church of Christ, and in inspiring her eternal Worship of the Divine Lord of Heaven and Earth. 1 The frequent repetition of a short response or invocation, with varying musical cadences, is a common feature in Eastern forms of worship. See above, Chapter XVIII. § 1 (5). 2 See above, Chapter XI. § 2. (7235509) ZSewish Worsbip. TEMPLE SERVICES. CHAPTER XXVI. THE INFLUENCE OF THE MOSAIC LAW ON THE DEVO- TIONAL RITUAL OF HEBREW WORSHIP. I, This subject much misunderstood in Modern Controversies. —2. The Contents and Omissions of the Mosaic Law. 1. The Influence of the Mosaic Law on Devotional Ritual much misunderstood in Modern Controversies. WITH respect both to the Sacrificial Ritual and to the Devotional Ritual of Public Worship, during the long period between the Creation and the Exodus, the Mosaic records are, for the most part, almost silent. They trace in outline the history of Primitive and Patri- archal Religion, but they do not particularly describe its Worship. They reveal a few golden links in a glori- ous chain: a chain of Primitive Altars flaming high in honour of the true God, with such worthy Patriarchal Priests as Abel, Noah, Melchisedek, Abraham, standing before them, and offering up acceptable sacrifices and prayers. But the Ceremonies of the Worship—the details of the manner in which those Patriarchal Priests sacri- ficed their victims and offered up their prayers and 356 INFLUENCE OF THE MOSAIC LAW praises—although sometimes alluded to incidentally in the Book of Genesis—are evidently treated by Moses as too well known to his contemporaries to require minute description. His records, however, supplemented by the light of our other knowledge on the subject of Religion and Worship, reveal the existence of a world-old Church —successively Primitive and Patriarchal, Jewish and Christian—with unbroken traditions of a true and noble Piety, and of a Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, Beautiful, and, I may add, Processional Wor- ship, from the remotest ages to the present hour. The slory of true Worship reaches across the wide and troubled history of mankind, as the broad path of the sunlight reaches across the restless sea. I have tried to describe this noble Devotional Ritual as it has been from the beginning in Heaven, its original Sanctuary and Home. I have also endeavoured to show that this Heavenly Devotional Ritual reappeared among primitive men on the earth, through the action of the divinely implanted instinct of Worship; and that it spread with the spread of mankind, and: is found in all nations and religions.2, In the preceding chapters? I have traced the presence of the same type of Devotional Ritual, in close contact with Supernatural Inspiration, in the Free Open-Air Services of the Jewish Church, from Moses to Christ. We have followed those free Open-Air Services in their joyous Processions into the Tabernacle and Temple; and, as it were looking in after them, we have caught glimpses of a glorious wor- ship within, which has seemed to be still Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful. But the Free Open-Air Worship of the Hebrew Patriarchs 1 See above, Chapters V.—XII., Worship in Heaven. * See above, Chapters XIII.—XX., Worship in Heathenism. # See above, Chapters XXI.-XXV., Jewish Open-Air Services. MISUNDERSTOOD. 357 and people entered a new world, and came under new influences, when it entered the Tabernacle and Temple. It came under the influence of the Mosaic Law. The character and extent of this influence have often been greatly misunderstood, and may, therefore, claim our attention in this Chapter. The Church of England, and the Presbyterian com- munities in Scotland and Ireland, have now, for many years, been distracted by interminable and acrimonious discussions respecting the externals of worship. Church Convocations and Presbyterian General Assemblies ‘have been divided again and again upon questions of ritual, Not only have particular vestments and minute liturgical observances come into the arena of contro- versy: but the broadest and most fundamental prin- ciples of Public Worship have been warmly assailed, and as warmly defended. In these discussions both parties have appealed, with equal confidence, to the Mosaic Law. The opponents of Instrumental Music in worship (who appear to be still a majority in some of the Presbyterian bodies), and the opponents of Psalm Chanting; Musical Services, and Surpliced Choirs, boldly declare that these things formed a part of the abrogated Levitical Ritual, and have therefore no more claim to a place in Christian Worship than the sacrifice of bulls and goats, This argument is frequently answered by declaring that Moses’ having instituted these ritual observances shows that they promote devotion, and are therefore entitled to a per- manent place in the Church’s worship, Among the Presbyterians, the argument against Instrumental Music in worship is pushed a step further. They say that the Jews were under the strictest obli- gation to observe the Levitical Code, or Mosaic Law that this Law, being Divine, was perfectly complete 358 INFLUENCE OF THE MOSAIC LAW. and comprehensive: that it specified everything which the Jews were to do in worship, and that, with equal comprehensiveness, it specified everything which the Jews were zot to do in worship; by mentioning idolatry and many other things which were prohibited, and by enjoining that the Jews were to do xothzng in worship excepting what that Law expressly allowed. Further, they say, that the Mosaic Code, with its Sacrifices, Types, Priesthood, Instrumental Music, and other adjuncts of an unspiritual religion, has been for ever abrogated; and has been replaced by the New Law, the Law of Christ, contained in the New Testament: under which New Law we now are, as the Jews were under the Old. This New Law, being also Divine, is, like its predecessor, perfectly complete and compre- hensive: it specifies everything which Christians are to do in worship: and it also specifies everything which Christians are zo¢t to do in worship; by mentioning idolatry, formalism, and other prohibited things, and by enjoining that Christian people are to do nothing in worship excepting what the New Law of Christ has expressly allowed. As, therefore, the use of Instru- mental Music in Christian worship is neither com- manded nor expressly allowed in the New Testament, it is downright Will-worship, and is but a degree re- moved from Idolatry! That such arguments as the above should have, within the last few years, commanded the cheers and votes of majorities in grave Assemblies of Christian men, who pride themselves on their knowledge of the Scriptures, is a remarkable and painful circumstance ; which immediately suggests the inquiries—Are the Mosaic Code and the New Testament lost documents? or are they still to be found in our English Bibles? and if they are still accessible to us, what are their CONTENTS AND OMISSIONS OF THE LAW. 359 contents? what is their relation to, and what has been their influence upon, Public Worship ? I must now endeavour to answer these inquiries in so far as they relate to the Mosaic Law. 2.—The Contents and Omtssions of the Mosaic Law. It is well known that the Mosaic or Levitical Law, or Théra, as it is sometimes called after the Hebrew, effected a very complex and profound transformation in Hebrew Worship. In treating of Public Worship, a document so important as the Law, and one which has confessedly exercised such an enormous influence upon the worship of the Jewish Church, cannot be passed over without a careful examination of its contents and omis- sions. We must note both what it contains and what it does not contain, for upon both of these points, in so far as they relate to Devotional Ritual, the greatest miscon- ceptions prevail. What then are the Contents of the Mosaic Law or Code ? Speaking generally, the Mosaic Code, or Levitical Law, taken as an organic whole, is (with the exception of some eternal moral and spiritual principles, and some social regulations, which were necessarily incor- porated in it) an immense and carefully articulated mass of religious ordinances and ceremonies—sacrificial, ex- piatory, typical, commemorative, separative—all of which were Divinely appointed, and enjoined upon the Jewish people; and, therefore, their observance was directly and strictly obligatory under that Dispensation. Down to the time of the promulgation of the Mosaic Law, the Patriarchal Hebrew Church was almost as free as Patriarchal societyitself. The Patriarchal Church had no separate sacerdotal order (the heads of families or tribes acting in that capacity as occasion required): no 360 INFLUENCE OF THE MOSAIC LAW. fixed Sanctuary, to which sacrificial worship was re- stricted: no sacred Books: no rigid Law; and, ap- parently, no “ Positive Precepts” of worship, and no Divine and obligatory Institutions, excepting the rite of Circumcision, and, perhaps, the simpler kinds of Sac- rifices,and the religious observance of the Seventh Day. The Mosaic Law made no change in the Divine Object of Patriarchal Worship. The infinite perfections of God’s Nature and Will, and the high requirements of His Law, were revealed more clearly and impressively than ever before: but He was still the same God—the Eternal, Self-Existing Jehovah, Creator and Ruler of all things, the God of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Mel- chisedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; the Almighty Refuge, Deliverer, and Saviour of His people, from generation to generation. He, and He alone, was God. The Law strictly commanded that all the people were to worship Him and to reverence His Holy Name. It as strictly commanded that they were zot to worship any other gods except Him; and that they were zo¢ to worship any image or idol whatsoever. Further: evidently with a view to maintaining the unity of the Jewish Church and Nation, and securing the faithful observance of all its rules of worship, the Law enjoined that the cere- monial and sacrificial system of worship which it im- posed was not to be carried out anywhere and every- where, but only in one place; a Divinely selected and central Sanctuary, under the eye of the heads of the Jewish Church and nation. The reader will recollect that in Public Worship, previ- ous to the promulgation of the Law from Mount Sinai, there were two distinct and separable Rituals, usually blended together: a Sacrificial Ritual and a Devotional Ritual. Upon the Sacrificial Ritual, the influence of the Law was direct and coercive. Upon the Devotional CONTENTS AND OMISSIONS OF THE LAW. 361 Ritual, in general, its influence was indirect and non- coercive, By direct coercive enactments, the Levitical Law made the previously existing Sacrificial Ritual of the Jews immensely more elaborate and instructive. The ancient Sacrifices were, for the most part, very simple types and pleadings of the One Great Sacrifice of Christ, then future. But under the Law, the Sacrifices became a rich, figurative, and hardly veiled Prophecy of the Person, Coming, Offices, Work, Humiliation, Sacrifice, Ascension, and Intercession of Christ, and the consequent blessings of the Gospel. It is impossible in -a few sen- tences to express adequately the Typical wealth of the Hebrew Sacrificial Ritual as developed under the Law. In this development of the Symbolism of the Sacrificial Ritual either of two methods might have been fol- lowed: the development might have been effected in a cold, bald, prosaic manner, or it might have been effected with rich embellishments, appealing to the worshippers’ sense of Beauty. The latter method was that adopted by God. We shall see in the next Chapter that the entire Sacrificial Apparatus, the Tabernacle and its furniture, the robes of the High Priest and of the ordi- nary Priests, were expressly designed to be Beautiful as well as Typical. Hewho had beautified the heavens, and the blue sparkling sea, and the bright lilies of the field—and had implanted in all men a deep longing for the spiritual and beautiful in worship—inspired Bezaleel,' “filled him with the Spirit of God,’ in order that he might impress the Divine ideal of Beauty upon the Sacrificial and Typical Ritual of Public Worship under the Law. The Law found the Sacrificial Ritual of Wor- ship beautiful; and the Law added to its beauty. 1. Exs-3F 3: 362 INFLUENCE OF THE MOSAIC LAW. I need not dwell longer on the Sacrificial Ritual of the Levitical Code. We, as members of the Christian Church, have little direct interest in that Ritual, beyond the obvious duty of reverently studying it, for the sake of the rich spiritual instruction of which it is full. But as a coercive Code, it has, for us, no existence: itisa fulfilled prophecy, an abrogated law, a thing of the past. We are not required to sacrifice oxen, or sheep, or birds, or to offer any expiatory sacrifices whatsoever. We know that “ it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats,” however magnificently offered, “should take away sins.” Christ has offered Himself, “ONCE FOR ALL,” on the High Altar of Calvary’s Cross. He was the “ONE Sacrifice for sins for ever;” “and by that ONE Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” ‘There is,’ therefore, “NO MORE offering for sin.” 4 We now come to inquire, How did the Law of Moses, the Levitical Ceremonial Code, or Thora, affect the Devotional Ritual which it found in Hebrew Worship? That Ritual, as originally found around Open Altars, was Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful. When it passed within the Tabernacle and Temple, and came under the jurisdiction of the Mosaic Law, were its former characteristics preserved ? were they in any degree affected by the temporary enactment of the Law? The Mosaic Law had obviously a powerful zxdirect influence upon the Devotional Ritual of the Jewish Church. It instituted a splendid and impressive Sacrz- ficial Ritual, which indirectly added to the Beauty of the Devotional Ritual, by beautifying its background and surroundings. Further: the whole Sacrificial te Heb. HOVA VIG .wi2, 14,18. CONTENTS AND OMISSIONS OF THE LAW. 363 Ritual of the Law was so framed as to produce in the worshippers a deep sense of their own sin: of the in- finite holiness of God; and of the necessity of humble obedience, awe, and reverence in His worship. By directly increasing the Reverence of the Sacrificial ob- servances, the Law indirectly added to the Reverence of the accompanying Devotional Ritual. Again, by making the Sacrifices frequent and regular, the Law indirectly made frequent and regular the performance of the Devotional Ritual associated with the Sacrifices. Again, by separating from the rest of Israel a Family of Priests (the Family of Aaron) and a Tribe of Assistant Ministers (the Tribe of Levi), for the due performance of the obligatory Sacrificial Rites, the Law indirectly aided Devotional Ritual, by providing so large a body of men, who might be made (and who, we know, were made) available for the regular perform- ance of an imposing Devotional Ceremonial. Although the Mosaic Law had, in many ways, an indirect influence favourable to Devotional Ritual, it had no direct and coercive influence on that Ritual. Indeed, its profound silence upon the subject is remark- able. To illustrate this peculiarity of the Law, I will here particularize briefly a few of its Omzsszons. I. First, with respect to Public Worship in general. The Law appointed elaborate sacrificial rites, and required the attendance of all the people, at great Festivals, during the celebration of these rites. Further, on “ days of gladness,” and on “solemn days,” the Law provided that the people were to receive notice of the time at which the sacrifices were offered. The priests were required to assemble the people, and to arrest their attention, by blowing with silver signal trumpets,} 1 Num. 10, I-10. 364 INFLUENCE OF THE MOSAIC LAW. at the beginning of each service. The Law, also, again and again reiterated the command that the people were to worship God, and Him alone. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.” Further, the Law provided a form of Blessing, with which the priests were to dismiss the people to their homes, at the close of each service :— “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”? In short, the Law provides (1) for the assembling of the people: (2) for the offering of certain Sacrifices : (3) for the wershtp of God: and (4) for the dismissal of the people with a blessing at the close of the service. But what was to take place between the assembling and the dismissal? while the prescribed sacrifices were being slain and offered, how were the people to employ themselves? ow were they to obey the Divine command to worship? were they to pray ? were they to szwg ? were they to use musical instruments ? were they to stand, or bow, or kneel, or prostrate them- selves ? were they to have any Devotional Ritual at all? or were they simply to stand in silence, while the Priests and Levites, also in silence, slew and offered the sacri- fices ? between the sounding of the silver trumpets at the beginning of the service, and the sounding of the Priest's voice in benediction at the end of the service, were there to be any other sounds? or was there to be death-like and unbroken silence from beginning to end ? In answer to these questions, the Mosaic Law is dumb: it zmzposes no Devotional Ritual: it suggests no Devotional Ritual. God instituted only the central and essential 1 Lev. 9. 22, 23. Num. 6.22. 1 Chron. 23. 13. The Jewish Priests seem to have pronounced ¢wo blessings at each Service: (1) one at the end of the Sacrificial rites; and (2) one after the chanting of the Psalms and Prayers which followed the Sacrifice. CONTENTS AND OMISSIONS OF THE LAW. 365 parts of the Sacrifices under the Law, as He instituted only the central and essential parts of the Sacraments under the Gospel; and He left His Church free to provide a Devotional Envelope or Ritual, an appro- priate ‘!Office”’ or “Service,” for each: sacrificial ‘and for each sacramental rite. The imposing Devotional Rituals with which the Levitical Sacrifices were sur- rounded, were as much the free creations of the Jewish Church, as our Baptismal and Communion Offices are the free creations of the Christian Church. 2. The omission of all notice of Public Prayer in the Levitical Code is remarkable. Moses was, both in public and in private life, eminently a man of prayer. He records many instances of his own prevailing prayers, and of the prevailing prayers of other servants of God. Prayer was his very life, and was everywhere presupposed by him as the central part of religion.’ We should, therefore, have expected that this all-im- portant duty would occupy as prominent a place in the positive precepts of the Law, as it did in the spiritual life of the great Lawgiver. We should have expected to find in the Mosaic Law strict rules regulating the times, the ceremonies, and the very words, of the Public Prayers in the Tabernacle. But the Law contains no such rules, and never even mentions Public Prayer. “There are no directions as to Prayer given in the Mosaic Law.” “For that which constitutes Christian Devotion—prayer, praise, exhorta- tion—there was not in the original Mosaic Ritual any provision.” So far as the Law was concerned, the Israelites, in their Public Assemblies for Sacrifice and Worship, might either have stood, or knelt, or prostrated SUES. 21230 20.7 pee ass DIeOL. 437. 2 Vitringa, De Synagoga Vetere, p. 307. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, Art. Prayer. Stanley, Jewish Church, Il. p. 411. 366 INFLUENCE OF THE MOSAIC LAW. themselves, or adopted any other postures they pleased in Prayer; or not have prayed at all. 3. So again, with respect to Szuging and Music in Public Worship, On this subject also the Mosaic Law is absolutely silent. From what we know of Moses’ Musical attainments, and of the great Musical Service which he conducted on the Asiatic shore of the Red Sea,! we should have expected the Law to enjoin the continual maintenance of instrumental and vocal music, congregational and antiphonal melodies, in the great Sanctuary of Hebrew Worship. But “the Théra con- tains no directions respecting the use of song and music in divine worship, except the commands concerning the ritualistic use of silver trumpets to be blown by the priests (Num. 10).” 2 So far as the Mosaic Law is con- cerned, all the choirs of Israel might have remained silent for ever. In giving the Law, Moses’ individuality was evidently subordinated to the Divine Will. He added nothing to, and he took nothing from, the Revelation which God entrusted to Him. As it was in the time of our first parents; and as it was again in the time of Christ; so it was in the time of Moses: the imposition of an obligatory Devotional Ritual for Public Worship formed no part of God’s purpose towards man. The Church under the Law enjoyed as larye a liberty in this matter as the Patriarchal and Christian Churches themselves. Nor was this liberty abused by the Jewish Church, Her errors and shortcomings were many ; but they did not much affect her Devotional Ritual. The Mosaic Code of Ritual Observances was fulfilled in Christ, and was abrogated by His authority. But the abrogation of this Code abrogated nothing but the contents of the Code itself; and, therefore, it did not in 1 See above, Chapter XXI. § 3. * Delitzsch, On the Psalms, I. p. 30. CONTENTSSAND OMISSIONS, OF THE LAW. 367 any way touch the question of Devotional Ritual, with respect to which the Mosaic Law hardly?! contains a single positive precept. As I have said above, the Law found Public Worship Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, Beautiful and Processional; and the Law left it so. The Law created circumstances which indirectly stimulated Devotional Ritual. But neither the promulgation, nor the repeal, of the Law, in the smallest degree affected the essential characteristics of the Devotional Ritual which preceded the Law; which prevailed alongside it; which survived it; and which shall never die. 1 The appointed Form of Blessing for Public Worship (Num. 6. 22), and the Forms of Words appointed to be used in Offering the First Fruits and "in giving the Tithes (Deut. 26), are not only historical indications that Fixed Liturgies were used in Moses’ time, but are express Divine recogni- tions of the frimczple that fixed liturgical formulas are proper, and often necessary, for worship. The Songs of Moses and many of the Psalms were also inspired formulas of Public Worship in the Jewish Church. ( 368 ) CHAPTER ec Vit THE JEWISH TABERNACLE AND THE DRESS OF THE JEWISH HIGH PRIEST, PRIESTS, AND LEVITES: I. Preparations for building the Tabernacle. —2. The Tabernacle. — 3. Dress of the Levites, Priests, and High Priest.—4. Westward Direction of Jewish Worship in the Tabernacle. 1.—Preparations for building the Tabernacle. WHEN Moses was on Mount Sinai, receiving the Law, God showed him a picture or model of the Tabernacle and its furniture, which he was commanded to make, after the prescribed pattern, out of the freewill-offerings of the people. “Let them make Mea Sanctuary; that I may dwell Among them. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the Tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” All earthly temples and worship, in so far as they area true following of the Instinct of Worship, are patterns of the temple and worship in Heaven, with the modifica- tions rendered necessary by man’s physical organization and spiritual condition, which, even prior to the Fall, “made him a little lower than the angels.” But in the majority of cases, earthly temples and worship are marred and disfigured patterns of “the heavenly things themselves:” the Divine ideal in the heart of man being blurred and darkened by his sin. Therefore, God showed to Moses a true pattern of “ Heaven itself,” “the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with THE JEWISH TABERNACLE. 369 hands;” in order that Moses should, after “the copies of the things in the heavens,” build a worthy Sanctuary on earth, purified from the prevalent idolatrous accre- tions, and perfectly adapted in all its symbolism for worship in that preparatory dispensation.} The Tabernacle which Moses was commanded to build was a type of God’s Church on earth and in heaven, It was, therefore, beautiful and costly: and it was also, both in its materials and workmanship, a free- will-offering from the people. God wills to have His Church built by willing hands and grateful loving hearts. He will not accept an unloving, forced service. He ac- cepts the service of sons, not of slaves. The total value of the materials, apart from the labour and workmanship, required for the construction of the Tabernacle, was at least £250,000.2, The 29 talents of solid gold alone would, according to the present com- mercial value, cost about £158,775.3 Having received full instructions from God, Moses summoned the whole congregation together, and invited them to present their freewill-offerings of matertals for the construction of the Tabernacle. “Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord: gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen,” and skins, acacia-wood, gems, oil, and incense In the next place, Moses enumerated in detail to the people all the different kinds of work required, down to the construction of pins and cords for the Tabernacle; and he invited all who had special skill or talents to devote them to God’s service. “ Every wise- L Ex, 25,3, (19... Ps,\8: 5. + Heb, 9: S=1r, 23;'24. 2 Fairbairn’s Zyfology of Scripture, II. p. 241. 3 A Talent of gold, weighing 102 lbs. 13 oz, (avozy.), was worth about 45475. See Oxford Helps to the Study of the Bible, pp. 106, 107. 4 Ex. 35. 4-19. 2A 370 THE JEWISH TABERNACLE. hearted among you shall come.” In order to encourage the contributors both of materials and of labour, Moses added, “See, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel the Son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and He hath filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in. knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; and to devise curious works, to work in cold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make all manner of cunning work. And He hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Them hath He filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of. the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work. Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the Sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded.” ! In making his appeal to the religious generosity of | the people, Moses, by enumerating at great length all the different kinds of materials and labour required for the construction of the Tabernacle,? made it possible for all to contribute something. Some doubtless gave large and costly offerings, others gave little. Some executed the highest kinds of workmanship, others the lowest. But all, both men and women, rich and poor, skilled and unskilled, were able to give or to do something. The man who graved diamonds or onyx-stones or other ems, or wrought in gold, and the man who made ropes Fe Ee Xyi.3 5. 30sa 5 teenie 2 Ex. 35. 4-109. PREPARATIONS FOR BUILDING IT. 371 or hewed pegs for the sacred Tent, were equally engaged in holy and honourable work. Their offerings were equally acceptable to the glorious and merciful God, Who is no respecter of persons, and Who accepts offerings according to what a man hath, and not accord- ing to what he hath not. This great principle, which is seldom appealed to in vain, and which has been the strength of the Church of God in all ages, was more than sufficient for the construction of the magnificent Tabernacle in the wilderness. The spirit of largehearted- ness and self-sacrifice was poured out upon the people. The response made to Moses’ appeal was enthusiastic and generous. The people ‘“‘came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted,” and brought abundant offerings to God their Deliverer and Refuge: “bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold,” and “blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, and red skins of rams,” and seal-skins, and offerings of silver, and brass, and acacia-wood. “And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun.” “And the rulers brought onyx-stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate.” And much gold was freely offered “unto the Lord.” The free-will offerings of materials and work soon exceeded what was required; and still the people continued to bring more. “And all the wise men spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saving, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the Sanctuary. So the people were restrained from 2 Exe 35. 20-20, 372 THE JEWISH TABERNACLE. bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.” ! 2.—The Tabernacle. The OUTER ENCLOSURE, or COURT, surrounding the Holy Tent, was entered from the East, and was rectan- gular in form. It was 150 feet long from East to West, and 75 feet broad from North to South;? and it was enclosed by “ hangings of fine twined linen,” that is, by snow-white curtains of byssus. These curtains were 74 feet high; and were supported by pillars 74 feet high, and 1 feet apart. The pillars were made of acacia-wood, with ornamental silvered capitals or heads, silver hooks and fastenings, and brass (or copper) sockets. All the rods from pillar to pillar, upon which the curtains hung, were of silver. The Extrance to this Court, which was, as I have said, at the East end, was about 30 feet wide, and was divided by pillars into four separate gates, each 4 feet wide. The curtains of the Entrance were of rich tapestry: blue, purple, scarlet, and white, wrought with needlework. Josephus tells us that to make the Entrance of the Court resemble an ornamental gateway, or series of gateways, the pillars at each side were double, and were, with the exception of the brass bases or sockets, entirely covered with polished silver. The 1 Ex, 36. 5-7. 2 That is, 100 cubits by 50 cubits. The Jewish Cud’t was probably 1 foot 6 inches: see Keil (Deut. 3. 11), Fergusson (Dzct. of B., ILI. +p. 1451 vote, Art. Zemple), and Bevan (Dzct. of B., Art. Measures), Other authorities (see Oxford Helps to the Study of the Lible, p. 106) give 1 foot Io inches as the length of the Cubit. JZ/ this latter were the length of the Cubit here, the Tabernacle and Temple measurements which I have given in feet should be increased by nearly one-fourth. 3 Josephus, Azz, iil. 6. 3. Ex. 27. 9-19; 38. 9-20. Keil, 2% loc. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, Il. pp. 1451, 1452, Art. Zem/Ple. EGYPTIAN HOLY HOUSES ‘OF' GOLD. 373 pure white of the polished silver, and of the dazzling byssus, upon which the eye could hardly rest in the brilliant Eastern sun, symbolized “the righteousness of the saints,” the purity and spiritual glory of God’s Holy Church on earth. The gates were wide and glorious in order that all might enter freely and with joy. About the centre of the Outer Enclosure or Court, stood the BRAZEN ALTAR of Burnt-Offering; which was made, externally, of acacia (‘shittim”) wood, over- laid with brass; and was 7% feet long, 74 feet broad, and 44 feet high, exclusive of the brazen “horns” at the four corners, which were, at festivals, decorated with wreaths and boughs.! A little to the West or South-West of the Altar stcod an ornamental BRAZEN LAVER, at which the Priests ceremonially washed their hands and feet. The Sacred Structure itself stood beyond the Altar and Laver, in the Western portion of the Court. It consisted of two parts: (1) the “ Tabernacle” proper, that is, the Divine “ Dwelling-place,” or HOLY “ HOUSE” of God on earth; and (2) the HoLy “TENT” which sheltered the Holy “ House.” (1) The principles upon which the pious Heathen and the Jews adorned the inner shrines of their sanctu- aries bear a close resemblance to principles familiar to us in Christian worship. The Christian Church adorns her Chancels for three reasons: first, for Beauty, because chaste Beauty elevates the mind, and assists devotion ; secondly, for Instruction, because the Chancel is a symbol of God’s home and of our home in Heaven, and ought therefore to be beautiful; and, thirdly, for Rever- ence, because the Chancel is in a special sense the 1 Ex. 27. 1-8. Ps. 118. 27, which is a difficult verse, probably refers to the customary decoration of the Altar at Great Festivals. 374 THE JEWISH TABERNACLE. Divine “ Dwelling-place,” or rather the Meeting-place of our Lord and His people; for there He comes to us in His Eucharistic Presence, and communicates His blessing. The devout Heathen were, like ourselves, careful to decorate their shrines, for the sake of Beauty, whose value in worship they well understood. They also decorated them for purposes of symbolical Instruc- tion: for they too regarded their shrines as symbols of the glorious heavenly world. But above all, the Heathen regarded their shrines as the Holy Houses or earthly Dwelling-places of the gods; and, therefore, with a true, although ill-informed Reverence, they adorned shrines to make them worthy of the great Idol-Gods who dwelt in them. Monumental inscriptions and other records show with what profuse liberality and reverent care the ancient Egyptians beautified the shrines of their gods. These shrines, situated usually in the Western portion of their temples, were Holy Houses of gold, silver, and precious stones, with veils like the curtains of the sky, the gates of heaven. The Egyptian king Rameses III. built “the temple of (the god) Ptah,’ with “great columns of gold,” and “towers of stone approaching heaven ;” and, he says, addressing his god, “I made thy Image at rest in its Shrine of gold, silver, and real precious stones.” The Shrine of a temple is constantly described in Egyptian records as “the House of Gold,” in which the Idol-God was placed: “the Gold House, with gold, silver, lapis-lazuli and turquoise,” and “ with vessels of libation, of gold, silver, and brass.”! We have seen that in the magnificent sanctuaries of ancient Egypt, “Daily Services,’ or services “thrice daily,” were regularly conducted, with “sacrifices” and “all rites,’ and with solemn and joyous “chants” led by 1 Records of the Past, VIII. pp. 8, 9, 10, 13, 24. 2 Ibid. pp. 26, 28. EGYPTIAN HOLY HOUSES OF GOLD. 375 choirs of “singing men and women.” 1 In short, a per- petual ceremonial of the richest kind went on within the great temples of ancient Egypt: scores of priests, with shaven heads and clean white linen garments, crowded the courts and corridors; and long Processions, with white robes, banners, bright floral crowns, bunches of flowers, clouds of sweet incense, and idols of gold or silver profusely decorated with rich vestments and sparkling jewels, made their way in the solemn wave- like motions of the sacred dances, guided by sweet music, up or down the wondrous sphinx avenues.” The Westward direction of Heathen Worship, which in later times became almost exclusively associated with the degrading homage paid to devils and the powers of darkness, appears to have been, in primi- tive Egyptian devotion, associated with higher ideas and a truer and more spiritual symbolism. The sun’s apparent motion towards the west was regarded with the greatest awe and veneration; and as, after his arduous ascent to the zenith, and the toils of the day in illuminating and blessing the earth, he seemed to sink to rest at evening on pillows of gold in the West, and with golden mists curtaining all the Western heavens around him, the ancient Egyptians thought that he must there have entered the holy and glorious resting- place of the gods and of good men. And, therefore, full of thoughts of immortality, they worshipped West- ward, and prayed, with Rameses III., “I am fulfilling thy will (thy plans for thee): conduct me to rest in the West of the heaven.” 3 1 See the /irst Sallier Papyrus, and the Decree of Canopus, in Records of the Past, VIII. pp. 3, 90. 2 See above, Chapter XVII. § 5. G. Rawlinson, 7he Religions of the Ancient World, p. 36. Records of the Past, VIII. pp. 9, 10, 11, 20, 22, 89. 3 Records of the Past, VIII. p.7. See above, Chapter XIV. § 3, on the Westward Direction of Heathen Worship. 376 » THE JEWISH TABERNACLE. With all the wondrous ritual and teaching of the ancient Egyptians, Moses, the adopted “son of Pharaoh’s daughter,’ ! was familiar from his childhood. He was “instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” by his teachers and by the wise men around him in Pharaoh's Court, until “ he was well-nigh forty years old.” But he was still more deeply “instructed” by the Divine Spirit. With a “heart” separated from the “ pleasures of sin,” and “accounting” a spiritual service and reward infinitely “greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,” Moses’ eyes and mind were illuminated “from above.” “ Seeing Him who is Invisible,’* and hearing His voice, Moses clearly discerned what portions of the collossal temples and splendid rituals around him were degrading and unworthy of true devotion, and what, on the other hand, were pure and good, were from God, and were worthy of being associated with the highest inspired ideals and retained in the worship of God’s Church. All that was divine, true, beautiful, and pure in Egyptian devotion, he retained: all that was idolatrous, debased, devilish, he excluded by a discriminating and stern excision. The “ Zabernacle” proper, or Divine “ Dwelling-place ” which Moses erected in the wilderness, was, as distin- suished from the “Tent” which sheltered it, in the most literal sensea “ HOLY HOUSE,’ a “ HOUSE OF GOLD.” It was 45 feet long, or thereabouts, from East to West; 15 feet broad from North to South; and 15 feet high. The walls of this “Holy House” were of gold, within and without, with foundations of silver: that is, they were made of strong acacia-wood boards overlaid with gold,% and resting in sockets of solid silver: each socket (of which there were two under 1 Heb 11. 24. * Acts 7. 22, 23 (Revised Version). Heb. 11. 25-27. 3 Ex, 26. 29 ; 36. 34. Keil, 2% loc, Josephus, Amz. iii. 6. 3. THE H@LY TENT. 377 every board) weighing 103 lbs. The roof of the “ House” was flat, and was made of rich tapestry curtains, blue, purple, scarlet, and white, “with Cheru- bim of cunning work.” These curtains seem to have hung down, doubtless in exquisite white open needle- work, over the upper parts of the richly decorated golden walls. The entire Hast end of the House was an entrance, closed with beautiful curtains hanging on rods of gold, supported by “five pillars” of acacia- wood overlaid with gold, and resting in sockets of brass, Within the Holy “ House” itself, everything was either overlaid with gold or made of gold, and spark- ling with jewels, excepting the foundations or sockets of the boards or inner pillars, for which silver was used. The gold symbolized the Divine splendour. The silver sockets symbolized the purity and holiness of the foun- dations of God’s glorious Kingdom. (2) This Holy “ House” of tapestry and gold and jewels and foundations of silver was protected from the rain by a HOLY “ TENT” of canvas, covered with ram- skins with the wool on, dyed red, and with seal-skins! as a coping or ridge. The ridge of the “Tent” ran due East and West, and was probably 224 feet high. The sides of the “Tent,” descending as a roof North- ward and Southward from the ridge, appear to have projected with eaves 74 feet beyond the golden walls of the Holy “ House” itself. As, however, the eaves were 7% feet above the ground on the North and South sides, and the entire East end of the “ Tent,’ being without a gable, was open, the view of the glorious “House” was not obscured by the structure which sheltered it. The ridge and the open East end of the 1 Smith’s Dect, of B&., III. p. 1453, Art. Zemple. 378 THE JEWISH TABERNACLE. “Tent” projected 73 feet further East than the “ House,” and were supported by ornamental golden pillars : which arrangement with the “ five pillars ” of the Eastern front of the “ House” itself, made a wide PORCH, 7 feet deep, with a double colonnade of gold, at the entrance of the Sanctuary. In the “holy and beautiful House,” immediately within the entrance, was the “ HOLY PLACE,’ a cham- ber of tapestry and gold, about 30 feet long from East to West, 15 feet broad, and 15 feet high, appro- priated to the use of the priest. Near the Western or inner end of this chamber, were placed the seven- branched CANDLESTICK of pure gold, “beaten work,” on the South side; the golden TABLE OF SHEW- BREAD on the North side, with a golden wreath or crown a hand-breadth deep round its top; and in the centre, between the “Candle” and the ‘“ Table,” the “ALTAR OF INCENSE,” entirely crusted over with gold, and adorned with a wrought border or crown of gold. West of the “ Holy Place,” and separated from it by a glorious curtain or “VEIL,’? was the “MosT HOLY PLACE,” or HOLY OF HOLIES, a cubical cham- ber of gold, 15 feet long, 15 feet broad, and 15 feet high, forming the innermost chamber, the Adytum, or Shrine of the Holy “ House.” The “ VEIL,” which hung on pillars of gold, was of the four sacred colours: blue, the symbol of heaven; purple, the symbol of kingly glory; crimson, the symbol of life and joy; and white, the symbol of light and purity: which formed in their combination no remote similitude of the rainbow, the symbol of the Divine Covenant of mercy towards man. The VEIL was enriched with cherubic forms, of “cun- 1 Ex. 40. 22-26. Josephus, Avwz. iii. 6. 6. Sy Sx, Os ‘THE MOST HOLY -PLACE. 379 ning work’”—embroidery of gold and jewels! In the Holy of Holies was the sacred ARK, overlaid within and without with gold, and surmounted by a golden rim, encircling it like an ornamental crown or wreath. In the Ark were the TWO TABLES OF STONE on which were graven the great unchanging laws of human duty which had been proclaimed on Sinai. The Ark itself was of acacia-wood, overlaid with gold: but the cover- ing of the Ark, called the MERCY SEAT, the footstool of God’s throne, was of solid gold; and above the Mercy Seat, on either side, were two CHERUBIM of gold, with their wings outspread, and their faces towards each other and towards the Mercy Seat. “The Cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the Mercy Seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; towards the Mercy Seat shall the faces of the Cherubim be. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two Cherubim which are upon the Ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” ? Into this inner sanctuary, the earthly representation of the “light inaccessible” in which God dwells in heaven, neither people nor priests ever entered; excepting that once, and only once in each year, on the Great Day of Atonement, the High Priest entered alone with atoning blood, to sprinkle the Mercy Seat, and make atonement for the holy place, and for himself, and for the priests, and for the people. In this,as in many of his other functions, the Jewish High Priest typified Christ, who, “through His own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place (in heaven), having obtained eternal redemption.” ® 1 Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, II. pp. 1416-1418, Art. Zadernacile ; III. pp. 1451-1454, Art. Zemp/le. id, 25) 20-22, telev: 16> Het. 9.12% 380 THE JEWISH TABERNACLE. 3.—Dress of the Levites, Priests, and High Priest. The Mosaic Law appointed no particular dress for the Levites: but all the ideas and usages of Eastern worship required that the Levites, as assistants of the Priests, and subordinate ministers of the Sanctuary, should wear long white tunics. Accordingly we find that they were “arrayed in white linen;”! and their dress appears to have become the subject of rules not easily altered: for at a later date, the permission of Agrippa II. was necessary before the Levites could gain the coveted privilege of wearing the priestly garments, “contrary,” says Josephus, “to the laws of our country.” ? The official dress of the ordinary Jewish Priests con- sisted of four garments of shining white byssus or “fine linen :” viz., (1) a fine linen ¢urdan; (2) linen drawers ; (3) a close-fitting, cassock-shaped ¢umic of white byssus, reaching to the feet, and woven in one piece, like the. seamless robe of Christ, but distinguished apparently by a white diamond pattern; and (4) a long girdie, both ends of which hung in front from the waist to the ground, or were thrown over the shoulders? Young candidates for the Priesthood were obliged to appear before the Council, and to prove by their genealogies that they were of the family of Aaron. If they failed to establish the legitimacy of their claims, they were robed and veiled in black, and led forth as rejected candidates. But if they proved their descent from Aaron, and were otherwise qualified for the priestly office, they were dressed in the official white garments, and their names were duly inscribed as Priests. There oF 2 Chrongar. 2 Josephus, Azz. xx. 9. 6. 3 Ex. 28. 40: 29. 8, 9. Lev. 8.13. Ezek. 44. 17-19. Keil, dv doc. Edersheim, Zhe Temple and its Services, p. 73. DRESS OF LEVITES AND PRIESTS. 381 appears to be an allusion to this custom in Rev. 3. 4, 5: “they shall walk with Me in white; for they are worthy. He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life.” ? The shining white robes of the ordinary Priests, and the magnificent golden vestments of the High Priest, were “for GLORY and for BEAUTY.” 2 The dress of the Jewish High Priest, typifying the personal glory and functions of Christ Himself, was extremely rich and beautiful. “In public worship in the Jewish Church the people were not admitted to the most sacred parts of the Tabernacle and Temple. They were taught that direct approach to God, except through a mediator, was impossible. But as Christ, the only true and effectual Mediator between God and man, was not yet manifested, an inferior mediator, typical of Him who was to come, was provided for Jewish worshippers in the person of the High Priest, whose dress was symbolical of his functions.”* The High Priest wore linen drawers, like the ordinary Priests. He also wore the long cassock-shaped, shining white “coat” or tunic of byssus, and the long gzrd/e, reaching to the feet, or to the ground, which were the principal official garments of the ordinary priests: but the long white tunic of the High Priest was “embroidered,” and his long girdle was made of variegated “needlework” of the four sacred colours, blue, purple, scarlet and white. 4 Besides these decorated priestly robes, the High Priest had other vestments peculiarly his own, called the “ Golden Vestments,’ because, unlike the robes of the 1 Edersheim, p. 71. Smith’s Dict of B., II. p. 919, Art. Priest. 2 Ex, 28. 2. 40. | 3 See Hearty Services, pp. 104-110. AUX 26.745139 HK 129: 382 THE JEWISH TABERNACLE. ordinary priests, go/d, the symbol of the Divine splendour, appeared in them. First, above the long white robe of byssus, he wore a d/ue robe, called the Rode of the Ephod, which descended to the knees, and was adorned at the hem with a splendid fringe reaching almost to the feet, and composed of 72 golden bells, and, between each pair of bells, a blossom of pomegranate embroidered in blue, purple, scarlet, and white. Below the golden bells and embroidered blossoms of the fringe of this blue Robe, the skirts of the under-vestment of byssus appeared as a band of pure white reaching to the ground. Above the blue Robe of the Ephod, and covering the upper parts of the body, there was a short white linen coat, with sleeves, called the Aphod, which was richly embroidered, to a depth of 18 inches, with gold and the four sacred colours, and was provided with a similarly embroidered Golden Girale. Upon the High Priest’s breast, and attached by chains of gold to the Ephod, there was a Breast Plate, a span square, with twelve precious stones, set in gold, and bearing the Names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Upon each of his shoulders there was a large “ onyx-stone,” or beryl, with the Names of six of the Tribes graven upon it. When, therefore, the High Priest entered the Divine Presence, in the “ Holy Place,” he, as it were, bore the Twelve Tribes collectively “upon his shoulders,” and individually “upon his heart,” “before the Lord.” The official head-dress of the High Priest was an embroidered Mitre, surrounded by a triple Crown of Gold, with a Gold Plate in front, bearing the inscription HOLINESS TO THE LORD.’ The “ Golden Vestments” of the Jewish High Priest were evidently intended to set forth the high dignity and 1 Ex, 39. 22-26. Josephus, Amz. iii. 7.4, and 5. Smith’s Dict. of B., I. pp. 805-807, Art. High Priest, WESTWARD WORSHIP IN THE TABERNACLE 383 authority of the official head of the Jewish Church. They were also, I repeat, typical of the Divine splendour of Him who was to come, the One Great High Priest of our race. But they do not appear to have been in any special sense sacrificial vestments. The ordinary sacrificing Priests never wore them. And it is worthy of note, that the Jewish High Priest him- self, when performing the most solemn sacrificial rite of the Jewish Church—namely, when he entered the Most Holy Place with blood on the Great Day of Atonement —laid aside His “ Golden Vestments,” and entered the immediate Divine Presence in the long white garment which was the official robe of the ordinary sacrificing ricsts.* 4.—Westward Direction of Jewish Worship in the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle, although movable, in accordance with the requirements of a migratory people, was, in all its essential features, a Temple; and it is occasionally called a Temple in Holy Scripture. We have seen that the ornamental Entrance of the Outer Court was at the East; and that the beautiful Porch and Entrance of the Holy “ House” were also at the East, and the Adytum, or inner shrine, the “ Holy of Holies,” at the West end. In short, the Tabernacle in the wilderness, like the majority of ancient temples was constructed for West- ward Worship. 1 Lev. 16. 4, 23. Marriott, Vesttarium Christianum, p. 7 note. 2 Inhis Handful of Gleanings out of the Book of Exodus, § xxi., Dr. John Lightfoot, the learned Hebraist, assigns the following reasons for the West- ward direction of Jewish worship in the Tabernacle and Temple : Ist, that the Jews in their worship desired to look towards the Gentiles in the West, expecting their conversion ; and 2nd, that the Jews would not imitate the Heathen, who, he supposed, worshipped Eastward. ‘These reasons, which 384 JEWISH ‘TEMPLE SERVICES. have, one or both, been adopted by Picart, Mosheim, and others, appear to be without foundation. In the time of Moses, the great Heathen com- munities dwelt in the East, South, and North, not in the West. And excepting when temples were built irregularly in order that their principal front and entrance might face a public square or street, or a river, the temples of the Heathen were ordinarily entered from the East, and con- structed for Westward Worship. See above, Chapter XIV. § 3. Sacred rivers were, of course, especially regarded. Several of the Egyptian temples were built abnormally, as regards the points of the compass, in order that their principal fronts and entrances should look towards the stream of the great Nile-god. Leypftian Antiquities, I. p. 218. ( 385 ) Sp FG AR V8 8 THE TEMPLE OF’ SOLOMON, 1. King David’s Preparations for the building of the Temple.—2. The Platforms and Principal Gates of Solomon’s Temple.—3. Further particulars respecting Solomon’s Temple.—4. The Dedication of Solomon’s Temple. 1.— King David's Preparations for the building of the Temple. THE PREPARATIONS made by King David for the building of the Temple were worthy of a Sanctuary whose glory and fame were destined to fill the imagina- tions of all civilized men till the end of time. Asa great warrior who subdued many nations, and collected their treasures into his capital, David was able to store almost incredible quantities of gold, silver, brass, iron, and precious stones. We know, from the ruins of great cities, and other evidences, that the populations and magnificence of the nations subdued by David were very great; and we also know that there were vast accumulations of the precious metals and gems in the capitals of the Asiatic kingdoms of antiquity. By the conquest of Asia, Cyrus obtained 34,000 pounds weight of pure unwrought and uncoined gold; and 500,000 talents, z.¢. 51,500,000 lbs. of unwrought silver ; besides vessels and ornaments of wrought gold, of enormous weight and value. Alexander the Great captured, from the royal treasury at Susa, 40,000 talents—ze. about 2B 386 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. 4,120,000 pounds weight (avozr.)—of uncoined gold and silver: at Persepolis, he captured 120,000 talents—about 12,360,000 pounds weight—of gold and silver; and at Pasargada, 6000 talents, or 618,000 pounds weight. We need not, therefore, be surprised to learn that David, at the close of his life of conquests, had, “ by his painful labour,’ as he expressed it,! accumulated at Jerusalem 100,000 talents of gold, and 1,000,000 talents of silver. There is some uncertainty as to the value of the talent referred to by David : but on the lowest possible calcula- tion, he had collected for the future temple, besides other materials and jewels, gold and silver to the value of at least £400,000,000; and it is probable that the real amount was about £900,000,000.” David’s inspired design was to prepare for, and, if it were the Divine will, to himself build, a Temple whose glory should reveal the glory of Jehovah to all nations, It would have been impossible for any man to prepare on such a scale for such a. work, without at the same time having his heart and mind almost constantly full of the plans and arrangements for the contemplated building. David was much occupied with these. Under the influence of direct and special inspiration, and assisted apparently by Hiram, the famous artisan king of Tyre, and his scientific servants, David prepared elaborate building plans for the Temple and for all its furniture and vessels. Not only were the general outlines and dimensions of the structure arranged in these plans, but every block of marble (the Temple walls were entirely of white marble, and cedar-wood overlaid with gold), and every door and table, every beam and 1 y Chron. 22. 14-16. JVot, ‘‘in my poverty.” See Keil, 2 loc. 2 The Jewish Talent weighed 103 lbs. (avozr.) The Talent of gold was worth £5475; the Talent of Silver, £342. See Oxford Helps to the Study of the Lible, p. 107. DAVID’S PREPARATIONS. 387 — board, and even the hinges and nails, were numbered, measured, and carefully specified beforehand. The vessels and utensils of gold, silver, and brass were also numbered and measured; and the quantity of the metal required for the construction of each was specified. The tracery ornaments and embellishments of every portion of the Temple and of its furniture were specified. And all the materials, when prepared, were brought to the Temple Mount, and there deposited in order; so that when the time for building arrived, the glorious structure rose like the natural growth of a cedar or palm tree, with- out sound of axe or hammer. Zealous as David was, he had been of necessity a man of war and a great blood-shedder all his life, and therefore, in that highly symbolical dispensation, he could not be permitted to begin the actual building. It was necessary that the Temple should be built by a Prince whose peaceful reign and work should worthily typify the eternal reign of the Prince of Peace, building up God’s kingdom, which is peace and love. David was, therefore, prohibited by God from beginning the build- ing of the Temple; but, encouraged by the Divine promise that his youthful son Solomon would be privi- leged to build it, he pushed on his preparations with unabated vigour till the end of his life. David “set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God,” and he “prepared iron, brass, and cedar-trees in abundance.” “And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries.” “For the palace” was “not for man, but for the Lord God.” “So David prepared abundantly before his death.”? 2e-Chrotives.. 2-5).229. 1. 388 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. Feeling the near approach of death, David summoned Solomon and the estates of his kingdom, the rulers, officials, and heroes, to appear before him at Jerusalem. “David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and the captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possessions of the king, of his sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men, unto Jeru- salem.” 1 When all these were assembled, the aged “King stood up upon his feet,’ and delivered a most affectionate and solemn address or charge, beginning, “ Hear me, my brethren and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and forthe footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building: but God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for My Name, because thou hast been a man of blood, and hath shed blood. . . . Solomon thy son, he shall build My House and My Courts: for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his Father.”? Then turning to the youth- ful Solomon, David gave hima solemn charge “to serve God with a perfectheart and with awilling mind.” “Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an House for the Sanctuary: be strong, and do it.” ® Then David formally handed over to Solomon the sketches and plans of the Temple and of its furniture and vessels and the specifications for their construction. He also committed to his charge the precious metals, gems, and other materials which he had collected for the work. “All this, said David,’ referring to the plans prepared for the Temple, “the Lord made me understand in aey Achronsauels 2 1 Chron. 28. 2-6. 3 1 Chron. 28. 9, 10. DAVID’S PREPARATIONS. 389 writing by His hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.”! In addition to the vast public accumulations of treasure and materials, gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, onyx stones, glistening stones of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abun- dance,” which David entrusted to Solomon’s care, the gray- headed King now made a magnificent personal offering for the House of God, from his own private resources : viz., 3000 talents (309,000 lbs.) “of the gold of Ophir” and 7000 talents (721,000 lbs.) “of refined silver:” in all, nearly £20,000,000. Having made this offering, the aged King appealed to all present to follow his example, and offer willingly. “Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the cap- tains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the King’s work, offered willingly; and gave for the service of the House of God” 5000 talents of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of brass, and 100,000 talents of iron. The spirit of liberality in God’s service is a spirit of joy. No joy this side of eternity is greater than that of devoting goods, heart, time, thought, energy, to the service of God; a service which is “exceeding broad,” and embraces all truly religious and philanthropic efforts. David and the august assembly whom he addressed were filled with holy joy. “Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord: and David the King also rejoiced with great joy.” “Wherefore David,” still standing, doubtless with hands uplifted and outspread, “ blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be Thou, Lord God of Israel our Father, for ever and ever. 1 y Chron. 28. 10-19. 4"t Chron: 29. 2i 390 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the clory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is inthe heaven “and'in "the®earth is thine@eaereoous riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all... . But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.” At the conclusion of his thanksgiving prayer, David called upon “all the congregation” to lift up their united voices and bless God, “now bless the Lord your God.” “And all the congregation,” habituated to congregational responding and a reverent worship, “ blessed the Lord God of their fathers,” doubt- less in some of the joyous responses to the use of which they were accustomed, “and they bowed down their heads, and worshipped the Lord.” They then made their obeisance to the King, and withdrew. On the following day, the event was solemnized by the offering of multitudes of “sacrifices unto the Lord,”’! and by a joyous sacrificial feast. The site chosen for the Temple, to which the prepared materials were conveyed, was the lofty summit of Mount Moriah, in the North-Eastern corner of Jerusalem, where Isaac’s sacrifice was to have taken place. David had pur- chased this site from Araunah, the ancient Jebusite king, on the day of the cessation of the pestilence.” 2.—TLhe Platforms and Principal Gates of Solomon's Temple, When Solomon was established in his throne, in the fourth year of his reign, he “began to build the House + Chron. 29, 4222/92 Gen. 22,:2;. “1:Chron. 21, 18272 Whrenase PLATFORMS ' AND PRINCIPAL GATES. 391 of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” Solomon employed 183,000 men in the great work of building the Temple; and it was finished in 7% years.} A knowledge of the successive Platforms and Great Eastern Gates of a vast Temple is usually the simplest clue to understanding the somewhat perplexing involu- tion of sacred buildings often found in such temples. I shall therefore try in this Section, to briefly give the reader some idea of the successive platforms and prin- cipal gates of Solomon’s Temple; which was, like the Tabernacle, constructed for Westward worship. The rocky head of Mount Moriah was, with enormous labour, so hewn, and provided, where necessary, with gigantic substructures of solid masonwork, that the lofty summit of the Mount became a series of at least three great quadrangular platforms, rising one out of the other, which were the foundations of the Temple. The first and lowest of these platforms was the Great Outer Court, or Court of the People; which surrounded on all sides a second great quadrangular platform, probably about twenty feet. high, which was known variously as the Inner Court, or Upper Court, or Court of the Priests. In the Western portion of the Court of the Priests, and rising about twenty feet above it, there was the third and highest and most sacred platform, upon which the Holy House itself was built. These three platforms were entered from the East by broad flights of steps leading up to three magnificent gates, which rose, in perspective, one above and behind the other: viz., (1) the Great Outer Gate, at the East” Ay Kings 527e fanbase 208 5 3s 1. 2 Eek. 11.1; 392 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. front of the Outer Court, facing the Mount of Olives ; (2) the Great Eastern Gate of the Inner or Priests’ Court: and (3) the magnificent gate in the East end of the Holy House itself. These were the normal gates of a great Temple with two Courts anda Shrine. The doors of the Great Outer Gate, leading into the court of the people, were overlaid with Brass (or copper): the doors of the Great Eastern Gate leading from the Court of the People into the Court of the Priests were overlaid with silver ;? and the doors of the Great Eastern Gate of the Holy House were overlaid with gold,’ The brass, the silver, and the gold of these gates were doubtless elaborately wrought and ornamented. The Outer, or Brazen Gate, and the second, or Silver Gate, were further adorned by magnificent and colossal gate- ways, with Priests’ chambers and offices over them, and in their sides. Photographs of the wondrously beautiful temples of India have made us familiar with wide and lofty gates, and exquisitely carved and adorned tower- sateways rising to an enormous height above the walls of the courts into which they lead. The third and innermost gate in Solomon’s Temple, the gate of gold, leading into the Holy House of gold, was surmounted by a vast porch of gold 180 feet high. 3.—Further particulars respecting Solomon’s Temple. 1. Zhe Outer Court or Court of the People. The dimen- sions of the Great Outer Court are not given, It wasa vast quadrangle, bounded by lofty walls of white marble. Across the entire East End of this Court, immediately within the outer wall and its Brazen Gate, there was a magnificent cloister, consisting of a triple colonnade of 1 2 Chron. 4. 9. * Josephus, Azz, viii. 3. 9. o.¢ Chron.2.e7- 4 Jer. 36. 10. —S THE INNER COURT. 393 white marble, roofed with cedar, and open Westward towards the Court. This cloister was known till the last days of the Second Temple as Solomon’s Portico or Porch.t Later kings continued this Cloister around the Southern, Western, and Northern sides of the Temple area. Besides the principal outer Gate at the East, there were, especially at the West side, several beautiful side- gates, doubtless with lofty tower-gateways, leading into the Outer Court. Side-gates, with tower-gateways, rectangular at the base, and tapering towards the top, were not unusual in temples of great extent. They were especially convenient in Solomon’s Temple, because almost the whole city of Jerusalem lay to the West and South-West of Mount Moriah; and, therefore, the Great Brazen Gate at the East, however convenient for the multitudes who came up from the country at the feasts, was probably not so much used by the citizens as the side-gates at the West and South. In the First Temple, although not in the Second, the Outer Court, in which the people assembled for worship, was planted with sacred trees, amongst which the spread- ing cedar, the stately palm, and the venerable olive were conspicuous. “In Salem is His leafy covert, and His rocky den in Zion.” Under these sacred trees, in the darker days of Jerusalem, were doubtless established the licentious rites of the Phoenician divinities.® 2. The Inner or Priests Court. The Priests’ Court, called variously the Inner Court or the “ Upper (higher) Court,” because situated within, and on a higher level than, the Court of the People, was probably surrounded 1 John 10. 23. Acts 3. 11,12. See below, Chapter XXIX. § 2, fora fuller description of Solomon’s Portico. 2 Especially in the temples of Egypt and India. 3 Stanley, Jewish Church, II. p. 208. Pss. 52. 8; 76. 2; 92. 12, 13. 394 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. on all sides by flights of 12 or 14 white marble steps. Around the base of these steps, in the Court of the People, there was an open railing or partition 43 feet high, for the exclusion of the multitude from coming up into the Priests’ ‘Court! At the top of the»steps there was doubtless a terrace; above which rose the entire platform of the Inner Court, bounded by a low wall, consisting of three rows of hewn stone, probably surmounted by an open palisade of cedar, to enable the people to see into the Priests’ Court.” Besides the Great Silver Gate at the East end of this Court, there were, for the convenience of the Priests, several side-entrances,®? ascended from the terrace by many easy steps, through the low wall which bounded the Court on the North, South, and West. These side-entrances were really magnificent and lofty folding doors of wrought silver, surmounted by beautiful tower- gateways, only inferior to the Great Gateway at the Fast. Upon the steps leading up from the Court of the People to the Great Eastern Silver Gate of the Priests’ Court, and immediately within this Gate, stood the Levitical Choirs * robed in white, with their faces turned Westward towards the Great Brazen Altar, and towards the Holy House of gold and marble bevond it. The Brazen Altar of Burnt Offering stood in the Eastern portion of the Priests’ Court, near the Silver Gate and the Levitical Choirs. It was a greatly enlarged model of the Brazen Altar in the Tabernacle. While the Altar of Burnt-Offering in the Tabernacle, which was necessarily portable, was only 7% feet square, 1 Josephus, Azz. vill. 3. 9. 222 Chron!-42. 9.04) er.f36-a1o) 3 With reference to the side-entrances of the Outer and Inner Courts, see 2 Kings 11. 6; 12. 20: 2 Chron. 23. 5; 24. 8: Jer. 20. 2. 4 2 Chron. 5.12. Stanley, Jewish Church, Il. p. 216. BRAZEN SEA. 305 and 44 feet high, the corresponding Altar in the Temple of Solomon was of imposing dimensions, being 30 feet square, and 15 feethigh.1 Beautiful Sz/ver Tables stood around this Great Altar, probably on all sides except the South, for the flesh of the sacrifices. The Ascent, by which the Priests reached the top of the Altar, was an inclined plane, or flight of stairs, on the South side.? Further West than the Great Altar, and a little towards the South, so as not to stand directly between the Altar and the golden doors of the Holy House, there was a circular Brazen Sea, 15 feet from brim to brim, and 73 feet high. It was supported by twelve brazen oxen, and was beautifully ornamented on the brim and exterior “with flowers and lilies.” This Brazen Sea was forthe ceremonial ablutions of the Priests, as they walked to and fro barefooted on the rocky platform of the“*Upper Court’ Ten large Brazen Lavers, on wheels, stood 5 at the North side and 5 at the South side in the Priests’ Court, for washing the sacrifices and sacrificial vessels.‘ 3. The Holy House. A flight of white marble steps led up from the Western portion of the Priests’ Court to the magnificent golden doors of the Holy House. The House (exclusive of the Porch) was, externally, about 150 feet long ® from East to West, and go feet broad from North to South. In front of the Holy House towered the Golden Porch, as we have seen, to the prodigious height of 180 feet. The House itseif was a lower edifice, somewhat pyramidal in form,® and beri Chronvias 1: 2 Smith’s Dict. of Bible, 1. p. 53, Art. Altar. 3 1 Chron. 4. I-4. 2 Chron. 4. Io. 4 2 Chron;.4. 6, ®° The Holy Place, 60 feet: the Most Holy Place, 30 feet; and the thickness of the Eastern and Western Walls and Chambers about 60 feet (as in Herod’s Temple). 6 Ezek. 42. 4-7. Stanley, Jewish Church, Il. p. 207. 396 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. constructed on a ground plan which was a greatly enlarged copy of the ground plan of the Holy House of the Tabernacle.1 As the Holy House of the Taber- nacle was a House of Tapestry and Gold on foundations of Silver; so the Holy House of Solomon’s Temple was a House of Gold resting upon foundations and basement walls of snow-white marble:? the symbolism in each case expressing, by gold founded on silver or white marble, that the Divine glory in the Church rests upon a foundation of human purity. The three principal parts of the Holy House of the Temple were, as in the Tabernacle, (2) the Porch, (3d) the Holy Place, and (c) the Most Holy Place. (a) The Porch—which, as already stated, was a kind of tower 180 feet high—was, externally, including its deep walls and side chambers, about 90 feet long at the base from North to South, its length being equal to the breadth of the House: zzdéernally, it was 30 feet long, and 15 feet deep from East to West (double the length and double the depth of the Tabernacle Porch). Im- mediately under the East Front of the Porch there were two enormous and elaborately decorated pillars of brass, called Jachin and Boaz, each of which was about 4o feet high, and 18 feet in circumference. Their golden pedestals, bright brazen shafts, rich capitals, and light fes- toons of golden chains and pomegranates, were among the chief wonders of that wonderful Temple. The chambered superstructure of the Porch, to its lofty summit, was overlaid with gold. The great outer Doors of the Porch were also of gold, and were usually kept open by day. The inner walls of the Porch were over- laid with gold, probably highly wrought, and sparkling with countless jewels. There, too, were probably hung 1 Wisdom 9. 8. 2 Josephus, Azz. viii. 3. 2. THE MOST HOLY PLACE. 397 the shields and spears that had been used in David’s army.! (6) At the inner, or West side of the Porch, another pair of vast folding-doors of gold, about 30 feet high, and, together, about 30 feet wide, and probably moving upon wheels, led into the Holy Place. This chamber, which was 15 feet wide, 15 feet high, and 30 feet long in the Tabernacle, had twice these dimensions in Solomon’s Temple. It was 30 feet wide (from North to South); 30 feet high; and 60 feet long (from East to West). Its floor was covered with plates of gold. Its walls, lined with cedar, were overlaid with gold, enriched with engraved gold-work of cherubs, palms, and open flowers, with sparkling gems, and with chains of gold hanging in festoons. The stately palm-trees on the walls alternated with the cherubs, so that there was a cherub standing between every pair of palm-trees. The Holy Place in the Tabernacle had ome Candlestick of Gold: the Holy Place in the Temple had Ze similar Candlesticks of Gold, 5 on the North Side, and 5 on the South Side. The Holy Place in the Tabernacle had one Golden Table of Shew-bread: the Holy Place of the Temple had Zen such Tables, standing 5 on the North Side, and 5 on the South Side.2 A Golden Altar of Incense occupied a central position near the West end of the Holy Place. Across the West End of this chamber, there was a Vez/ of blue, purple, scarlet, and white, enriched with cherubs in gold-work and gems. (c) Behind this veil, golden doors led into the Most Floly Place, which was a cubical chamber of gold, like that in the Tabernacle, but of double its linear dimen- 1 2 Chron. 3. 4-9; 23.9. 1 Kings 7.15. 2 Kings 11.10. Josephus, Ant. viii. 3. 2. Smith’s Dzct. of the Bible, III. p. 1457, Art. Temple. Stanley, Jewzsh Church, Il. pp. 210, 211. 2 1 Kings 6. 18-22, 30. 2 Chron. 3. 6; 4. 7, 8. 398 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. sions: being, in Solomon’s Temple, 30 feet high, 30 feet long, and 30 feet broad. The gold plates and nails, with which the walls, ceiling, and floor of this chamber were overlaid, were worth 43,285,000; and this wondrous chamber was doubtless “ garnished,” more richly than even the Holy Place, with exquisite gold-work, and “with precious stones of beauty.”1 In the centre of the Most Holy Place there was a natural pedestal or base of rock, doubtless overlaid with gold, upon which the Ark of gold rested. Midway between the Ark and the north wall, there stood upon the golden floor a colossal Cherub of olive-wood overlaid with gold, 15 feet high, with its face towards the East, and its wings extended 15 feet from tip to tip: so that the extremity of one wing touched the North wall, and the extremity of the other wing was directly above the Mercy Seat of the Ark. Another colossal golden Cherub, of the same dimensions, and similar in construction and attitude, stood on the south side of the Ark, with its outspread wings touching the South wall, on the one hand, and, on the other, meeting the wing of the Northern Cherub above the Mercy Seat of the Ark. The meeting of the extremities of the two Cherubs’ wings above the Ark formed a Cherubic “ Chariot” of gold for Jehovah, Who is represented as riding upon the Cherubim, and flying “upon the wings of the wind.” ? With respect to some of the details of Solomon’s Temple, there is, naturally, at this distance of time, much obscurity, and room for difference of opinion: but its broad and glorious features are preserved .for 1 2 Chron. 3. 6-14. 4:1 Kings 6. 23-26. a) Ghron:*28.718."¢2 Chron. 3.913.) setae 99. 1. Is. 37.16, Ezek. 1. 26. Ecclus, 49. 8. ITS DEDICATION. 399 us unmistakably. From the above description of them, however imperfect that description may be, the reader: will see that no effort, cost, or skill was spared to make that wonderful structure as BEAUTIFUL as human hands could make it. 4.—The Dedication of Solomon's Temple. When the building of the Temple was completed, “ Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes,” “that they might bring up the Ark” from Mount Zion, and dedicate the Temple. The time selected for this memorable solemnity was the Feast of Tabernacles. ‘And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto King Solomon at the Feast.” “And all the elders of Israel came, and (all) the priests.” 1 Two Processions advanced from different quarters. The one came from the lofty height of Gibeon, bearing with it the no doubt tattered remains of the ancient Mosaic Tabernacle. This was joined at Mount Zion by another and still more stately Procession, carry- ing the sacred Ark from its temporary halting-place under the Tent erected by David on the summit of Zion. When the Procession with the Ark was starting from the Tent, the words uttered by Moses at each forward movement of the Ark,? and placed by David at the head of his Psalm? for the removing of the Ark, were doubtless solemnly chanted by the whole assembly :— ‘** Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered : Let them also that hate Him flee before Him.” 42 Kiness8),1-3, * 2.Chron. §. 2, 3. 2 Num. 10. 35. eas be, 400 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. A halt seems then to have been made, after the pre- - cedent of David’s Procession from the house of Obed- edom,! and multitudes of sacrifices were offered, “sheep and oxen that could not be numbered for multitude.” 2 The road (such was the traditional picture preserved by Josephus) was flooded with the streams of blood. The air was darkened and scented with the clouds of incense. The forward movement of the Procession was then resumed with songs and processional dances which were unintermitted. Again doubtless were heard, with many variations and repetitions, the heart-stirring words : “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered : Let them also that hate Him flee before Him: ” followed by the remainder ofthe 68th Psalm, as the vast Procession moved onwards in the sacred dance. ‘“‘ As smoke is driven away, so drive them away ; As wax melteth before the fire, So let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: Yea, let them rejoice exceedingly. Sing unto God, sing praises to His Name: Extol Him that rideth upon the heavens By His Name JAu, and rejoice before Him. A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, Is God in his holy habitation. Why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill which God desireth to dwell in ; Yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever. They have seen Thy goings, O God; Even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. 1 2 Sam,-6..13. 2 1 Kings 8. 5. ITS DEDICATION. ~° 401 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after ; In the midst? were the damsels playing with timbrels. Because of Thy Temple at Jerusalem Shall kings bring presents unto Thee.” Onward, joyously, the united Processions moved up” the slope of the sacred “hill;” and ascending through gate after gate, the Priests bore the Ark to its rest in the Most Holy Place of the Holy House of id. * The relics from Gibeon were for the most part stored up in the sacred treasuries. King Solomon took his seat “before the Altar of the Lord,” upon a temporary “brazen scaffold”® or plat- form 73 feet square and 43 feet high, which seems to have been erected “in the midst” of the Temple area, on the axis so to speak of the building, the central line of the three great Eastern Gates, and directly between the Silver Gate and the Great Altar, in the Priests’ Court. All the twenty-four courses of the Priests and Levites were present on this great occasion to add dignity to the ritual. The vast Levitical Choirs, “arrayed in white linen,” and strengthened by “an hundred and twenty priests sounding with” silver “trumpets,’ were ranged in shining white lines on the steps of the Silver Gate, and immediately within this Gate, around the King’s brazen platform, and filling all the open space “at the East end of the Altar.” 4 They stood with their faces Westward, looking towards 1 Prayer Book version. Inthe choral march, the maidens beating the timbrels came between the singers and the minstrels. 2 1 Kings 8. 6. 2Chron. 5. 4. Josephus, Amz. vill. 4. 1. Stanley, Jewish Church, Il. p. 214. *)2:Chrony' 6; 53. Soe CIO. he Edy 1a: 2C 402 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. the Great Altar, and the Holy House “of gold and snow” beyond, whose vast Golden Gates were open to receive the sacred Ark into its shrine of gold glistening with myriads of jewels “of divers colours.” When the Priests, having deposited the Ark in the Most Holy Place, were seen coming forth from the Holy House, the whole band of musicians and singers “lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music,’ and chanted the joyous strain which forms the burden of the 136th Psalm: “O sive thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.” At the same instant, the Cloud of Glory, which manifested the Divine Presence, appeared, and filled the Holy House. At this point, Solomon rose from his place, and standing with his hands outspread, and his eyes fixed upon the Cloud which filled the House, he broke into a song or psalm, beginning, “The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely built Thee an House to dwell in, a settled place for Thee to abide in for ever.” Then Solomon turned Eastward, to the prostrate multitude, and with uplifted hands he performed the highest sacerdotal act of solemn benediction. “The King turned his face about, and blessed all the con- cregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel ” rose from the earth, and reverently “stood” to receive the blessing. Once again the King turned Westward, to the Altar and the Holy House, and recited a noble Dedicatory Prayer, which has ever since (excepting in the Temple it- self) had a remarkable influence upon the azrection of Hebrew worship. In prophetic anticipation of the people’s sin, and their consequent captivity, Solomon 151) Kings $, 12; 13. ITS DEDICATION. 403 besought God to hear the Captive Israelites’ Prayer, “in the land of their enemies,’ if offered up to Him “with all their heart,” and in true penitence, “toward their land, which Thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which Thou hast chosen, and toward the Flouse which I have built for Thy name: then hear Thou from the heavens, even from Thy dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Thy people which have sinned against Thee.” ! Since the offering up of Solomon’s prayer, the Jewish people, in all lands, including their own, pray and worship towards Jerusalem. At the beginning of this prayer Solomon exchanged the usual standing posture of Oriental prayer for the extraordinary one of kneeling, now first mentioned in sacred history, but used from the most ancient times, as at the present day, in Eastern devotion, in moments of deep earnestness or humiliation. Ancient Egyptian re- cords represent Rameses II., the Pharaoh of the Exodus, as kneeling upon his knees when making offerings to his cod.2 So Solomon knelt in his Dedicatory Prayer. “ And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord, he rose from before the Altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven, And he stood, and,” turning his face Eastward to the multitude, and doubtless lifting up his hands, he, a second time, “blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice.”* After this second benediction, began the offering of sacrifices* on the great Altar for the actual consecra- tion of the whole sanctuary. And immediately fire 1 1 Kings 8. 48-50. 2 Chron. 6. 38, 3¢. 2 Records of the Past, IV. p. 19. 3 1 Kings 8. 54, 55. 4 1 Kings 8. 62. 404 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. descended from heaven ‘‘and consumed the burnt-offer- ing and the sacrifices,” and at the wonderful sight all the people ‘bowed themselves with their faces to the ground, upon the pavement, and worshipped and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever.” The eight days’ Festival of the Dedication and Tabernacles was a continual sacrificial banquet for all the people; and, at the end of the eighth day, the King dismissed the people with a third royal blessing, and received their blessing in return.? Among the characteristic features of the Devotional Ritual on this great occasion, the following may be noted. | (1.) First: the worship was, in part, Processional. To what extent it was so, we are not told. The sacred writers make no mention of the many beautiful and joyous Processions which were the ordinary accompani- ments of great Festivals, and especially of the Feast of Tabernacles; and which were doubtless performed with more than ordinary pomp and rejoicing at this Feast. But there were, on this occasion, at least two ertra- ordinary Processions, one from Gibeon, and one accom- panied by the King and all his nobles from Mount Zion, bearing the most sacred treasures of Hebrew worship up the slopes of Moriah and through the glorious ascending series of Sanctuary Gates to their new Shrine of Gold and Jewels. Never probably on earth was a more beautiful and glorious spectacle witnessed than these vast and joyous Processions, in snow-white robes and golden robes of state, with crowns of gold and countless crowns of foliage and flowers, with bright flags and banners, and with tens of thousands of palm branches waving in time to the wave-like motion of the 1 1 Kings 8. 66. 2 Chron. 7. 1-3. Josephus, Azz. viii. 4. 4. Stanley, " Jewish Church, I. p. 219. ITS DEDICATION. 405 processional dances and the mighty anthem notes of the processional hymns. The hymn chanted on this august occasion as the processions actually entered the Sanctuary Gates was doubtless that which was com- posed by David in anticipation of this high day, and which is known to us as one of the noblest of his many noble Psalms (Ps. 24). “ The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof ; The world, and Oe that dwell therein. Who shall bol into the hill of the Lord P Or who shall stand in His holy place ? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart ; Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord. Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors ; And the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory ? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory.” (2) Secondly: it is noteworthy that on the first day of the Festival there were ¢wo royal benedictions, which may have been additional to the usual benedictions by the Priests. These benedictions doubtless marked divisions of the services, at which there was an oppor- tunity for worshippers, who could not longer remain, to reverently withdraw. There seem to have been at least two benedictions by the Priests in the ordinary Temple service: one after the pause for silent prayer! during the offering of the 1 Luke I. 10, 22. 406 TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. Incense; and the other at the close of the service. In pronouncing benedictions upon the congregation, the Priests stood on the steps of the Holy House, with their hands uplifted, and their faces Eastward, “towards the people.” 4 (3) Further: the solemn and glorious Service at the Dedication of Solomon’s Temple was evidently e- Sponsive, Congregational, and Reverent. The usual responses chanted by the people, and the usual acts of adoration, during the Temple Services, were certainly not omitted on this great occasion. But the sacred narratives do not refer to these ordinary details. There was, however, ove great act of reverence by the people, and there was ove great response, which were unusual and unexpected, and which are, therefore, recorded. When the Fire was seen descending from heaven upon the sacrifices, the whole multitude reverently prostrated themselves, and with one voice repeated again the burden of the Psalm which, earlier in the day, they had chanted as a response: “For He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever.” (4) The Sacred narratives and the traditional account preserved by Josephus expressly state that the Dedi- cation Service was Wusical on a most magnificent scale. The whole musical resources of the nation were engaged in it. (5) Further, we must note that this great national act of worship was splendidly Leautzful. Probably never before, and never since, were its accumulated glories equalled in any worship on earth. There were, as we have seen, thousands of white-robed Priests and choristers, and hundreds of thousands of white-robed worshippers ; wondrous white-robed Processions moving 1 Lev. 9. 22; Num. 6. 22, Edersheim, Zhe Temple and its Services, p- 141. ITS DEDICATION. 407 in sacred dances; “Solomon in all his glory,” and all the glories of Solomon’s jewelled Sanctuary of “gold and snow;” countless sacrifices, clouds of sweet incense, stately motions of the sacrificers at the great Altar, and beautiful acts of reverence by them, and by the great multitude of worshippers; the melodies of the choral music, and the multitudinous thunders of the responses: and above all these the blue diamond brightness of the Eastern heavens; the sense of the Divine blessing ; and the manifested Divine Presence, in the Cloud of Glory and the sacred Fire. ( 403 ) CHAPTER XXIX. THE SECOND TEMPLE AS IT WAS IN THE TIME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. I. The Platforms and Principal Gates.—2 The Court of the Gentiles.— 3. The Sanctuary.—4. The Holy House. 1.—The Platforms and Principal Gates of the Second Temple in the time of our Saviour, sometimes called the Temple of Herod or the Third Temple. WITH the exception of Solomon’s great Portico or Cloister at the East side of the Outer Court, the Second Temple, as built by Zerubbabel and the returned exiles after the Babylonish Captivity, and rebuilt, enlarged, and beautified by King Herod the Great, was, in the time of our Lord, an entirely different structure from the Temple of Solomon. Although built, like the Temple of Solomon, on the sacred summit of Mount Moriah, and resembling that Temple in many respects, the Temple of Herod far surpassed its glorious pre- decessor in dimensions, and differed from it considerably in the number, names, and arrangements of its Courts, and in other important particulars, In a former Chapter, I endeavoured to describe in general terms the Exterzor of Herod’s Temple as seen from the Mount of Olives on the day of Christ’s 1 See above, Chapter XXV. § 3. PLATFORMS AND EASTERN GATES. 409 Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. I must now try to give the reader some account of the /xzerior of this wondrous building, as a place of worship. A knowledge of its Great Eastern Gates, and succes- sive Platforms, will be the best clue to its complex internal arrangements. Like the Mosaic Tabernacle, and the Temple of Solomon, and like almost all the great Temples of antiquity, the Temple of Herod was constructed for Westward worship. Its principal Gates were, therefore, at the East of its successive Courts and Shrine; and the Shrine was situated in the Western portion of the Temple area, apparently on the very spot previously occupied by the Holy House of Solomon’s Temple. The great Eastern Portico of Solomon, the only remaining relic of his Temple, stood in its original posi- tion, immediately within the Eastern wall of the great Outer Court: but as the Temple area was greatly enlarged towards the South, Herod seems to have con- tinued Solomon’s Portico Southward to meet the great Southern Portico at the South-East angle of the Court. The principal Eastern Gateway, in which had been the Brazen Doors, called, in the time of the First Temple, the “ King’s Gate,”’?! still occupied its original position, leading into the Portico of Solomon and the Outer Court, at a point due East of the doors of the Holy House. But although this Gate maintained its old position, it was known in the second Temple by a new name, as ‘‘the Shushan Gate,” so called from the sculptured representation of Shushan, the Persian royal city, which was portrayed upon it. According to Jewish tradition, a double-arched causeway, called the “ Heifer-Bridge,” by which the Priests brought out the 1 1 Chron.9. 18. See the Ground Plan of Herod’s Temple on Page 420. 410 SECOND TEMPLE, OR TEMPLE OF HEROD. “red heifer” and “the scapegoat,’ spanned the valley from the slopes of Olivet to the Shushan Gate.! The name of the greatly enlarged Outer Court, into which this Gate led, was also new. In the second Temple, the Outer Court was called “the Court of the Gentiles,’ because Gentiles were permitted to enter it. Worshippers coming up to the Temple by the “ Heifer- Bridge,” saw through a magnificent series of Eastern Gateways and Courts, rising beyond and above one another in perspective, and leading to the Shrine or Holy House at the West end of the temple area: viz., (1) The Shushan Gate, leading into the Court of the Gentiles; (2) the “ Beautiful Gate,” leading up from the Court of the Gentiles to the Court of the Women; (3) Nicanor’s Great Gate, the most magnificent gate in the Temple, which led up from the Court of the Women to the Court of Israel and the Priest’s Court; and (4) beyond the Court of the Priests and the Great Altar, the Great Archway and Golden Gate of the Holy House, surmounted by the Golden Porch. These were pre- eminently “zhe gates of the Temple” (although not its only gates); and the line of these gates, although con- siderably to the North of the central line of the enlarged Outer Court, was still, so to speak, both from an archi- tectural and from a devotional point of view, the axis of the Temple and of its glories and worship. 2.— The Great Outer Court, called the Court of the Genitles. The Great Outer Court, including the porticoes around it, and perhaps also including the thickness of the outer walls, appears to have been, after its enlargement by ' Edersheim, Zhe Temple and its Services, pp. 14, 15 2. John Light- foot, Zhe Zemple as tt stood in the Days of our Saviour, Chap. iii. COURT OF THE/GENTILES. 4I1 Herod, a vast quadrangle, nearly a square, about 1000 feet long and 1000 feet broad.1 These enormous dimen- sions, which formerly seemed incredible to many eminent writers unacquainted with the gigantic works of antiquity, are now known to have been equalled, or surpassed, by the Outer Courts of other great temples. There is a Pagoda, that is (as the word signifies) a “ Holy House,” or Temple, at Chalembarem, on the Coromandel coast’ of India, which, with its courts and attached buildings, covers an area of 1332 feet by 936 feet.2 The outer wall of the magnificent Temple of Denderah, in Egypt, appears to have enclosed a square of 1000 feet by 1000 feet? The great pyramidal temple on the plain of Puebla, in Mexico, consisted of four receding and ascending platforms. The innermost, which was also the highest platform, was about 175 feet high, with a shrine and altar on the top. The lowest platform, or Outer Court, was a square, each side of which was 1440 feet, or more than a quarter of a mile in length The walls of the Outer Court in Herod’s Temple were made of gigantic blocks of polished white marble, some of which measured 37% feet long, 18 feet broad, and 12 feet thick. Both at the South-Eastern and South- Western angles of the Temple, stones have recently been found méasuring from 20 to 4o feet in length, and weighing more than 100 tons.® 1 Dr. Edersheim, Zhe Temple and its Services, p. 15. Dr. Edersheim says in a note, “The computation in the text is based on the latest and most trustworthy investigations, and fully borne out by the excavations made on the spot by Captains Wilson and Warren.” LZ xclusive of the porticoes and outer walls, the Gentiles’ Court was a square of 750 or 800 feet, open to the sky. 2 Egyptian Antiquities, I. p. 184. 3 Ibid. L. p. §8. 4eT bids Ehop. 253: 5 Josephus, Amz. xv. 11. 3. Edersheim, Zhe Temple and its Services, p. 20. Stanley, Jewésh Church, III. p. 437. 412 SECOND. TEMPLE, OR TEMPLE OF HEROD. This vast “ Court of the Gentles” was paved through- out with shining tesselated marble of various colours ;+ and was surrounded on all sides by Porticoes or Cloisters called in the New Testament “ Porches,’ which were among the finest architectural features of the Temple. Solomon’s Portico on the East, which was greatly vene- rated for its antiquity and historical associations, appears to have consisted of three parallel rows of white marble pillars 375 feet high. The first row stood close against the Eastern outer wall; the second row, 45 feet to the West of the first; and the third row, 45 feet to the West of the second. These colonnades, therefore, formed two lofty parallel cloisters, which were splen- didly roofed with cedar, and were together go feet broad, nearly 1000 feet long, and open towards the Court. On the North and West sides of the Court, there were new Porticoes nearly uniform with that of Solomon, but probably richer in architectural decoration, The triple colonnades on these sides were Corinthian pillars, each of which was a beautifully carved monolith of white marble.” But the great Southern Portico, called the “ Royal Porch,” was Herod’s peculiar glory. It consisted of 162 white marble pillars, each of which was 18 feet in circumference.? Two of these pillars were con- nected as a finish with the Tyrophceon Gate at the South-West corner of the Temple area. The other 160 pillars were ranged in four parallel rows of 4o pillars each: the pillars of the first row were 50 feet high, and were built against or interwoven into the South outer wall ; the pillars of the second row were 100 feet 1 Edersheim, p. 16. * Smith, Dect. of the Bible, III. p, 1642, Art. Zzemple. Josephus, B. J. yeigime 3 Josephus, Amz. xv. II. . PORTICOES OF THE GENTILES’ COURT. 413 high, and stood 30 feet to the North of the first row; the pillars of the third row were 100 feet high, and were 45 feet farther to the North; and the pillars of the fourth row were 50 feet high, and were 30 feet North of the third row. The whole Portico was magnificently roofed with cedar, and was open on the North side towards the Court of the Gentiles, of which it formed a part. We may regard the “ Royal Porch,’ therefore, as consisting of a lofty nave 45 feet wide and 1000 feet long, with 40 gigantic pillars on each side, 100 feet high ; and two parallel aisles each 30 feet wide, with 4o pillars 50 feet high. “It is almost impossible,” says Captain Wilson, “to realize the effect which would be produced by a building longer and higher than York Cathedral standing on a solid mass of masonry almost equal in height to the tallest of our church spires.” We cannot estimate the height or the number of the rectangular towers, tapering towards the top, which doubtless rose high above the roof of the “ Royal Porch,” and marked its angles and side gates. But we must remember that this enormous and glorious structure of white marble and cedar was only one, although doubtless the greatest of the four splendid Porticoes which adorned the Outer Court.t On the West, there seem to have been four side-gates leading into the Outer Court. There were also gates on the North and South,? but we do not know their number. On the East, there was a “Golden Gate” north of the Great Shushan Gate; and there were doubtless other entrances. It seems to be almost certain that lofty and beautiful gateways towered high above all these entrances, and above the Porticoes into which they led; and added greatly to the beauty of 1 Edersheim, pp. 19-23. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, 111. p. 1462, Art. Temple. 2 Josephus, Anz. xv. II. 5. 414 SECOND TEMPLE, OR TEMPLE OF HEROD. the wondrous walls and Porticoes which surrounded the Court of the Gentiles, But by far the most glorious object seen from the Court of the Gentiles was the exterior of the pile of buildings, sometimes called the SANCTUARY, which rose from a great platform in its centre. The base of this platform was protected on all sides by a beautifully ornamented marble SCREEN, 4} feet high, which bore tablets with Greek and Latin inscriptions, warning Gentiles not to proceed farther on pain of death One of these tablets, bearing almost the same words as those given by Josephus, has been discovered in recent ex- cavations on the Temple mount. The space enclosed by this screen—z.e., the dase of the Sanctuary platform —seems to have been a rectangle, measuring about 600 feet from East to West, and 300? feet from North to South. Immediately within this screen, 14 white marble steps, each g inches high, led up on all sides to a TERRACE 15 feet broad, called the CHEL, which bounded the outer wall of the Sanctuary, and formed a walk for Proces- sions to circumambulate it. The Sanctuary itself was surrounded by lofty castellated walls of white marble. For the convenience of the Priests, and doubtless also to enable the Gentiles and other worshippers in all parts of the Outer Court to see, hear, and join in the worship, there were four enormous SIDE-GATES with TOWERS 60 feet high in the South wall of the Sanctuary, and four similar gates with towers in the North wall. These cates were extremely beautiful, and were provided with wide two-leaved doors plated with gold and silver. At 1 Josephus, B. J. v. 5. 2. 2 North Stairs (base) ro feet+ N. Terrace 15 feet + N. wall and chambers 25 feet (?) + Court of Women 200 feet+S. Wall and chambers 25 feet (?)+S. Terrace 15 feet+S. Stairs 10 feet = 300. EXTERIOR OF THE SANCTUARY. 415 the sides of the gates there were pillars 18 feet in cir- cumference, which supported the tower-gateways above.! But by far the most magnificent of the outer Gates of the Sanctuary was the “Beautiful Gate” at the East end, where the lame man sat whom S. Peter healed.? This gate is said to have been 75 feet high, and 60 feet wide; and its double doors were of dazzling Corinthian brass, richly ornamented, and so massive that it needed the united strength of 20 men to open and close them. ‘Through this enormous “ Beautiful Gate,” and through the eight other great gates of the Sanctuary, the crowds of worshippers in the Court of the Gentiles could not only hear the services, but could see the glories of the inner Courts, the sacerdotal acts of the Priests at the Great Altar, the white-robed multitude of Levitical singers and musicians, and, high above all other objects, the splendours of the Holy House with its lofty pyra- midal Porch of gold. _ The glories of the Court of the Gentiles were designed in God’s Providence to typify the glories of the Gentile -Church. This wasthe Court whose matchless Porticoes, and tesselated pavement of variegated marble, the avarice and infidelity of the later Jewish Church allowed to be filled with the filth and uproar and dishonest dealings of an Eastern Cattle-Market. The Lord Jesus began and closed His public ministry by cleansing this Court; as His Presence has often since purged His Church of manifold pollutions. ‘“ And Jesus went up to the Temple. And He found in the Temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and He made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the Temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and He poured 1 Josephus, B. J. v. 5. 3. Edersheim, pp. 24, 25. Stanley, /Jewzsh Church, UII. p. 438. 2 Acts 3. 2. 416 SECOND TEMPLE, OR TEMPLE OF HEROD. out the changers’ money, and overthrew their tables; and to them that sold doves He said, Take these things hence; make not My Father’s house a house of mer- chandise.”+ “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations: but ye have made it a den of robbers,” ? 3.— The Sanctuary. We must now enter the Sanctuary itself, and note its internal arrangements. From the Shushan Gate, we advance Westward, across Solomon's Portico, and across the open space of the Gentiles’ Court, towards the “Beau- tiful Gate” of the Sanctuary, whose vast glittering doors of Corinthian brass are wide open to admit Israelite wor- shippers. We ascend 14 steps and reach the Terrace or Chel; and crossing this Terrace we begin to enter the Beautiful Gate itself. Ascending 12 easy steps, directly under the enormous Gateway, we find ourselves, within the Sanctuary on the marble floor of a splendid Court, 200 feet square, called the COURT OF THE WOMEN, be- cause Jewish women were admitted to it, but were not allowed to proceed beyond it, except for sacrificial pur- poses. This court was provided with raised galleries for the women, and was surrounded by a beautiful colonnade. Against the wall of this court, under the colonnade, was probably the “Treasury,” with its 13 trumpet-shaped chests, for the various charitable contributions of the worshippers. Their specific objects were carefully marked upon them. Our Lord saw the “poor widow casting in thither two mites,” “all the living that she had,” and could distinguish the object of her charity.® The colonnade which surrounded the Court of the ‘1 John 2. 13-16. 2 Matt. 21. 13; Mark 11.17; Luke 19. 46. 3 Luke 21. 1-4. Edersheim, 7he Zemple and its Services, pp. 25-27. THE SANCTUARY. . 417 Women was open at the West, in front of the enormous GATE OF NICANOR, said to have been the greatest of all the Temple Gates.) Ascending Westward through this gate by 15 easy steps, which were often occupied by a division of the Levitical Choir, we enter the COURT OF ISRAEL. This court was a narrow strip or terrace, about 200 feet long from North to South, and 17 feet deep from Nicanor’s Gate on the East to the Priests’ Court on the West. Excepting those who came for special sacrificial purposes, only men of the nation of Israel were admitted to this Court. Beyond the narrow Court of Israel, there were two steps, and a low balustrade about 14 feet high, which bounded the COURT OF THE PRIESTS. On the Eastern side of the Priests’ Court, close to where the men of Israel stood, there was a platform three steps high, provided with desks, for the LEVITICAL CHOIR. A little way to the West of the platform occupied by the Levitical Choir, stood the immense ALTAR OF BURNT-OFFERING. It was 48 feet square at the base; 36 feet square at the top; and 15 feet high (including the “horns” at the four corners, which were 1} feet high). It was made of unhewn stones, which were whitened twice a year. On the South side, an inclined plane, 48 feet long by 24 wide, led up to a Circuit or gallery 10} feet high round the Altar, upon which gallery the officiating Priests stood when offering sacrifices. Upon the top of the Altar, THREE FIRES burned: one at the East side for the burnt-offerings; one at the South for the incense ; and one at the North to supply the means of kindling the other two. The Priests, therefore, when offering burnt sacrifices, stood at the East side of the Altar, and looked Westward toward 1 Geikie, Life and Words of Christ, I, p. 129. * Edersheim, p. 29. 20) 418 SECOND TEMPLE, OR TEMPLE OF HEROD. the Holy House. The four “horns” of the Altar were hollow. The “horn” at the South-west corner was provided with two openings, into whose silver funnels the drink offerings, and, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the water from the Pool of Siloam, were poured. North of the Altar were marble tables, and all the other requisites for sacrifices. ‘“ Between the Porch [of the Holy House] and the Altar” was an area specially appropriated to the Priests. In the Southern part of this area was the immense Brazen Laver supported by twelve colossal lions. Countless gifts presented by Heathen princes and nobles, adorned the walls of the Priests’ Court.? 4.—The Holy House. From the Western portion of the Priests’ Court there rose a platform, composed, according to Josephus, of polished blocks of white marble. Some of these great stones measured 70 feet long, 9 feet wide, and 8 feet high.2 Upon this platform the HOLY HOUSE was founded. | A flight of 12 steps, from which the Priests pro- nounced their benedictions, led up to a magnificent PORCH, 150 feet wide from North to South, 150 feet high, and entirely covered with gold? The Holy House beyond was a somewhat lower structure of white marble and gold; and measured externally, as in Solomon’s Temple, 150 feet long from East to West, and go feet broad. It had a gabled cedar roof, covered with golden spikes, and surrounded by an elegant balustrade.t The 1 Geikie, Zzfe and Words of Christ, I. p. 54. "2 Josephus, Amt. xv., 11. 3; Bell. Jud. v. 5. 6. Geikie, Life and Words of Christ, I. p. 96. 3 Josephus, B. /., v. 5. 4. | 4 Edersheim, p. 35. THE HOLY HOUSE. 419 ornamental facade of the porch projected 30 feet on each side, North and South, beyond the Holy House itself. In this fagade there was a great CENTRAL ARCH, a very Roman feature, 60 feet high and 30 wide.! Within the Porch were kept the golden candelabra of the proselyte queen of Adiabene, the two golden crowns presented by the Maccabees, tables of marble and gold, and other “dedicated” gifts. In the inner wall of the Porch, enormous two-leaved DOORS, with wrought gold plating, and covered by a rich Babylonian curtain of the four sacred colours, formed the entrance into the Holy Place. Above this entrance hung the symbol of Israel,2 and therefore the symbol of Christ and His Church, a gigantic VINE OF PURE GOLD, made of votive offerings, with clusters of golden grapes, each cluster the height of a man. To this our Lord seems to have alluded when He said to His disciples, “I am the Vine, ye are the branches.” * When the doors of the HOLY PLACE were open, the interior was seen glittering with beaten gold and jewels. This chamber was, internally, 60 feet long from East to West, 30 feet wide,® and 30 feet high; which had also been the dimensions of the Holy Place in Solomon’s Temple. A Seven-Branched Golden Candlestick stood on the South side; a Golden table of shewbread on the North; and a golden Altar of Incense in the centre: as in the Mosaic Tabernacle. The Most HOLY PLACE, in Herod’s Temple, was, as in the Temple of Solomon, a cubical chamber of gold, 30 feet high: but its treasures having been lost in the Captivity, it was quite empty. 1 Smith’s Dict. of the B. III. p. 1464, Art. Temple. * Pap oOo eeae ate mrek..19. 10) Joel, 1..7, 3 Josephus, Anz. xv. 11. 3; Edersheim, p. 35. * John, 15. 5. 5 As the external breadth of the house was 90 feet, the thickness of the two side walls with their chambers must have been 60 feet. 420 SECOND TEMPLE, OR TEMPLE OF HEROD. The Holy Place was separated from the Most Holy by a wooden partition with golden doors, over which hung the VEIL that “was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” when the way into the Holiest of all was opened by the death of Christ.} AS Elta & rit & GROUND PLAN oF HERODS TEMPLE PROBABLY OTHER CATES ON THIS SIDE YA ALZZA OAT VTA ZZ dot. one 1) nt no ty 4 HOLY PLACE &Y 4 = PLAC 5 oe NL CAM WZ WT WA 33 veyIL Court oF THE GENTILES. N sae ops 0, a Al ee x Oo. o. . SOLOMONS PROBABLY OTHER GATES ON THIS SIDE. ( 421 ) CHAPV ER ix: THE DEVOTIONAL RITUAL IN THE JEWISH TEMPLE. 1. Fragments of the Temple Liturgies reveal the Characteristics of the Temple Worship.—2. Ceaseless Public and Private Worship in the Temple.—3. The Public Daily Sacrifices.—4. Responsive and Con- gregational Worship in the Temple.—5. Reverence in the Temple Services.—6. Musical Worship: the Temple Choir.—7. Beautifuland Dignified Worship.—8. Silent Worship. 1.—fragments of the Temple Liturgies reveal the Characteristics of the Temple Worship. FROM our childhood we have heard so much and read so much of the Temple at Jerusalem—of its architectural glories, great festivals, ceaseless sacrifices and services, and wondrous history, as at once the centre and symbol of the religious life of the most wondrous people upon the earth—that we are apt to suppose, from our con- sciousness of long familiarity with the subject, that we know all about it. But, in truth, our knowledge of it is very fragmentary and imperfect. In this case, as in many other matters more simple in themselves and more closely connected with our daily personal experi- ence, long familiarity is not so much a help to accurate knowledge, as a convenient veil by which we hide our ignorance from ourselves. . The Temple Liturgies—which, with the multitude of strict sacrificial and devotional rules necessary for the due performance of the annual round of Temple Services, must have been of great length—were probably never 422 JEWISH TEMPLE SERVICES. committed to writing while the Temple itself was standing. Priests, Levites, and worshippers, as the result of careful and systematic oral instruction, doubt- less knew their parts by rote, and performed them with the utmost solemnity, ease, and precision. But no perfection of ritual order, however valuable in minister- ing to and expressing real religious devotion, can keep the heart of religion alive when the faith of Priests and worshippers has been shattered, and their spiritual perceptions darkened or destroyed, by the influences of worldly and wicked lives. In an evil age, the ministers and worshippers in the Temple forgot the eternal purity, righteousness, and truth of the Great Object .of worship, and of His law. Heartless infidels of the ruling class, and heartless pedants, conceited, worldly, and rapacious, out of whose condemned souls every drop of true manliness had been drained by lives of habitual meanness and immorality, consummated the terrible work of national apostasy. The pure vision of Eternal Love, manifested in human form, was “ despised and rejected” by them: was outcast from His Father’s sacred Courts; and became the Bleeding Vision of Calvary. Swift judgment followed. The vices which ruined the national faith, soon ruined the nation. The wrath of God took the place of His gracious Presence. The Holy Temple itself was utterly destroyed. The schools connected with its services were broken up. Hundreds of thousands of Priests, Levites, and worship- pers were slaughtered by the enemy’s hand, or perished by hunger and pestilence in the siege of Jerusalem ; and the residue were Scattered abroad in all lands, as fugi- tives and slaves. Consequently, the Temple Liturgies, like many other Oriental liturgies which were treasured up in the vast but perishable storehouses of the human memory, have been, as a whole, lost for ever, Happily, CEASELESS. DAILY WORSHIP, 423 however, the researches of the learned have exhumed,! from the wreck and ruins of the past, many broken fragments of the ancient Temple Liturgies; and these testify eloquently of the splendour of the originals. The mist and darkness which, in the course of ages, had settled around the Temple worship and ordinances, are, here and there, beginning to clear away. But a complete view of the Temple worship can pro- bably never be hoped for. The Liturgical fragments known to us, although not few or unimportant, afford nothing approaching to an adequate basis for a com- plete reconstruction of the Temple Services. Happily, however, they are abundantly sufficient for the more limited purpose of the present volume. The reader will recollect that our subject is not Worship in all its mystery and developed complexity: but merely a few of the External Characteristics of Worship. And it so happens that the imperfect glimpses which these rescued Liturgical fragments give us of the Temple Worship, reveal that Worship as prominently marked by the ritual characteristics which we have here in view. They prove beyond doubt that it was Responsive, Congrega- tional, Reverent, Musical, Beautiful, and (in part) Pro- cessional Worship, 2.—Ceastless Publicand Private Worship in the Temple. The Temple (and before it, the Tabernacle) was always—as Christian churches ought to be—much used as a quiet and sacred place for private Prayer. Hannah, when she “was in bitterness of soul,” “prayed unto the Lord,” in “the Temple of the Lord” (as the Mosaic Tabernacle at Shiloh was called). Hers was a stlent 1 See Lightfoot’s Temple Service, and Edersheim’s Zhe Zemple and its Services. 424 JEWISH TEMPLE SERVICES. prayer: “she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.”1 The holy widow Anna “departed not from the Temple, worshipping with fastings andsupplications night and day.”2 The penitent Publican “went up into the Temple” to unburden his heart in prayer. “Standing afar off,’ remote from the Holy House of God and from the Great Altar, he ‘‘ would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God be merciful to me,a sinner.” At the same time, the Pharisee was standing in a more pro- minent position, probably at the front of the Court of Israel, self-complacently offering up his devotions.® The Public Daily Services in the Temple were at the offering of the Morning and Evening Sacrifices, namely, about 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.* In addition to these Public Services and Sacrifices, the performance of “occasional services,” connected with the offering of minor and per- sonal sacrifices, must have been almost ceaseless in the Temple. From morning till evening, Priests and Levites were busily engaged at the Altar, and worshippers from all parts of Palestine, and indeed from all parts of the world, frequented the sacred Courts. The Temple was “a House of” both Public and Private “ Prayer for all the nations.”°® 3.—The Public Daily Sacrifices. The Jewish Priests were divided by King David into 24 Courses, which—excepting on Great Festivals, when all the Courses were in attendance—served the Temple by turns, each Course ministering for one week. +\t Sam. 3:0, 13; 2 Luke 2, 37. 3 Luke 18. 10-13. 4 Josephus, Amt. xiv. 4. 3. Edersheim, Zhe Temple and tts Services, pp. 115, 116. P13) 66.077 ever alo THE PUBLIC DAILY SACRIFICES. 425 Early each morning, all the Priests of the Course on duty assembled in the “ Hall of Polished Stones” in the Temple, and divided the various ministrations of the day amongst themselves by lot. The first lot designated the Priests who were to cleanse the Great Altar and to prepare its fires, These Priests immediately performed ceremonial ablutions, and departed to the discharge of their duties. The Priest on whom the second \ot fell was designated, along with the twelve who stood nearest to him, for slaying the principal sacrifice (a lamb) at the Great Altar, and for cleansing the Golden Candlestick and the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place. After a solemn prayer, the ¢#zrd lot was cast for the high privilege of burning the Incense in the Holy Place. No Priest was permitted to burn the Incense more than once in the whole of his life, unless in the very rare case that all present had previously so officiated. He on. whom this coveted lot fell, chose from among his friends two assistants. The fourth and last. lot designated the Priests who were to lay the pre- pared sacrifice and meat-offerings on the Great Altar, and to pour out the drink-offerings. The first, second, and fourth lots held good for the Evening Service: that for the Incense required to be repeated.! When the lamb had been duly slain, dismembered, salted, and laid upon the Great Altar, which was cere- monially sprinkled with its blood, the Incensing Priest and his assistants ascended the Altar. One assistant filled a golden censer with Incense, while another took burning coals from the Altar, ina golden bowl. They then descended from the Altar, passed Westward across the Court of the Priests, slowly and reverently ascended the steps of the Porch, and, bowing low, entered the 1 Edersheim, 7he Zemple and its Services, pp. 130-137. 426 JEWISH TEMPLE SERVICES. Holy Place. One assistant reverently spread the coals on the Golden Altar of Incense. The other arranged the Incense. Then both assistants, walking slowly backwards and bowing down their heads and wor- shipping, reverently withdrew, leaving the principal Incensing Priest alone in the Holy Place. A signal was then given by the President of the Course of Priests on duty; and immediately the Incensing Priest began to burn the Incense on the Golden Altar. While this was being done, deep silence reigned in the Temple Courts. No sound was permitted ; and all the worshippers—Priests, Levites, and people—engaged in Silent Prayer, rocking themselves to and fro, and earnestly offering up the beautiful supplications and praises prescribed by the Temple Liturgy for use at this time. It is probable that these under-toned, earnestly whispered chants, occasionally became slightly audible, like the deeply impressive Silent Prayers in the modern Synagogue. While the silent prayers of the whole congregation went up to heaven, the clouds of sweet Incense, which symbolized the acceptable prayers of the saints, filled the Holy House or Divine Dwelling. It was while “the whole multitude of the people were (silently) praying without at the hour of Incense,” that the aged priest “ Zacharias of the Course of Abijah,’ whose “lot was to enter into the” Holy Place “and burn Incense,’ was standing before the Golden Altar, and saw in a vision the radiant form of Gabriel “ stand- ing on the right (the Northern) side of the Altar of Incense ;” and with unbelieving ears, heard him foretell the Baptist’s birth and name? The unbelief of the aged priest was rebuked by the angel: “ Behold, thou shalt be silent and not able to speak, until the day that 1 These are given at length in Edersheim, pp. 139, 140. * Luke t. 5,.9, 16,:13. THE PUBLIC DAILY SACRIFICES. 427 these things shall come to pass, because thou be- lievedst not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.” When the offering of the Incense was completed, it was customary for the Incensing Priest to bow down repeatedly, and reverently withdraw from the Holy Place; and standing upon the steps of the Porch, with his assistants and other priests ranged beside him, he and they lifted up their hands, and in a loud voice chanted the benediction in Num. 6. 24-26: “The Lord bless thee and keep thee: the Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” To this benediction the multitude always chanted the following Response :-— “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.” 4 On the occasion referred to, it was Zacharias’ duty, as the Incensing Priest, to lead in the chanting of the priestly blessing. We can, therefore, understand the wonder and alarm of the people, “when,” after tarrying an unusual time in the Holy Place, “he came out,” and standing on the steps of the Porch, remained sz/ent, “He could not speak unto them.” Instead of giving the expected blessing, “ he continued making signs unto them, and remained dumb.” ? Hymns and Prayers doubtless preceded and accom- panied the offering of the Daily Sacrifices, both Morn- ing and Evening (9 a.m. and 3 p.m.): but the principal Daily Psalms? seem to have been chanted antiphonally by the Choir and People, immediately after the offering of the Incense and the Priestly Blessing. These were 1 Edersheim, p. 141. 2 Luke I. 21, 22. 3 On the order of the Psalms in Jewish Worship, see 7he Prayer Book Interleaved, pp. 255-261, 402; and Edersheim, pp. 143, 144. 428 JEWISH TEMPLE SERVICES. probably followed by prayers and a second blessing, which closed the service. There were additional sacrifices on Sabbath Days, after which the Songs of Moses were sung: the Song in Deut. 32 every Sabbath Morning; and that in Exod. I5 every Sabbath Evening. The Jews held that a sacrifice could not be offered by any one unless he himself, or his representative, were present to lay his hand upon it. As, therefore, the Daily Morning and Evening Sacrifices were offered for the whole nation, and were paid for out of national funds, it followed that aM Israel should, at least by representation, attend these services. For this purpose the entire nation was divided, like the Priests, into 24 Courses, whose lay representatives, called “Standing Men” or “Men of the Station,” served in the Temple by turns, each for one week, to represent the whole house of Israel. } 4.—Responsive and Congregational Worship tn the Temple. We have seen, in the last Section, that the Response of the multitude to the Priestly Blessing in the Temple, was a doxological benediction of considerable length, and not the short and expressive Amen, so common in the Syna- socue Services, and so familiar to usin Christian worship. The Amen appears, however, to have been added both in the Tabernacle and Temple, on certain occasions, possibly on many occasions, to the longer response: “all the people said Amen, and praised the Lord.’* At the public reading of the Law in the Temple every seventh year, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the reader uttered an ascription of praise 1 Edersheim, p. 168. 2 1 Chron. 16, 36. RESPONSIVE AND CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. 429 on opening the book, and the people responded by chanting a double Amen, with uplifted hands, and then bowed their heads. “All the people answered | responded | Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands; and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces tothe ground.”! But the simg/e Amen seems to have been seldom, or never, used in the Temple Services. After the chanting of each prayer in the Temple, all the people responded by singing the following doxo- logy (possibly with an Amex before and after it) :— ‘Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom for ever...7 When the Divine Name JEHOVAH was mentioned in the Temple Services, the whole multitude bowed down or prostrated themselves, and chanted the following variation of the ordinary Response: “Blessed be the (Divine) Name: the glory of His Kingdom is for ever and ever.” Chanted in a vast building, often by more than 200,000 worshippers, the above long responsive formulas in the Temple Services must have given much more fulness and effect to the people’s voice than a brief Amen could have done. The voices of the people were also heard in the chanting of the ordinary Daily Psalms. The chanting of the Hallel (Pss. 113-118) at the Great Festivals, with the constantly recurring responses of the vast multitude, was one of the grandest and most impressive things in Hebrew worship. Jeremiah compared the war-cry of the enemy who captured the Temple to the mighty response of the multitude “in the day of a solemn feastre ° 1 Neh. 8. 6. 2 Edersheim, p. 127. #'Lam. 2, 7, 430 JEWISH TEMPLE. SERVICES. 5.—Reverence in the Temple Services. If we could transport ourselves from our own country, and from our own time, and take our place among the Hebrew worshippers in the Temple Services, between two and three thousand years ago, there would probably be nothing in those Services which would, at first sight, seem to us more strange and startling, or which would, after.a little time, be felt to be more beautiful and impressive, than the frequent solemn and profound bow- ings of the head, graceful and reverent prostrations, and other outward acts of worship and adoration. In our churches, at the Blessed Name of Jesus in the Creeds, many, although happily a decreasing number of the worshippers, simply “406” with their heads, in the most irreverent and undevotional manner possible. They seem anxious to show that their bowing at the sacred Name means nothing more than a conventional regard for the usages of worship; and that it must not for a moment be supposed to express any deep devotional feelings or inward reverence. Such was not the bowing in Hebrew worship. The worshippers in the Temple—amongst whom we must reckon our Lord and His disciples— bowed down low, and with profound reverence. They were not anxious to get it over as instantaneously and unceremoniously as possible. They bowed as if they were not ashamed to bow. They bowed as if they were entirely absorbed in the thought of humbling their souls, and pouring out their lowly and loving adorations before God. We have seen that when the Name of JEHOVAH was mentioned in the Temple Services, there was always a pause, during which the whole multitude—Priests, Levites, and people—bowed down, or prostrated them- selves, and chanted a short doxclogy. REVERENT WORSHIP. 431 During the chanting of the Daily Psalms there were repeated acts of reverence. Each Psalm was divided into three sections; and after the chanting of each section, there was a pause, during which the Priests blew three blasts with their silver trumpets as a signal for silent adoration; and immediately the whole multi- tude reverently bowed their heads, or prostrated them- selves on the marble floor of the Temple. In the worst ages of the Jewish Church, abuses and irreverence were indeed tolerated in the Court of the Gentiles. But ordinarily this was not so. The strictest discipline and the utmost reverence were enforced in the Temple Services, so long as there was any real life in those Services. The occasional presence of more than 200,000 worshippers in one building made discipline necessary ; and the great number of Priests and Levites who were on guard night and day at the Temple made the enforcement of discipline an°easy matter. Every night, guards of Priests, accompanied by guards of Levites, were placed at three stations around the Holy House; and guards of Levites alone, at twenty-one stations about the Courts and Gates. Each guard consisted of 10 men; so that in all 240 Levites and 30 Priests were on duty every night! The Temple was also carefully guarded during the day; and at Great Festivals, there was ample provision for maintaining order and deco- rum. The Temple Ritual required that all worshippers should show sufficient reverence on the Temple Mount. Persons in a state of Levitical uncleanness were excluded from the Mount. No one was to come to it except for strictly religious purposes. None were to make the Temple Mount a place of thoroughfare, or use it to shorten the road. Worshippers were to enter the Outer 1 Edersheim, p. 119. 432 JEWISH TEMPLE SERVICES. Court by one gate, and to leave it by another; and in the interval, they were to make the sacred circuit around the Altar and Holy House. Even when at a distance, however remote, from the Temple, the Jews were required to note its direction: first, in order that they might pray towards it; and secondly, lest they should unknowingly commit any act of irreverence towards the sacred place. No one was to enter the Temple “with shoes on his feet,” lest he should carry defilement into it. On entering, all reverently bowed their heads. When leaving the vicinity of the Great Altar, both the Priests and the worshippers were required to walk backwards as far as the Gate of Nicanor, and there to stand with their heads reverently bowed towards the Altar, before withdrawing. Forty-seven offences against the laws of reverence in the Temple Ritual were punish- able with death: other acts of irreverence were punished with stripes. Amongst the Jews, as in other Oriental nations, stand- zug was the ordinary, although not the only posture in Prayer. When Hannah brought the child Samuel to the aged priest Eli, she said, “I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord.” “The hypocrites,” in our Saviour’s time, “loved to staxd and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets,’ and also in the Temple, “that they might be seen of men.” The really devout prayed in the same posture. Jesus said to His disciples, “ Whensoever ye stand pray- ing, forgive.” The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, which is, like all our Lord’s parables, true to life, represents prayer as offered in this attitude. “The Pharisee stood” in the Temple “ and prayed,” lifting up his eyes to heaven (as the narrative seems to imply). “The Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast,” REVERENT WORSHIP. 433 and poured forth his humble confession, and cry for mercy. The Jewish Rabbis gave many precepts with respect to Reverence in Prayer. The worshipper was to stand with his face towards the Holy Place: he was to com- pose his body and his clothes: to draw his feet close together: to cast down his eyes at the deginning of the prayer: to reverently cross his hands over his breast : and to stand as a servant before his master, with all reverence and fear.” As, however, the prayer proceeded, and as the feelings of the worshippers became more deeply engaged, other gestures were freely used. The eyes were “lifted up”’ to heaven ; and, at the same time, the ands were “ lifted up,’ “spread out,’ or “spread abroad,” with the palms towards heaven. The occasional lifting up heavenwards of the eyes and hands of some 200,000 worshippers, while the whole multitude chanted some earnest peti- tion, or sublime doxology, must have been a thrilling and wondrous spectacle. “Hear the voice of my sup- plications, when I cry unto Thee, when J lft up my hands towards Thy HOLY ORACLE.” “Lzft up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.” “Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” 3 When, however, Prayer was offered with special solemnity and humiliation, the standing posture was exchanged for kneeling, or prostration. At the dedica- tion of the first Temple, King Solomon prayed “ £vee/- ing on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.” Ezra, when confessing the sins of the people, “at the evening sacrifice fell upon his knees and spread out his hands unto the Lord.” Daniel, and S. Stephen, and 1 1 Sam. 1. 26. Matt. 6.5. Mark 11. 25. Luke 18. 9-14. 2 Edersheim, p. 127. 8 Ps: 28.2 4: 134 2's" 1442-2. 2E 434 JEWISH TEMPLE SERVICES. S. Peter, and S. Paul, and the Ephesian elders, and the brethren at Tyre, are all described as kneeling down upon their knees in earnest prayer. The same atti- tude was frequently adopted by the muititudes who worshipped in the Temple. ‘“ O-come, let us worship and bow down ; let us £vzeel before the Lord our Maker.” } The kneeling posture in the Temple, however, usually gave place to prostration, which was a very common devotional gesture in Ancient Hebrew worship. Stringent as were the rules of Reverence with respect to the demeanour of the People in the Temple worship, they were still more stringent with respect to that of the Priests. Even in pronouncing the priestly blessing from the steps of the Holy House, the Priests, while lifting up their hands in the ancient attitude of bene- diction, were to stand reverently with downcast eyes, looking to the ground. The Priests took part in all the prostrations and acts of reverence prescribed for the people. From the entire sacred space appropriated to the Priests, “ between the Temple (Holy House) and the (Great) Altar,” every Priest was rigorously excluded who showed by any irreverence in his bearing that he did not realize the solemnity of the place. No Priests, however old, were permitted to sz¢ down in the Priests’ Court; this high privilege being reserved exclusively for Princes of the House of David. Purificatory bathings of the body, and washings of the hands, feet, head, and clothes, were, from the remotest ages of antiquity, well understood symbolical acts of Reverence in all religions, and were usually accompanied by appropriate prayers for purity of heart 1 1 Kings 8 54. Ezra 9.5. Dan. 6.10. Acts 7. 60; 9. 40; 20. 36: 21.5. Ps. 95.6. See my “Hearty Services, Chapters VIII. and IX., on Devotional Postures. 2 Edersheim, pp. 40, 128. 3 Gen. 35.2: JExcegowea THE TEMPLE CHOIR. 435 and life. Under the Levitical Code, many ceremonial washings were made obligatory.2, Every morning, the High Priest and Priests were required to bathe their bodies before putting on their official vestments. A subterranean passage, lit on both sides, led to the well-appointed bath-rooms in the Temple, which were thus used by the Priests at “the cock-crowing” each morning. In addition to this morning bath, the Priests were afterwards, during the day, to ceremonially “wash their hands and their feet” at the Great Laver, before each Service, and especially before approaching the Altar. The bath of the whole body in the morning symbolized the great principle that spiritual work must be done by spiritual agents: that an entire surrender of the heart and life to the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit ought to take place before men engage in holy service. But this is not sufficient. Those who, however spiritually prepared, undertake active work of any kind for God, must hourly contract lesser defile- ments ; and must, therefore, from hour to hour, make fresh applications to the “fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.” Once fully cleansed, the Jewish Priests afterwards needed the lesser washings: but these were sufficient. To this our Lord seems to have re- ferred when he said to S. Peter, “ He that is BATHED needeth not save to WASH HIS FEET, but is clean every whit.” 3 6.—Musical Worship ; the Temple Chotr. The Scriptures, Public Prayers, and Benedictions, were always chanted in the Temple Services. Synagogue worship, which closely followed the Temple model, was 1 See above, Chapter XVI. § 2. 3 Lev, 15. Ma Exe gosirSe2ig sLeyad, 63e16; 4o0 ;Zech..- I3..;%. .» Johni'13. $10 (Revised Version). Edersheim, p. 121. 436 JEWISH TEMPLE SERVICES. also musical At the present day, many of the rnini- sters in the Synagogues are noted for the solemnity and beauty of their monotoning and chanting of the Scriptures and prayers. As reorganized by David, the Temple Choir consisted of 4000 ordinary musicians: “ four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith: to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even.” There were, besides, 288 skilled instructors in the musical art,’ whose duty it was to train and lead the 4000 ordinary choristers. All these, both instructors and choristers, were, like the Priests, divided into 24 Courses, to attend by turns at the Daily Services, and to serve together on great occasions. Each Course, therefore, representing the maximum number of Levites (probably much larger than the actual number) who composed the Daily Choir, consisted of 12 leaders and 166 Levitical singers and instrumentalists. All these were men above 20 years of age, and were robed, when on duty, in white. The Justrumental part of the Choir was strengthened at the ordinary services by not more than 5 Priests blowing with silver trumpets; and on great occasions, by not more than 120 Priests with silver trumpets, this being the number so employed at the Dedication of Solomon’s Temple. The strength of the Instrumental part of the Choir was also greatly increased by the assistance of skilled instrumentalists from distinguished Israelitish families. The Vocal powers of the Choir were strengthened and enriched by the employment of female singers, afterwards replaced by boys’ voices.* 1 See below, Chapter XXXII. 2 1 Chron. 16. 4-6; 23. 5, 30. 3 1 Chron. 25. 6, 7. 4 2 Chron. §. II-13; 7. 6; 29. 26-28. Amos 6. 5, and mo zn loc. Ezra 2.65. Neh. 7. 67. Edersheim, pp. 52, 56. DIGNITY OF THE WORSHIP. 437 The three Choirmasters, Heman, Asaph, and Judu- thun, directed the Choir with cymbals instead of wands. The number of musical instruments employed was very great, but lutes and harps were principally relied upon. In the Temple of Herod there was a Wind- Organ, with a hundred different tones, whose thunder- like sound was heard at Olivet.! 7.—Beautiful and Dignified Worship. In the preceding Chapters, I have frequently had occasion to refer to the beauty and magnificence of Hebrew Worship. I need not, therefore, enlarge upon that subject here. But there is one feature of the Temple Worship, namely its vast and splendid Dzg- nity, to which I would briefly direct the reader’s atten- tion. There was nothing approaching to Pettiness in the Temple Ritual. All was vast, orderly, digni- fied, magnificent, and profoundly reverent. A multi- tude of rapid and minute gestures and movements, such as became common in the debased rituals of many Christian churches in the Middle Ages, never broke the bold and noble outlines of the Temple worship. The devotional power and vast impressive- ness of its magnificent Services were never frittered away in a maze of fantastic and perplexing minutie. The imposing magnitude of the Temple buildings and Courts: the magnitude of the Great Altar, 48 feet square (at the base), and 15 feet high, with three (and on the Day of Atonement, with four) fires flaming upon it: the magnitude of the principal sacrifices; the number of Priests, Choristers, and worshippers; and the necessarily large scale of all the movements and acts 1 Delitzsch, Commentary on the Psalms, I. p. 33. 438° JEWISH TEMPLE SERVICES. connected with the sacrificial rites, must have raised the entire ceremonial to an imposing height of dignity and splendour. In the Temple worship, all things were, I repeat, as a rule large, visible, dignified, impressive; and they all, in their several places, filled up the noble amplitude of a ritual which must have powerfully influenced the minds and imaginations of all who be- held it, 8.—Szlent Worship. A statement of a few of the leading facts and character- istics of the Temple ritual and worship, such as I have attempted here, might give the impression that the Temple worship was overpoweringly loud and noisy. Loud almost as thunder it certainly was at times: when some great doxological anthem burst forth, or some hymn of exulting joy and triumph was chanted by the vast Choir and vast multitude, with countless musical instruments straining their utmost power to up- lift the joy to heaven. But these were the exceptions to the general rule in Hebrew worship, the mighty and glorious contrasts to the reverent and subdued tones and sweet low solemn melodies in which many of the prayers and psalms were chanted in both the Temple and the Synagogues. We have seen that while the Incense was being offered, there was a long period for szlent prayer, during which no sound was permitted in the Temple. There were doubtless, as in the synagogues, frequent skort intervals for silent or whispered supplications. In the short pauses which took place in the chanting of every Psalm, there were acts of silent adoration. A worship which was so rich in silent prayer and adoration, and so often subdued and soft in its tones, could afford to SILENT WORSHIP. 439 shake the heavens at times with thunderous anthems and responses. It was not the Temple worship, but it is our imitations of it, which are too often loud, noisy, harsh, and undevo- tional. Our ordinary Church Services have no place for silent prayer, no sweet and solemn pauses for adora- tion, no meditation, no repose. And we are under a constant and almost irresistible temptation to make matters worse, by driving through our beautiful, but long and burdensome Offices, as through a hard day’s work. Everybody is in a hurry; and, towards the end, everybody is more or less impatient. We can just get through our Services, but we have not a moment to spare: no time for great joy, no time for tender sorrow, no time for reflection, or for adoration, or for silent prayer, or for anything, but hard rapid reading and hard rapid singing. Our Services ought to be much more frequent than they are; and also much shorter, sweeter, brighter; with more solemnity, more thought, more adoration, more of the spirit of love and peace and rest; and more silence. ( 440 ) CTTAD Vine wow ef _ JEWISH FESTIVALS IN THE TEMPLE. 1. The Passover.—2. The Great Day of Atonement.—3. The Feast of Tabernacles, 1.—TZhe Passover in the Temple. THE slaying of the Paschal lambs in the Temple was a remarkable and impressive ceremony.—The men of Israel, with their Paschal lambs, were admitted, from the outer Courts, in successive large divisions,! to the part of the Priests’ Court in which the sacrifices were usually slain. From this part of the Court to the Great Altar, white-robed Priests stood ranged in two rows; the one holding golden, and the other silver bowls. Other Priests stood with silver trumpets, ready to sound the signal for the slaying of the lambs. The Levitical Choirs, robed in white, stood in rows at their desks, East of the Great Altar, and on the broad steps leading up to the colossal Gate of Nicanor. ” On this occasion, the Ordinary Evening Sacrifice was offered about an hour earlier than usual. Immediately afterwards, the above arrangements were made; and when all was in readiness, about 3. p.m. (the hour of Christ’s death upon the Cross), the Priests blew a three- fold blast, loud and long, with their silver trumpets, asa 1 Mishna, Pesachim, V. 5-7. Edersheim, Zhe Zemple and its Services, pp- 190, 191. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, II. pp. 714, 715, Art. Passover. 2 See above, Chapter XXIX. § 3. THE PASSOVER. .441 signal that the slaying of the Paschal lambs, and the chanting of the Hallel, the greatest and most solemn of the Hebrew Hymns of praise, were to simultaneously begin. Each Israelite, as the representative of his own family, slew his lamb, while the blood was caught in a bowl by a Priest, who handed it to his colleague, receiving back an empty bowl; and so the bowls with the blood of the lambs were rapidly passed up to the Priest at the Great Altar, who jerked the blood from each bowl in one jet at the base of the Altar. As many as 256,500 lambs were thus slain at one Pass- over—representing as many companies of at least 10 persons each, or an aggregate attendance of more than 24 millions of souls at the Feast.1 The slain lambs were afterwards taken home by the people to their lodgings, to be ceremonially cooked and eaten, according to the rites prescribed by the Mosaic Law, and with many other pious observances. While the slaying of the lambs was going on with great rapidity, and with perfect order, the vast Courts of the Temple resounded with the sweet and solemn antiphonal chanting of the Hallel, by the Levites and by the whole congregation. The Hallel, which was only heard in the Temple on 18 special occasions each vear, consisted of Psalms 113, I14, I15, 116, 117, and 118; and was always chanted in a manner which affords a striking illustration of the Responsive and Congrega- tional Character of the great Musical Services in the Temple.” Each Psalm in the Hallel was like the ordinary Psalms for the Day, divided into three sections ; and at the end of each section, the Choir became silent, and the Priests sounded three blasts with their silver trumpets, at 1 Josephus, ZB. /. vi. 9. 3. * Edersheim, 7he Zemple and its Services, pp. 190, 191. 442 JEWISH FESTIVALS IN THE TEMPLE. which signal the vast multitude of worshippers, who filled all the Courts, solemnly bowed down their heads, or prostrated themselves upon the marble floors of the Temple, and worshipped God. The only instrumental accompaniment used in the singing of the Hallel was a single flute at the opening and close of each section, to give softness and sweetness to the chant.! Directly the Priests blew their first triple blast with the silver trumpets, the slaying of the lambs began, and at the same moment the sound of the flute was heard, and the Levites commenced the chanting of the Hallel. MODE OF CHANTING THE HALLEL. The Choir of Levites began by chanting the first clause of Psalm 113 :—“‘ Praise ye the Lord ” (Hallelujah). The People responded by again chanting the same clause : —“ Praise ye the Lord.” The Levites then chanted the second clause :—“ Praise, O ye servants of the Lord.” The People responded :—*“ Praise ye the Lord.” The Levites :—‘ Praise the Name of the Lord.” The People :—“ Praise ye the Lord.” And so on, excepting during the pauses for adoration, until Ps. 113 was finished. Then the Levites chanted the first clause of Ps, 114 :— “ When Israel went out of Egypt.” The People responded by chanting the same clause :— ‘When Israel went out of Egypt.” The Levites :—‘‘The house of Jacob from a people of strange language.” The People responded :—“ Praise ye the Lord” (Hadle- lujah), a response which was repeated by the People after each remaining clause of the Psalm. 1 Edersheim, pp. 228, 244. Delitzsch, On the Psalms, I. p. 33. THE’ PASSOVER: 443 Psalms 115, 116, and 117 were chanted similarly. Thefirst clause of each Psalm in the Hallel was repeated as the first response of the People. After each of the remaining clauses, excepting in the Messianic verses of Ps. 118, the People repeated the response “ Praise ye the Lord” (Hallelujah). Verses 25 and 26 of Ps, 118 were always regarded by the Jews as referring to the coming Messiah: and there- fore these verses were distinguished in the chanting of the Hallel by being repeated clause by clause, as the responses of the People. Thus, ! The Levites chanted the first clause of Ps. 118. 1:—‘‘O give thanks unto the Lord.” The People responded :—‘“ O give thanks unto the Lord.” The Levites continued :—“ For He is good: because His mercy endureth for ever.” The People responded :—‘“ Praise ye the Lord” (Hallelujah) ; a response which was repeated by the People after each clause until they came to verses 25, 26. Here the Levites chanted? the first clause of v. 25 :— ‘«Save now (Hosanna), I beseech Thee, O Lord.” The People responded :—“ Save now (Hosanna), I beseech Thee, O Lord.” The Levites :—‘‘O Lord, I beseech Thee, send now pros- perity.” The People :—‘‘ O Lord, I beseech Thee, send now pros- perity.” The Levites :—“ Blessed be He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.” The People :—‘ Blessed be He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.” 1 Here I have followed Dr. Edersheim. But I should mention that in the traditional mode of singing the Hallel in the English Synagogue, the whole of v. 1, “O give thanks, &c. . . . endureth for ever,” is re- peated as a response after each of the first fowr verses of Ps. 118. 2 These verses were doubtless repeated again and again as in the modern Synagogue worship. 444 JEWISH FESTIVALS IN THE TEMPLE. To each remaining clause of the Psalm, the People chanted the Hallelujah response, “ Praise ye the Lord.” At Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, which took place at the Feast of the Passover, a few days before His Crucifixion, the multitudes and the “ children in the Temple ”—including probably the “ children” of the Temple Choir—chanted their “ Hosannas” to Him, and sang “Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.” In short, they applied to Him the great Messianic Responses of the Hallel, with the rich musical iterations and variations which were doubtless custo- mary in chanting them. The multitude seem to have been influenced by God’s Spirit to thus recognize in Christ the long-expected Messiah Who was to come in the Name of Jehovah, and Who was also to be the true Paschal “ Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” 2.—The Great Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement, on which, after the offering of special Expiatory Sacrifices, the High Priest entered alone, with atoning blood, into the Most Holy Place, was beyond comparison the most solemn day of the Jewish year. It was the only Fast Day enjoined by the Mosaic Law; and it was appointed to be solemnly observed annually on the dzenth day of the seventh, or sabbatic month, 7zskrz: ze, upon the day on which, according to Jewish ideas, the most sacred month of the year attained its completeness or perfection. It was held just five days defore the Feast of Tabernacles, which was the Jewish Harvest Thanksgiving Festival, the last and most joyous of all the Mosaic Festivals in 1 See above, Chapter XXV. § 3, on Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jeru- salem. Mat. 21.15. Mark 11.9. Luke 19. 38. John 12, 13. THE GREAT DAY OF ATONEMENT. 445 the Hebrew Year. Indeed the Day of Atonement must be regarded as a solemn preparation for the Harvest Thanksgiving Services. It was designed to teach the creat principle that nations and individuals must have their sins atoned, and must be fully reconciled to God, before they can legitimately rejoice in His Presence, and worthily praise Him for the blessings with which He has crowned the year. The import of this teaching, with respect to the need of a great atonement before the harvest rejoicings, becomes all the more striking when we remember that the joyous Feast of Taber- nacles prefigured the final ingathering of all nations to Christ. In addition to the sacrificial and typical rites pre- scribed by the Mosaic Law! for the Day of Atonement, the piety of the Jewish Church provided a noble Devotional Liturgy for the special Expiatory Service of this Day. Happily some fragments of this Liturgy have been preserved.’ The Day of Atonement was to be observed not only as a Fast, but as a Sabbath: “it shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you.” 3 The most central and characteristic Service of the day consisted of a series of grand and unique expiatory sacrifices. “He (the High Priest) shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the Priests, and for all the people of the 1 Lev. 16.; 23. 26-32. Num. 29. 7-11. 2 Mishna, Yoma. Maimonides, De Solemnitate Expiationum, cap. ii. § 7. Josephus, Amt. iii, 10. 3. Lightfoot, Zemple Service, c. xv. Delitzsch, Hebrews, II. p. 464, e¢ sg. Smith’s Dict. of the B., I. p. 137, - Art. Atonement, Day of. The reader will find a very full account of the Day of Atonement in Dr. Edersheim’s Zhe Temple and its Services, pp. 263-288. 3 Lev. 16. 31. 446 JEWISH FESTIVALS IN THE TEMPLE. congregation.” 1 Before beginning the special expiatory sacrifices, the High Priest laid aside his “ Golden Vest- ments,” and after ceremonial ablution put on his white “linen garments:” signifying by this change of dress that on that day he appeared not “as the bridegroom of Jehovah,” but as the emblem of the perfect purity which was sought by the sacrificial expiations of the day. In the pure white garments of the High Priest, the people doubtless saw a well-understood intimation that God would on that day “cause their iniquity to pass from them.” 2 In order still further to distinguish the Great Day of Atonement—called by the Jews THE DAY—from all other days, FOUR FIRES, instead of the usual three, flamed upon the summit of the Great Altar of Burnt-Offering. The High Priest was bound by a solemn oath not to change anything in the customary rites of the day. The peculiar expiatory sacrifices of the day were, (1) a young bullock as a Sin-Offering for the High Priest and his house, and for the Priests (“the sons of Aaron”); and (2) another Szz-Offering for the People, consisting of ¢wo goats, one of which was to be slain, while the other was to be sent away into the wilderness, bearing “all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins,” which had been confessed over him, and laid upon him, by the High Priest. The bullock for the Szz-Offertng was placed standing near the Great Altar, with its head towards the West, that is, towards the Holy House. The High Priest, standing with his face Eastward towards the wor- shippers, laid both his hands upon the bullock’s head, and made the following confession of his own sins and the sins of his house :— ANLOY. 10.233 2 Zech. 3. 4. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 447 “Ah, JEHOovAH ! I have committed iniquity ; I have trans- gressed ; I have sinned—I and my house. Oh, then, JEHovAH, I entreat Thee, atone for (cover over) the iniquities, the trans- gressions, and the sins which I have committed, transgressed, and sinned before Thee, I and my house—even as it is written in the Law of Moses, Thy servant: ‘ For on that day will He atone for you to make you clean ; and from all your transgres- sions before JEHOVAH ye shall be cleansed.’ ” It will be noticed that in this solemn Confession, the Divine Name, JEHOVAH, occurred three times. After each mention of the sacred Name, the High Priest paused, while the whole multitude—at least 200,000 in number—bowed down, or cast themselves prostrate on the ground, and responded :— “‘ Blessed be the (Divine) Name: the glory of His Kingdom is for ever and ever.” This response of the people was solemnly chanted with instrumental accompaniment. Meanwhile, the two goats, for a sin offering for the People, were standing in the Eastern part of the Priests’ Court, near to the congregation, with their heads West- ward, towards the Holy Place. Immediately after the above Confession of his own sin and the sin of his house, the High Priest went to the two goats. He was accom- panied by the High-Priest’s Substitute, who stood at his right hand, and by the Head of the Course on duty who stood at his left, while he solemnly drew two Lots, laying one Lot on the head of each goat. When placing the Lot on the head of the goat which was to be slain, the High Priest said, “A Sin-Offering for JEHOVAH.” This was the fourth mention of the Divine Name, and was followed by a fourth act of adoration, and repetition of the response, 448 JEWISH FESTIVALS IN THE TEMPLE. ’ “Blessed be the Name: the glory of His Kingdom is for ever and ever.” The High Priest then tied a band of scarlet cloth round the neck of the goat “for Jehovah,” and left it standing as before. He also marked the Scape-Goat by tying a “tongue” of scarlet cloth to its horn; and then he turned the Scape-Goat round, and left it stand- ing with its face Eastward towards the people, whose sins it was soon to bear away into “a land not in- habited.’ This was a touching and beautiful type of Christ, Who was brought forth by Pilate, and stood before the people, whose sins He was about to bear upon His sacred Person out of the City. “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” “ Jesus there- fore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!” ! This ceremonial presentation of the Scape-Goat before the people continued for some time, during which the High Priest returned to the bullock: a second time, placed his two hands solemnly upon its head; and so standing, confessed the sins of the Priests. This he did by repeating the former Confession, with a few verbal alterations by which it became a Confession of the sins of “the seed of Aaron, Thy holy people.” In this Confession, the Divine Name, JEHOVAH, was repeated, as before, three times; and on each occasion, the whole assembly bowed or prostrated themselves, and repeated the former response. The bullock and the goat “for Jehovah” were then killed, and the High Priest, still in his white robes, entered the Most Holy Place, and there sprinkled their blood seven times ‘‘ with his finger,” 1 Ts. 53. 6. John 19. 5. THE GREAT DAY OF ATONEMENT. 419 Afterwards he seven times sprinkled the Holy Place, and the golden Altar of Incense, and the Great Altar of Burnt-Offering, with the atoning blood. By these expia- tory sprinklings, the Holy House was cleansed in all its parts from the defilement of the Priesthood and the wor- shippers ; and a continuance of the Old Testament pri- vileges of sacrificial worship was secured for another year, But the personal guilt of all had yet to be taken away. The High Priest then returned to the Scape-Goat, which was still standing before the people, with the “scarlet-tongue” of cloth attached to its horn, symboli- cally telling of the guilt it was to bear. Standing with his back to the people, the High Priest laid both of his hands upon the head of the Scape-Goat, and confessed the sins of the people as follows : The High Priest began :—‘ Ah, JEHovaH !”— He then made a short pause, during which the People bowed or prostrated themselves and chanted the response :— “‘ Blessed be the (Divine) Name: the glory of His Kingdom is for ever and ever.” The High Priest (continuing) :—‘“ They have committed iniquity ; they have transgressed; they have sinned—Thy People, the house of Israel. Oh, then, JEHovAH ! ”?— The People, prostrating themselves at the Divine Name, responded :—“ Blessed be the Name: the glory of His king- dom is for ever and ever.” The High Priest (continuing) :—“I entreat Thee, atone for (cover over) their iniquities, their transgressions, and their sins which they have wickedly committed, transgressed, and sinned before Thee—Thy People, the house of Israel. As it is written in the Law of Moses, Thy servant, saying, For on that day shall atonement be made for you, to make you clean: from all your sins before JEHOVAH.” The people again fell prostrate and chanted :—“ Blessed be the Name: the glory of His kingdom is for ever and ever,” 2F 450 JEWISH FESTIVALS IN THE TEMPLE. The High Priest, who had hitherto, during this confession, been looking Westward, now turned his face Eastward to the prostrate multitude, and uttered the last words of the Con- fession as if declaring to them the Absolution and Remission of their sins :—‘‘ YE SHALL BE CLEANSED.” } Then a strange scene was witnessed. The priests led the sin-burdened Scape-Goat out of the Temple, through Solomon’s Portico and the Great Eastern Gate; and then across the Heifer-Bridge as far as the Mount of Olives; where “a fit man,” specially appointed for the purpose, received the Scape-Goat in charge from the priest, and conducted it to “ the wilderness.” 2 Tradition enjoined that the “fit man” should be a stranger, a non-Israelite ; as if to make the Scape-Goat a still more striking type of Him who was delivered over by Israel to the Gentiles. The man led the Goat to a cliff in the wilderness, and there destroyed it, by pushing it over the projecting ledge of rock. The event was immediately telegraphed by the waving of flags, from station to station, till, within a few minutes of its occur- rence, the multitudes in the Temple knew that their suilt had been completely removed; that “the goat had borne upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited.” The violent destruction of the Scape-Goat, by pushing it over a rocky precipice, seems to have been a later Jewish zzzovatzon, in no wise sanctioned by the Law of Moses, which clearly intended that the goat should be “let go” free in “ the wilderness.” While the Scape-Goat was being led into the wilder- ness, the High Priest proceeded to cut up the bullock and the other goat, with whose blood he had previously made atonement, and sent their carcasses to be burnt 1 Edersheim, Zhe Temple and its Services, pp. 277, 278. 4 Lev, 1672p. THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 451 “ outside the City,” in the place where the Temple ashes were usually deposited. Then the High Priest, still wear- ing the linen garments, went into the Court of the Women: and there, in the solemn chanting tones customary in reading the Hebrew Scriptures, he read Lev. 16. and 23. 27-32, and repeated by heart Num. 29.7-11; which are the principal passages of the Pentateuch bearing on the Day of Atonement. A series of collects or prayers accompanied this reading of the Scriptures: there was a Confession of sin,closing with a thanksgiving for Pardon, “ Praise be to Thee, O Lord, Who in Thy mercy forgivest the sins of Thy people Israel,;” a Prayer for the Temple; a Prayer for Israel; a Prayer for the Priesthood; &c.; each of which Prayers was doubtless followed by the chanting of the customary response by the multitude. Then, the distinctive expiatory rites and prayers of the day being ended, the High Priest put on his “ Golden Vestments,” and again appeared before the people as the glorious “ Bridegroom of Jehovah.” At the end of the day’s services, the High Priest, in his ordinary lay- man’s dress, was escorted by the people in a joyous Procession to his own house in Jerusalem. The evening closed with a feast and general rejoicings. 3.—The Feast of Tabernacles. The “ Feast of Tabernacles”—called also the “ Feast of Ingathering, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field””—was the great Harvest Thanksgiving Festival of the Hebrew Church, and was celebrated, as stated above, 5 days after the Day of Atonement. “The fifteenth day of the seventh month (about the end of September) shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.”? Me xe 25016 5) 34: 452 JEWISH FESTIVALS IN THE TEMPLE. At this great Festival, the first duty of a pardoned , and blessed nation was holy joy and thanksgiving ; and their second duty, holy giving. “Ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.” ‘“ Thou shalt rejotce in thy Feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.” “Zhou shalt surely rejoice.” } A bright joyous spirit is a part of religion; and so is liberal giving. “ They shall not appear before the Lord empty: every man shall give as he ts able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee.” ? Voluntary, loving, free-hearted and large- hearted gzvzng to God is here consecrated as a part of true worship, and especially as a part of the “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving” for the ingathered Harvest. Worship from which self-denial and the giving of “alms and oblations” are altogether absent is hardly worthy of the name of worship. Such was not the worship of the Hebrew people at the Feast of Tabernacles: purified, absolved, forgiven, and conscious of individual and national acceptance, through the Expiations of the Day of Atonement, they entered God’s Presence with hearts full of holy peace, joy, and thanksgiving, and with hands laden with free-will offerings and gifts to Him Who had given them Harvest blessings and blessings innumerable of every kind, In thankful remembrance of God’s wondrous care in preserving the nation in their great and terrible wilderness journey, when they dwelt in tents and booths, all the Israelites were required to dwell in dooths during the seven days of the Feast of Zabvernacles (literally the “Feast of Booths”). “Ye shall dwell in booths seven 1 Lev./23. 40.. Deut 1648147 153 + Deut 16.717, 18: THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 453 days; all that are. Israelites born shall dwell in booths: that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”! These booths, or leafy huts, were made of boughs of olive, palm, pine, myrtle, and other trees with thick foliage. “Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.”* “They bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms.”* When all the housetops in Jerusalem, many of the open spaces and streets, and the hill-sides around, were covered with these green leafy tents, often 30 feet high,* the Holy City must have presented a very beautiful and festive appearance. In accordance with the immemorial usages of all Eastern forms of worship, the Jews freely used palm- branches and other decorations in their religious Pro- cessions, and for the adornment of their Altar and worship, at all Great Festivals. This light and beautiful decorative ritual, voluntarily adopted on many occasions in Hebrew worship, was considered od/igatory at the Feast of Tabernacles. The words of Lev. 23. 4o—“ Luke 24.5%. Acts 3.1 ; 22.027; <7 Acts O.00 WAG Ea Selldyd3 3014, 13. 17./1, 2, 10,117 5 18,'4, 5,20 § 24. 12. 5 John 16. 2. 484 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP: Essenes—had each their own special synagogues, where they might indulge their peculiarities without hindrance, and without becoming non-conformists.1 The Christian congregations in Palestine long continued to be de- signated by the name “synagogues ;” and although the word “church” (“ecclesia”) took its place, probably from the very first, in heathen countries, the thing signified by the word was doubtless the same. Syna- gcogues, identified with the new and despised sect, con- temptuously called “ Christians,” sprang up rapidly in all directions—with their rectangular shrines; divided congregations * (men and women sitting apart) ; central platform for readers and choristers; ruling “presbyters ” or “elders ;” fixed liturgies; customary hours of prayer; Scripture lessons ; congregational and responsive chant- ing of doxologies, supplications, psalms, and hymns ; silent prayers; ceremonial ablutions* and solemn acts of reverence; and with the glorious Zer Sanctus, Halle- lujahs, Hosannas, and Amens?’ so familiar in the ancient Hebrew synagogues. So far as the subject of the present volume is concerned, we may safely regard the worship of the Primitive Christian Church as a continuation of the worship in the synagogues. The Primitive Christian Assemblies were virtually Primitive Christian Synagogues; and are referred to as such in the New Testament. When the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews exhorts his readers not to neglect the stated worship of the Church, he does not say, Do not neglect your Church assemblies: but he employs 1 Bp. Lightfoot, PAzlippians, p. 190. 2 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antiquities, Il. p. 1891, Art. Sexes, Separa- tion of. . 3 Jbid. I. p. 794, Art. Hours of Prayer. 4 Tertullian, Apolog. xxxix. Cyril, Catechetical Lectures, xxiii. 2. 5 Justin Martyr, dfo/og. i. 65. 6 Freeman, Principles of Divine Service, I. pp. 62, 67. THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN SYNAGOGUE. 485 language which may be freely translated, Let us not Jorsake our Christian Synagogue Assemblies‘ So again, S. James, when condemning the respect of persons sometimes observed in the Primitive Christian Assem- blies, does not say, “If there come into your church” — but, “If there come into your syxagogue, a man with a gold ring, and fine clothing.” ? For more than a generation after our Lord’s Ascen- sion, the Christians were regarded as a Jewish Sect, and the Christian churches were regarded as a kind of Jewish Synagogues by the Heathen, by the Jews, and probably by the majority of the Christians themselves. Indeed, until the close of the first century, and far into the second, many Christians were unable to shake off the idea that they were still Jews, and subject to Jewish ordinances, although believers in Christ. So that, as stated above,*? Synagogue Worship may be regarded as at once the last Chapter in the History of Jewish Worship, and the first Chapter in the History of Christian Worship. There were, however, points of difference between the worship in the Primitive Christian Synagogues, and the worship in the ordinary Synagogues of the Jews. (1) The Vez/, which appeared in the Jewish synagogues, was done away in Christ; and the Shrine of the Law became an Open Chancel or Shrine in which the Holy Communion was celebrated, as the central mystery of Christian Worship. (2) The rapid influx 1 Heb. 10.25. The word here used (eAzsunagdgé) occurs also in 2 Thess, 2. 1, where it refers to our gathering together unto Christ. In connection with assemblies for worship, it was probably understood as referring to a Christian synagogue, as distinguished from an ordinary synagogue of the Jews. ’ 2 2 Jas. 2. 2(Revised Version). Plumptre, 22 loc., in the Cambridge Bible Sor Schools. 3 See above, Chapter XXXII, on Synagogue Worship. 486 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP of converted Heathen in the Christian assemblies made it necessary to use the popular language (ordinary Greek) in Public Worship, instead of the Hebrew, which was understood by the Jews, and was used as their sacred language, as it still is in the synagogues. (3) Lessons from the New Testament Scriptures, as well as from the Old, were read in the Christian Synagogues. (4) Many of the ancient synagogue prayers, hymns, and doxologies were replaced by others of a distinc- tively Christian character. (5) The Dzrectzon of the worship in the Primitive Christian synagogues was probably, as in other synagogues, towards Jerusalem, until the City was destroyed by Titus, A.D. 70; imme- diately after which date, if not before, Christian worship became everywhere fixed Hastward Worship. I shall return to this subject further on. (6) The “First Day ” of the week, “the Lord’s Day,” the Day of the Lord’s Resurrection—as distinguished from the “ Seventh Day ” or Jewish Sabbath—soon became the principal Sacred Day of Christian worship. 2.— Primitive Christian Worship was Responsive, Con- gregational, and Musical. Our Lord and His disciples constantly took their part in chanting the noble responsive liturgies of the Jewish Temple and Synagogues. The congregational chanting of liturgical formulas of devotion—although probably not to the absolute exclusion of extemporary prayer— seems also to have been, from the first, a prominent characteristic of the worship in the Primitive Christian assemblies. The Lord’s Prayer, given expressly as a model, was evidently intended, like the synagogue prayers, both for private use, and for being chanted con- RESPONSIVE, CONGREGATIONAL, AND MUSICAL. 487 gregationally in public worship. “After this manner, therefore, pray ye: OUR Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name,” &c.! This prayer formed a part of every Primitive Christian Liturgy, except the Clementine ; 2 and was (like many prayers in the syna- gogues) chanted by the People alone, the minister and choir being silent. Our Lord not only encouraged His disciples in private prayer, and in public prayer in the Jewish synagogues, but He emphatically recognized the duty and the privilege of united Christian supplications and worship, to which He promised His especial Pre- sence and blessing. He revealed Himself as the Divine Centre of Christian worship: declared that “ all should honour the Son even as they honour the Father ;” 4 and refused to rebuke those who hymned His praise in processional chants on the occasion of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He turned the last Jewish Pass- over into a Christian Communion ; and notwithstanding the deep sadness of the occasion, He made this first Celebration musical, by chanting the Hallel.® After the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Ghost, the primitive Christians, full of faith, love, and the spirit of unity, “continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ teach- ing and fellowship, in THE breaking of bread [Holy Com- munton|,and THE prayers [of the Church|.”® S. Peter and S. John, when dismissed with threats by the rulers in the Temple, ‘“‘ came to their own company, and re- ported all that the chief priests and the elders had said unto them :” immediately the whole assembly, doubtless following the Apostles’ lead, “lifted up their voices to God with one accord; and,” in the fervent chanting 1 Matt. 6. 9. * Neale and Littledale, Translation of Primitive Liturgtes, p. 25, note. 3 Matt. 18. 19, 20, 4 John 5. 23. 5 Matt. 26. 30. $ Acts 2, 42. 488 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP tones inseparable from Hebrew worship, they poured forth a noble doxology, psalm, and prayer. Syna- gogue officials, Levites, “and a great company of the Priests,” were among the first converts to the Christian faith.2 These trained chanters and singers must have carried with them into the first Christian congregations the musical skill and hturgical usages of their Temple and synagogue worship.2 However we interpret S. Paul's words in Eph. 5. 19—whether as referring to private meditation or antiphonal singing—they are evi- dently an echo of the congregational melodies of Primi- tive Christian worship: “speaking one to another * in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and mak- ing melody in your heart to the Lord.” When in prison, ‘about midnight, Paul and Silas praying, or in their prayers, were hymning God.*® They were singing Chris- tian prayer-chants, doxologies, and praises. One of the grounds on which S. Paul condemned the use of an unknown tongue in Public Worship was, that it would prevent congregational responding: ‘how shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say the Amen, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest ?” In A.D. 70, Ignatius, a disciple of S. John, became third Bishop of Antioch in Syria: where he introduced, or, more probably, organized and perfected antiphonal singing; with the express object of teaching men to worship on earth as the angels doin heaven. Philo of Alexandria thus describes the worship of the Thera- peut in Egypt, in the first century (who were probably an ascetic Egyptian sect converted to Christianity) :7 1 Acts 4, 23. SvActs 4. 36.5. 6.7 -oroew ? Bishop Lightfoot, Colossians and Philemon, p. 291. 4 Or, ‘‘2o yourselves :” Eph. 5. 19 (Marg. Revised Version). 5. Acts;16.52§:. ‘See Alford, 27 Zoc. o. Con ma, 7 Eusebius, H. E. ii 172 RESPONSIVE, CONGREGATIONAL, AND MUSICAL. 489 after prayer, the whole assembly formed themselves into two choirs, one of men, the other of women, with the most skilful singer of each for leader; and then they sang hymns to God, sometimes antiphonally, and sometimes inunison. Pliny the vounger,a Heathen writer, who was Propraetor of Pontica, A.D. 103, describes the Christians singing hymns antiphonally, or responsively, to Christ as to God.! Ina difficult passage (which some have inter- preted as referring to extemporary prayer, but which probably refers to the fervour and strength of voice with which the chief minister chanted the service), Justin Martyr, who died in 165, mentions the responding of the Amen bythe congregation.? Tertullian (born, 160) tells us that in his time the Christian congregations offered up their prayers to God “wth united force.”* He de- scribes Christians as “ candidates for angelhood,” learn- ing on earth the angels’ strain, “ Holy, holy, holy ;” 4 and he refers to the manner of chanting the Last Five Psalms, called the “ Hallelujah” (because each begins with this word), in the closes of which Psalms the con- gregation responded.°® The “ Hallelujah Victory” of S. German, Bishop of Auxerre, and the British troops over the Saxons and Picts, shortly after the Easter of 430, illustrates our subject. When the armies were approaching, the British priests chanted the Pascha/ Hallel or Hallelujah; and the soldiers, accustomed to congregational responding, joined in the well-known chant with a voice of thunder, which was re-echoed from the surrounding hills. The barbarous enemy were so overawed and terrified, that 1 Pliny, Zfist. x. 97: ‘ Ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem.” 2 Justin Martyr, Apolog. i. 67. Riddle, Christian Antiquities, p. 327. 3 Tertullian, Apolog. xxxix. 4 Tertullian, De Ovatione, 3. © Tbidisa7 490 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. the Britons remained masters of the field without a blow. S. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, and S. Basil of Cappa- docia, writing about the middle of the fourth century, describe the Christian congregations as praying and singing together in symphony, and chanting the Psalms antiphonally.? S. Basil says, “ Psalmody makes fair- weather in the soul: psalmody is the arbiter of peace: -psalmody is the fast welder of friendship. For who can bring himself to regard any longer as an enemy, one with whom he has lifted up his voice in harmony, in the praise and worship of God?” Beside this we may place the opinion of a great modern authority. “The soothing effect of ceremonial devotion is,” says Dr. Wigam, “a moral medicine, calculated to produce a physical effect.”* S. Cyril of Jerusalem, a contem- porary of S. Basil, describes the Priest as crying aloud, “Lift up your hearts!” and the People as responding “ We lift them up unto the Lord:” the Priest, “ Let us give thanks to the Lord;” the People, “It is meet and right.” He says that in chanting the “ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth,” “we join in Hymns with the hosts of the world above.’* S. Ambrose, Arch- bishop of Milan, 374, encouraged antiphonal chanting : “that the people should not become weary.”® S. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (b. 354), tells us that in the Christian services in Northern Africa, there were three Lessons read: Ist from a Prophet; 2nd from an Epistle; then a Psalm was chanted, and the 3rd Lesson 1 Todd, S. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, p. 275. Smith’s Dect. of Christian Biog. Il. p. 655, Art. Germanus (8). * Wheatley, Zhe Book of Common Prayer, p. 134. 3 Dr. Wigam, on /wsanity, quoted by Canon Curties in Déssent in its Relation to the Church of England, p. 330. 4 Cyril, Catechetical Lectures, xxiii. 4, 5, 6 5 Aug. Confess. ix. 7. 15. LAODICEAN MUSIC. 491 was read from the Gospel. Tne Communion Service began :— “ Priest. Lift up your hearts. Laity. We lift them up unto the Lord. Priest. Let us give thanks unto our Lord God. Laity. It is meet and right soto do. &c.” He mentions the chanting of the “ Hallelujah” (the last 5 Psalms), and the “ Holy, holy, holy””+ S. Chrysos- tom, Augustine’s great contemporary in the East, speaks of the whole congregation joining in common prayer; and compares the Amen of his congregation at Antioch to the roar of the sea in a storm.? 3.—Laodicean Music. Perfect Congregational Worship ought to be natural, simple, varied, and at times sublime. In the confessions of sin, in the hymns, and in some of the prayers and doxologies, the whole assembly—Reader, Congregation, and Choir—ought to join with united hearts and voices. Ordinarily, however, these three factors of the assembly will be heard responding to each other. The voice of the Reader must often be heard alone: the voices of the Congregation must also be often heard alone: sometimes the Choir should assist the Reader, and sometimes it should assist the Congregation, where special force and musical assistance are required; but ordinarily the Choir, as a body of trained singers, should be silent, reserving its powers for time of need. At intervals in the Service, however, there ought to be special responses 1 Smith’s Déct. of Christian Antiquities, Il. pp. 1027, 1028, Art. Liturgy. 2 Instrumental music seems not to have been used in the Primitive Church. See Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antiquities, II. p. 1365, Art. Music. 492 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. and doxclogies in which the Choir should be heard alone, uttering the higher divine speech of sacred music, which is beyond the powers of ordinary singers. But as the worship must be above all things Congregational, it is essential that by far the greater part of the music should be well known, simple, and congregational in its char- acter. Such appears to have been the normal type of worship in all ancient Oriental religions. Such especially was the worship in the ancient Jewish synagogues, and in the Primitive Christian Churches. The Congregational singing of Psalms, Hymns, Doxo- logies, Responses, and Prayers, was, I repeat, everywhere, from the very first, a prominent characteristic of Primitive Christian Worship.! Primitive Church History records but one attempt to silence the voices of the People in Public Worship. That attempt was made at Laodicea, the one place above all others in which the New Testa- ment would lead us to expect a development of utter heartlessness and lukewarmness in Christian service and worship. “To the angel of the Church in Laodicea write: These things saith the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one, and miser- able and poor and blind and naked.” “He that hath an ¢ar, Jet) him “hear\what the Spirit saith stomine Churches. “ Fragments of aqueducts and theatres spread over a 1 See the preceding Section : also, Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antiq. 1. p- 285, Art. Cantor; Il. p. 1743, Art. Psalmody. 4 Rev. 3. 14-17, 22, LAODICEAN MUSIC. 493 vast extent of country tell of the former magnificence of this city.”4 But of the rich and proud Church, to which those awful words of Scripture were addressed, “nothing survives.” The Church of Laodicea flourished for some centuries in great splendour, but with, it is to be feared, little real fervour or real love, and certainly with little real reverence for the Divine Person of our Lord. The Book of Revelation, doubtless because of its censure upon that Church, was presumptuously excluded from the Laodi- cean catalogue of the Scriptures,? and was not allowed to be read in the Laodicean churches. In the latter part of the fourth century, Laodicea became a prominent centre of the semi-Arian heresy; and, at the same time, the semi-Arian Council of Laodicea (c. 375) prohibited Congregational Singing, and restricted the office of sing- ing in church to the official or canonical singers.? This novel prohibition, so essentially Laodicean in spirit, appears to have had no effect upon the Church at large; for we have overwhelming evidence from S. Hilary, S. Basil, S. Cyril, S. Augustine, S. Chrysostom, and others, that, during the second half of the fourth century, and at the beginning of the fifth, Congregational Singing and Congregational Responding were universal in the churches, The fifteenth canon of the Council of Laodicea was the first attempt to silence Christian Congregations in worship: but it was not the last. I shall return to this subject in the next Chapter. But we must note here that the Council of Laodicea, in adopting this character- istic canon, seems to have been actuated mainly by a 1 Abp. Trench. 2 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig. II. p. 929, Art. Laodicea. 3 Ibid. I. p. 285, Art. Cantor, The Prayer Book Interleaved, p. 225. Bingham, xiii. c. 5. § 4. 494 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. desire to improve church music. It was natural that a wealthy Church, able to pay skilled musicians, should, if indifferent to the devotional life of the Congregation, silence the congregation in order that the choir might display all its powers—If people go to church not to learn self-denial, but to indulge luxury: not to seek grace and pardon of sin, but to seek sensuous enjoyment: not to engage in worship, but to hear a musical treat: then by all means silence congregations; and let Laodi- cean worshippers have Laodicean Music and heartless Laodicean Worship! So it has often been in churches since! So it is often in churches still! The reader of the preceding chapters of this volume will, I trust, have learned to regard Music as one of God’s purest and noblest gifts to Angels and Men. Music is God’s appointed handmaid of devotion. Without Music, true devotion cannot attain to its highest and truest expression in worship. To the great masters of sacred poetry, and sacred music—to Moses, David, Ignatius, Ambrose, and the rest—the world owes an infinite debt of gratitude. But to Laodicean Musi- cians—to whom the “joyful noise” and fervent sup- plications of God’s saints in worship are unwelcome and unmeaning sounds, and who regard the mere “sounding brass” and “clanging cymbal” of musical display as alone worthy of consideration in their soulless worship—the Church owes much of her failure, shame, and sorrow. An Un-Musical Service in which the Congregation join devoutly and heartily—although not the most perfect kind of worship—is beyond comparison more devotional and more edifying than a service full of over-wrought music in which the Congregation cannot join, PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES. 495 4.—Primitive Christian Liturgies. It is thought by the most impartial commentators that there are allusions to antiphonal hymns and liturgies, and perhaps quotations from them, in the writings of S. Paul.t It is undoubted that Primitive Christian Liturgies were not only in use, but were in part com- mitted to writing, in the second century. Origen (b. 185) speaks of Christians duly worshipping God in the Set Prayers. In the fourth century, the Arians en- deavoured to annihilate orthodoxy, by burning the ancient Liturgies of the Church, which were bulwarks of orthodox truth? All the Primitive Christian Liturgies known to us, although they contain many later additions, give abun- dant and undoubtedly genuine evidence of the Congre- gational and Responsive character of Christian worship from the times of the Apostles. All these Liturgies were in the vulgar tongue,? and were as Responsive and Congregational as our own English Liturgy, The Liturgy of the orthodox Church of Alexandria, which is ascribed to S, Mark, begins :— “ The Priest. Peace be with all. The People. And with thy spirit. The Deacon. Pray. The People. Lord, have mercy (upon us). Lord, have mercy (upon us). Lord, have mercy (upon us).” Then the Priest prays silently, but concludes the Prayer 1 Eph. 5. 14,19. 1 Tim. 3.16. Conybeare and Howson, zx foc, Bp. Lightfoot’s note on Col. 3. 16. Zhe Prayer Book Interleaved, p. x. 2 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., Il. pp. 1006-1008, Art. Liturgical Books, 3 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., Il. pp. tors—1or7, Art. Lztur- gtcal Language, 496 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. with a loud doxology, to which the People respond Amen. “‘ The Priest. Peace be with all. The People. And with thy Spirit. The Deacon. Pray for the King. The People. Lord, have mercy (upon him). Lord, have mercy (upon him). Lord, have mercy (upon him).” 4 To another Prayer the People respond “ Amen, Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy upon us.” | Further on in the same Liturgy :— “ The Priest. Lift we up our hearts. The People. We lift them up unto the Lord. The Priest. Let us give thanks to the Lord. The People. It is meet and right.” The above and other similar responses recur con- stantly in all ancient Christian Liturgies. All really Primitive Christian Prayers seem to have been very bright, beautiful, Scriptural, and entirely free from the gloom and despair which became so painfully prominent in later Christian devotion, when the pure and joyous light of the Gospel had been darkened by Medieval superstitions. The following extract is from a Prayer of S. Clement of Rome, in the first century. If this Prayer was not borrowed from early Christian Liturgies, it is certain that early Christian Liturgies borrowed largely from it.— “Grant unto us, Lord, that we may set our hope on Thy Name, which is the primal source of all creation, and open the eyes of our hearts, that we may know Thee, Who alone abidest Highest in the highest, Holy 1 Neal, Zhe Primitive Liturgies (Greek Ed.), pp. 5, 6. PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES. 497 in the holy;.Who layest low the insolence of the proud, Who scatterest the imaginations of nations; Who settest the lowly on high, and bringest the lofty low; Who makest rich and makest poor; Who killest and makest alive; Who alone art the Benefactor of spirits and the God of all flesh ; Who lookest into the abysses ; Who scannest the works of man; the Succour of them that are in peril, the Saviour of them that are in despair; the Creator and Overseer of every spirit ; Who multipliest the nations upon earth, and hast chosen out from all men those that love Thee, through Jesus Christ, Thy Beloved Son, through Whom Thou didst instruct us, didst sanctify us, didst honour us. We beseech Thee, Lord and Master, to be our help and succour. Save those among us who are in tribulation; have mercy on the lowly; lift up the fallen; show Thy- self unto the needy; heal the ungodly; convert the wanderers of Thy people; feed the hungry; release the prisoners ; raise up the weak ; comfort the faint-hearted. Let all the Gentiles know that Thou art God alone, and Jesus Christ is Thy Son, and we are Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture... . O Thou, Who alone art able to do these things and things far more exceed- ing good than these for us, we praise Thee through the High-Priest and Guardian of our souls, Jesus Christ, through Whom be the glory and the majesty unto Thee both now and for all generations, and for ever and ever. Amen,” } The following Prayers for the Catechumens (those who were preparing for Holy Baptism) are from the Liturgy of S. Clement : *— The Minister says: “ Let us call upon God for the 1 Bp. Lightfoot, S. Clement of Rome, Appendix, pp. 376-378. 2 Neale, The Primitive Liturgies, pp. 85, 86. Riddle, Christian Anti- guities, pp. 334, 338; 770. 271 498 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. Catechumens, that He, Who is good and gracious unto all men, may mercifully hear their prayers and suppli- cations. May He accept their petitions, and vouchsafe unto them His aid, and grant them their hearts’ desire as may be expedient for them. May He reveal to them the Gospel of His Christ, May He enlighten and cheer their souls. May He instruct them in Divine knowledge ... May He confirm them in godliness. May He cause them to be reckoned among His holy flock. May He count them worthy of the laver of regeneration, the garment of immortality, the true life. ... Lift up yourselves, Catechumens, and pray for the peace of God through His Christ. Give up yourselves to God, the only Unbegotten, through His Christ. Bow down and receive the Blessing.” Then all the People respond, “ Lord, have mercy; ” and the Bishop says—*O Almighty, Unbegotten, and Immortal God. ... Give unto them [the Catechu- mens] a new heart... . Grant that they may be worthy of the sacred initiation [ Baptism], and incorporate them into Thy Holy Church. Grant that they may be par- takers of the Divine Mysteries [Holy Communion] through Christ, our Hope, Who died for them. Through Whom be unto Thee all glory and adoration in the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen.” Athanasius tells us that the Morning Service was opened with the following Doxology :— “Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men. We praise Thee, we magnify Thee, we give thanks to Thee, we celebrate Thy glory ; we worship Thee through the Great High Priest; Thee, the true God, the One, Unbegotten, Immortal, for Thy great glory. O Lord, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty, O Lord, the God and Father of Christ, the spotless Lamb, that taketh away the sins of the worid. SILENT PRAYERS. 499 O Thou that sittest upon the Cherubim, receive our prayer. For Thou only art Holy, Thou only art the Lord, O Jesus, the Christ of God for all created nature, our King; through Whom be unto Thee honour, praise, and adoration.” The Evening Service closed with another Dox- ology :— “ Praise the Lord, ye servants; praise the name of the Lord. We praise Thee, we glorify Thee, we give Thee thanks for Thy great glory. ... Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word,” &c. 5.—Szlent Prayers and Reverent Worship. In the Jewish Temple Services, in the Jewish Syna- sogue Services,! in Buddhist worship,” and probably in all ancient forms of worship, the loud responsive and congregational chants, doxologies, and supplications, were frequently relieved by low soft singing, and by quiet periods for Silent Prayer and Adoration. Primi- tive Christian worship, being a direct continuation of the ancient synagogue services, must also have had its soft melodies, silent adorations, and Silent Prayers. With respect to these features of Primitive Christian worship, we have direct evidence in all the Primitive Liturgies (an evidence which is not materially affected by the large allowance which must be made for later additions to these Liturgies). The Liturgy of S. Mark has several long Silent Prayers,? concluding with loud 1 See above, Chap. XXX. § 8; and Chap. XXXII. § 5. 2 Beal, Catena of the Buddhist Scriptures, p. 404. 3 Neale, Zhe Primitive Liturgies, p. 5,etsq. Silent Prayers and Prayers to be repeated in “a low voice” are still numerous in the ancient Nestorian Liturgies. See Badger’s Mestorians and their Ritual, Il. pp. 217, 219, 221 500 PRIMITIVE CHRISTJAN WORSHIP. doxologies. Other prayers were repeated softly, until the concluding doxologies were reached. The Liturgies of S. James, S. Chrysostom, S. Basil, and the Malabar Liturgy, have also their Prayers to be said “in a low voice,” and their Silent Prayers, always ending in doxo- logies which were chanted “ aloud.” The Primitive Liturgies enjoin numerous acts of Reverence: “standing,” “kneeling,’ “bowing down.” The Deacon cries, “ Let us bow our heads to the Lord:” the People, bowing, respond, “To Thee, O Lord.” S. Chrysostom speaks of the whole congregation prostrat- ing themselves on the pavement.1. There were frequent solemn bowings of the head, and frequent prostrations, in Primitive Christian worship, as there are, to the present day, in the ancient Nestorian? worship among the mountains of Kurdistan, and in all forms of Oriental devotion. Kneeling, as expressing greater humility and earnestness than standing, was the ordinary posture in Christian prayer. But on the Lord’s Day, and between Easter and Whitsuntide, kneeling was forbidden, and all Christian worshippers were required to stand in prayer, as a sign that they had risen,’ by the grace of Christ, from the death of sin to the new life of righteousness. Ceremonial ablutions,* putting off the shoes (still cus- tomary among the Nestorians*), and other reverent observances, had also a place in Primitive Christian Worship. 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig. Il. p. 1020, Art. Liturgy. 2 Badger, Westorians and their Ritual, 1. p. 221. 3 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., I. p. 725, Art. Genuflexion. 4 Tertullian, Afolog. xxxix. Cyril, Catechetical Lectures, xxiii, 2. 5 Grant, Vestorzans, p. 60. ( sor ) CHAPTER XXXIV. IDOLATROUS HEATHEN WORSHIP WAS WESTWARD: PRI- MITIVE CATHOLIC WORSHIP, EASTWARD: ROMAN AND DISSENTING WORSHIP, IN EVERY DIRECTION. IN Chapter XIV., Section 3, of this volume,! we have seen that (with exceptions due to special causes which do not affect the general principle) the zwol/e of Heathen Idolatrous Worship, properly so called—that is, worship paid to idols or images—has been for thousands of years, and still is, fixed Westward Worship. From the dawn of history to the present day, the congregations in Heathen temples have worshipped as uniformly towards the West, as congregations of English Church people worship towards the East ; and Heathen temples have been everywhere built due East and West, with their principal entrances at the East end, and the Altar and Idol-shrine at the West end,—in a word, they have been as regularly constructed for Westward Worship as English churches are for Eastward Worship. The fixed Eastward Worship which has prevailed from time immemorial in England and in every other part of Christendom (Ultramontane Italy and Protes- tant Dissent alone excepted) has undoubtedly been of Primitive, and probably of Apostolic, origin. It seems to have been established in the Apostolic age, before the close of the first century, by the concurrent action 1 See above, pp. 164-174. 502 ORIGIN AND MEANING OF of at least three original and independent causes: viz., Ist, the influence of the ancient Synagogue worship ; 2ndly, the influence of the Prophetical writings of the Old Testament and of corresponding passages in the New Testament; and {3rd, the influence of a strong and necessary reaction against the Westward Idolatry and Devil-Worship of the Heathen. Ist, with respect to the influence of the Synagogue. In all the great countries West of Jerusalem—Northern Africa, Asia Minor, Italy, Greece, Spain, France, &c.— the worship in the Jewish synagogues was virtually Eastward Worship, being towards the Holy City. But these were the countries in which almost all the most important Christian churches were founded by the Apostles and their immediate followers; and in which, consequently, Christian Worship first became consoli- dited, and acquired its most ancient and permanent characteristics,—characteristics which, as we have seen, were derived by the closest and most direct historical descent from the worship in the neighbouring Jewish synagogues. In these countries, therefore, the worship in the Primitive Christian churches—or more correctly, in the Primzteve Christian Synagogues (for such they were)—was necessarily Eastward; and this Eastward direction, impressed by the influence of the Synagogue on early Christian Worship, was afterwards jealously maintained, on independent grounds, in all the quarters of the globe to which Christianity spread. 2ndly. Jewish influence, as a producing cause in con- nection with Christian worship, was of course merely temporary. This must have been, in some measure, felt from the first. Our Lord had predicted the com- plete and final overthrow of the whole Jewish polity, 1 Vitringa, De Synagoga Vetere, pp. 178, 457. See on the subject of Eastward Worship my /earty Services, pp. Vil.-xvi., 145-164, 167-195. PRIMITIVE CATHOLIC EASTWARD WORSHIP. 503 and the utter destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Even before the fulfilment of this prediction, and still more after its fulfilment in A.D. 70, the early Christian congregations must have perceived that old things were rapidly passing away, and that all things were becom- ing new. But meanwhile, the Eastward direction im- pressed upon Christian worship had drawn around itself the support of more Evangelical and permanent associa- tions than those by which it had been originally pro- duced. It was remembered that the inspired Hebrew Prophets had, centuries before, regarded the sun, rising in the luminous East, and rejoicing and blessing the world with his flood of glorious light, as a fitting type or symbol of Christ, the rising “Sun of Righteous- ness ;”! by whose bright beams of everlasting truth, and love, and purity, “all the families of the earth were to be blessed.” “ Arise, shine; for thy Light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy Light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”2 Also, in the New Testament Christ was clearly revealed as “the True Light,” “the Light of the World,’ “the Bright, the Morning Star:” “the people which sat in darkness saw a great Light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did Light spring up.”? With thoughts full of these glorious spiritual and Scriptural associations, the Primitive Chris- tian congregations loved to worship, as Tertullian tells us, towards the radiant “ East, that figure of Christ.” # Mal. 4. 2. Is. 60. I-3. Mattat 160) John ty 93 .8)12. J Rev 22.16: Tertullian, Aadver. Valentin., iii., “ Orventem, Christi figuram:” cf, A polog., xvi. me bt we 504 ORIGIN AND MEANING OF 3rd. Probably the most powerful of the various in- fluences which determined the Eastward direction of Primitive Christian worship, was a wise and necessary reaction and protest against the corrupt Westward Idolatry and Devil-Worship in the Heathen temples. The necessity of utterly abolishing the whole of this degrading Westward devotion appears to have been felt by the best spirits among the Heathen long before the coming of Christ. At least five centuries B.c., Zoroaster in Persia, and the original apostles of Buddhism in the far East, appear to have endeavoured to win men from the prevalent debasing idolatries by teaching them to worship fowards the East;+ and there was a Heathen tradition, probably true, that in the earliest ages of the world, when religion was pure, all worship had been Eastward. We have just seen that Christ was revealed and wor- shipped as “the Light of the world,” the rising “ Sun of Righteousness.” In harmony with this, His King- dom was regarded as the Kingdom of Light; and His Saints as the “ Children of Light,” “ believing in the Light,” wearing the ‘armour of Light,’ “walking in the Light,” “rejoicing in the Light.” On the other hand, Satan was regarded as the Prince of Darkness ; his Kingdom, as the Kingdom of Darkness; his ser- vants, as Children of Darkness, dwelling “in Darkness,” “loving Darkness,” “ walking in Darkness,” “ sitting in Darkness,” “ under the power of Darkness,” “ doing the works of Darkness ;” and their destination hereafter, “outer Darkness,’ ‘“‘the blackness of Darkness for ever.” > In the Western part of Heathen temples, as if 1 See above, pp. 172, 173. 4*Luke 16.8. John 5°35 312. 36. Ephics/ 8; 14. 1 Johnitay. > Matts25.030. WJ ohnetoesses. 190.) Roms '2)195 2351 20g ee r Thess. 5.5. . Jude 0,13. PRIMITIVE CATHOLIC EASTWARD WORSHIP. 505 emerging from the regions of Darkness, the terrible Devil-Idols appeared ; and the Heathen bowed down and worshipped Devils, and “sacrificed to Devils,” towards the West, “the region of sensible darkness,” as S. Cyril calls it, the symbol of the Prince of Darkness, “that dark and gloomy Potentate,” “the Prince of the Devils,” the Lord of “the rulers of the Darkness of this world,” } The first Christian converts from Heathenism trans- ferred their allegiance from Satan to Christ. By re- pentance, faith, and holy Baptism, they were translated from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Kingdom of Light. They renounced Idolatry and Devil-Worship for ever. In short, they renounced their former master with his deeds ; and they surrendered themselves, body, soul, and spirit, to Christ, to believe in Him, to love Him, to serve Him, to gladly do and suffer all things for His sake, and for the extension of His kingdom and glory. All this was beautifully symbolized, and the Church’s protest against Westward Devil-Worship was solemnly formulated, in the primitive ritual of Holy Baptism. Before receiving Baptism, the converts were required to ‘face towards the West;’ and were then ‘commanded to stretch forth the hand, and as if in the presence of Satan, to say, “I renounce thee, Satan”’ This solemn and emphatic renunciation was repeated three times. Then turning their faces ‘from the West to the East, the place of Light,’ and lifting up their hands and eyes Eastward and heavenward, they made their covenant with Christ: they surrendered themselves to Him Who had given Himself for them ; and they thrice rehearsed the articles of their belief, the primitive Creed.? 2 CWC eOgeetee Leciuses, XIX, 2, 4,.0. Ley. 17. 7. Weut, 32.07. Fs 106.37. Cor, 10.20. Rev. 0.°20: 2 Cyril, Catechetical Lectures, xix. 2, 4, 9. Smith’s Dect. of Christian Antig., I. p. 160, Art. Baptism. 506 CATHOLIC EASTWARD WORSHIP We have doubtless here the origin of turning solemnly to the East during the recital of the Creeds. Nor can we doubt that this ancient protest against Heathen- ism, and this Eastward profession of loyalty to Christ, sO appropriately and beautifully expressed, and as it were crystallised, in the primitive ritual of Baptism, must have exercised a powerful influence in determining the Eastward direction of all truly Catholic and Chris- tian worship. The ancient Christian Fathers also connected other pious associations with the Eastward worship of the Church: as, for example, that the Garden of Eden, the Paradise of man before the Fall, was in the East: that Christ came in the East: that He ascended into heaven from the East; and that He will return to the earth in the East. They also believed that our Lord hung upon the Cross with his face Westward; and, therefore, in Western Christendom, this was assigned as a reason why all should pray Eastward, towards His face. If the above account of the origin of Eastward Wor- ship in the Primitive Catholic Church be substantially correct, it follows that Christian Eastward Worship had no connection with Sun-Worship. Indeed Sun-Worship itself was only Eastward at one of its three daily ser- vices (viz., at sunrise), being towards the Meridian at noon, and Westward at sunset; and the worship paid to Sun-Idols in Heathen temples was always West- ward! On the other hand, the worship of the Church rested upon entirely independent principles ; and was fixed Eastward Worship at all hours of the day and night, without the slightest regard to the local position of the sun in the heavens. Sun-worship is, I believe, never alluded to, excepting once, by the early Christian i Sée above, p. 165. NOT SUN-WORSHIP. 507 Fathers, in connection with the Catholic custom of worshipping Eastward. The exceptional allusion re- ferred to is in Tertullian.) Writing about the close of the second century, he mercilessly ridiculed, in eloquent and scornful language, the stupidity and ignorance of the heathen, some of whom supposed that the Christians were Sun-worshippers because they observed ‘ Sun- day” and “turned to the East in prayer.” Tertullian indignantly denied this ignorant accusation, and pointed out that these Christian observances were “ from a far different reason than Sun-Worship.” “The Object of our worship,” he exclaimed, “is the One God, He who by His commanding word, His arranging wisdom, His mighty power, brought forth from nothing this entire mass of our world [the organized and glorious universe], with all its array of elements, bodies, spirits, for the glory of His Majesty.” “The eye cannot see Him, though He is (spiritually) visible. He is incomprehen- sible, though in grace He is manifested.” “ Christ is Spin om Spirits) ¢ God) of« God," Light of Lisht; * and, therefore, as the same writer tells us elsewhere, in a passage already referred to, the Primitive Christians worshipped towards the shining “ East, that Figure of Christ.” ? Further : the Eastward Direction of Primitive Catholic Worship appears to have had no special connection with Eucharistic doctrine. 1 would remind the reader that the Eastward Worship which (in the great provinces West of Jerusalem) prevailed in all the Jewish syna- gogues, and passed from them into the early Christian synagogues or churches, was essentially one and un- divided. The Jewish congregations, the readers and choristers on the great central platform, and equally the 1 A polog. xvi. 2 Ibid. xvii., xxi.; Adver. Valentzn., iii. 508 CATHOLIC EASTWARD WORSHIP ministers at the shrine in the solemn rite of unveiling the Divine Law, looked and worshipped Eastward. If any worshippers were, for convenience, seated on side benches, or on benches attached to the Eastern wall, with their faces looking North, South, or West, they nevertheless scrupulously recognised the principle, by turning round and bowing towards the East (z2., towards the Holy City) in all the more solemn addresses to God during the service. This was not worship of the Shrine, or of the Ark, or of the Law in the Ark, or of anything else zz the synagogue: for the later Jews were morbidly suspicious and jealous not only of idolatry, but of everything which even remotely resem- bled idolatry: in their synagogues, as elsewhere, they worshipped the Supreme God alone; but in accordance with inspired precedent, they directed their worship towards His Holy City in the East. Nor was this Eastward Direction of their Worship sacrificial or sacra- mental: for there were no sacrifices nor sacraments in the Jewish synagogues; and after the destruction of the Temple, A.D. 70, there were no sacrifices even at Jerusa- lem. And this worship was, I repeat, one and undivided in each and every synagogue. The Eastward Position (to use a modern term) of the whole congregation in all the more solemn parts of the worship, and the East- ward Position of the readers and choristers on their central platform, and (at the principal rite of the ser- vice) the Eastward Position of the ministers before the unveiled Ark in the Shrine, did not signify different things, but the same thing: they all were parts of one and the same whole: they all were alike symbolical of pure monotheistic worship paid to Jehovah in the direction of the Holy City where He had put His Name. Such was also the Eastward Worship in the primitive Christian synagogues or churches. It was NOT SYMBOLICAL OF EUCHARISTIC DOCTRINE. 509 essentially one and undivided: the Eastward Position of the congregation, and the Eastward Position of the readers and choristers on the central platform, and equally the Eastward Position of the ministers at the Lord’s Table (which took the place of the Ark) in the Shrine, had not different significations, but the same signification: they all symbolized one and the same thing, viz., pure monotheistic worship paid to the Triune Jehovah, through Christ “the Light of the World.” The reader will have observed that all the distinctively Christian ideas which the early Fathers associated with the Eastward Direction of their Wor- ship were non-Eucharistic. It is clear, therefore, that the Church’s custom of worshipping Eastward ought not to be understood as affirming or denying any par- ticular Eucharistic doctrine; nor has it any legitimate connection with Eucharistic controversy. All attempts (of which there have been many in recent times) to associate Eastward Worship, wholly orin part, with this controversy—or to represent Turning to the East at the Creeds, or the Eastward Position of Priests at the Lord’s Table, as symbolizing anything different from that which is symbolized by the Eastward Position of the congregation—are utterly artificial, and unhistorical. The Catholic Eastward Worship of the Church has, however, from the very first, had a close historical con- nection with the Sacrament of Holy Baptism; and has always been understood to symbolize, very beautifully and expressively, some of the grandest Evangelical truths of our Faith. Having endeavoured, in the preceding paragraphs, to explain to the reader the origin and import of the Eastward Direction of Primitive Christian Worship, I must now briefly refer to its subsequent history. In countries situated to the East of Jerusalem, the 510 PRIMITIVE CATHOLIC EASTWARD WORSHIP worship in the Jewish synagogues, being towards the Holy City, was necessarily Westward. As soon, there- fore, as Christianity began to extend itself into these regions, a collision between the Eastward worship of the Church and the Westward worship of the local synagogues was inevitable. Were the new Christian congregations in Oriental countries to follow the ex- ample of the svnagogues, and to worship Westward, towards the ruins of Jerusalem, as Daniel’ had done? or were they, giving exclusive precedence to Christian ideas and associations, to turn their backs upon Jerusa- lem, and worship towards the radiant East, which symbolized Christ? These questions suggest the crounds of a conflict which actually arose, and which must have greatly excited the feelings of earnest men on both sides. To this conflict—which was really waged between the Catholic Church, on the one side, and the Judaizing sectaries on the other—we seem to be indebted for the earliest extant historical allusion to the Eastward worship of the Church. The Book of Elkesai—which was held in high repute by the Judaizing party in the second century—represents Elkesai, per- haps correctly, as a Judaizing teacher, who had great influence about A.D. IOI, in the countries bordering on the Dead Sea—that is, in a region East of Jerusalem, where this question was sure to arise. He strictly pro- hibited his followers from worshipping towards the East. In whatever part of the world they might be, whether East, West, North, or South, he required them to pray, like the Jews, towards Jerusalem, and in no other di- rection. The inference is, that Elkesai was an uncom- promising opponent of the Catholic. custom of wor- shipping Eastward, which had previously, during the 1 Dan. 6. Io. IN CONFLICT WITH ORIENTAL JUDAISM. 511 lifetime of S. John, become firmly established in the Apostolic Church.! The Apostolical Constitutions, although containing much later matter, may here be cited as directing the whole congregation to “rise up with one consent, and looking to the East, pray to God Eastward.” ‘Tertul- lian and Clement of Alexandria, both of whom were born about A.D. 160, mention the same rule as an established custom in Christian worship. Basil, Augus- tine, Cyril of Jerusalem, and other writers of the fourth and subsequent centuries, testify to the universality of Eastward worship in ancient Catholic Christendom.? The earliest assailants of the Eastward worsnip of the Church were, as we have seen, the Judaizing sectaries in countries East of Jerusalem. It was, however, only a question of time when the Church’s Eastward worship would come into collision with a far more formidable rival—viz., the vast system of Westward worship in the pagan temples, and the public taste and architectural ideas which had for ages been based upon this system. A serious conflict was here awaiting the Church; and its importance and interest are not diminished by the fact that, like many of the great systemic conflicts in both the aggregate and individual life of man, it was carried on toa great extent unconsciously by the im- mediate agents, and with but little, if any, of the noisy controversy which so often magnifies superficial differ- ences, while it blindly leaves the deeper and more vital antagonisms of human life and principle entirely un- touched and unperceived. This conflict (which was, I repeat, of a peaceful and 1 Epiphanius, Yer. xix. 3. For a further account of Elkesai, see Hyp- polytus, ix. 13; Eusebius, H.E., vi. 38; Mansel’s Gwostic Heresies, pp. 234-238; and Dr. Salmon’s Art. on Z/kesaz in Smith’s Dict. of Christian Biog., Il., p. 95. 2 Smith’s Dict. of Christ.an Antigq., I., p. 586, Art. East, Prayer towards 512 PRIMITIVE CATHOLIC EASTWARD WORSHIP uncontroversial character, but none the less real on that account) appears to have begun in the long period of toleration, during the latter part of the third century ; and it continued until the middle of the fifth century, that is, for nearly 200 years, and in some places much longer. As it seems to have left no traces in the ex- tant controversial writings of the early Church, it re- mains for us to consider what light the history of primi- tive Christian architecture throws upon this subject. But here we at once encounter a serious obstacle to our successfully prosecuting this inquiry: namely, this— that almost all the Christian churches erected during the first three centuries were utterly destroyed in the Diocletian persecution. By an imperial Edict, A.D. 303, the Emperor Diocletian ordered that all Christian churches should be razed to the ground.’ This Edict did its work of destruction with the machine-like pre- cision and thoroughness characteristic of Roman organi- zation. Excepting perhaps in Ireland in the far West, in outlying districts of Africa in the South, and among the mountains of Kurdistan in the far East—which were then, for the most part, unknown and barbarous regions, virtually beyond the limits of Roman jurisdic- tion—it is probable that not a single church escaped demolition. Although the ancient churches in these remote countries must be regarded as true types of the general structure of primitive Christian churches, it is certain that, in dimensions and architectural adorn- ments, they were inferior to the contemporary churches destroyed by the Diocletian Edict, in more civilised lands. We have seen above that the first Christian churches were virtually Christian syzagogues, and were almost 1 Eusebius, H.E., viii. 2. The Edict seems to have been issued carly in 303, which in the old reckoning was 302. ORIENTATION OF SYNAGOGUE-CHURCHES. 513 identical, in their structure, with the neighbouring syna- gogues of the Jews: that is, they were rectangular buildings (like the Jewish Temple), with rectangular shrines, ordinarily situated within, or projecting into, the East end of the nave. The readers and choristers, with their faces looking Eastward, chanted the greater part of the Service on an oblong platform in the middle of the building: but it is probable that in the central part of the Communion Office, which was always the climax of primitive Christian Worship (for a// members of the Church were weekly recipients of the Holy Com- munion in those days), the officiating ministers (still following synagogue usage) stood at the Shrine, before the Lord’s Table (which now took the place of the Ark), while chanting the most solemn prayers and doxologies, and leading the devotions of the people. There must have been great numbers of these ancient synagogue- churches scattered all over the Roman Empire before their demolition by the Diocletian Edict. Fortunately, however, a few obscure members of this great family of churches seem to have escaped the persecutor, and to have survived to the present day. It is well known that S. Patrick’s mission to Ireland, A.D, 432, was not the first planting of Christianity in that country. By some links of connection not yet satisfactorily explained, Christianity passed direct into Ireland, at a very early date, from its original home in Syria and Asia Minor. The first churches erected in Ireland, in those primitive times, were of the synagogue type of architecture. The little church of Gallerus in Kerry, evidently Asiatic and Jewish in its structure, is probably an actual survival to the present day of one of the earliest buildings erected for Christian worship, Hundreds of its family, and possibly of its contempo- raries, were Swept away by the Edict of 303. It is very 2K 514 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN EASTWARD WORSHIP. small; of very rude work ; and built on the synagogue plan, being rectangular in form. It is strictly oriented: that is, placed East and West, with the door at the West end. The worship was evidently Eastward. In Cornwall, at a later date, the Irish missionaries built a similar church in honour of one of their number, S. Piran or S. Keiran. It also is strictly oriented: it is rectangular in form; and the Saint’s tomb, close against the East end wall, was used as an altar or Table of the Lord, for the celebration of the Holy Communion. Other churches of the same family are found in Ireland, and marking the track of the Irish missionaries in England. It is noteworthy that in this most ancient family of churches no semi-circular chancel, or “ apse,” is ever found. The churches themselves, and the chancels when marked, are always rectangular. The principal entrance is in, or near, the West end, and the Lord’s Table at the East end. The worship was evi- dently Eastward. How strongly the ancient Irish Church felt with respect to the orientation of churches, may be inferred from the fact that a very few ancient Irish churches, which were, by accident, or for special reasons, built North and South, instead of East and West, were called Sava/s, that is, Barns, to indicate their deviation from ecclesiastical propriety.! The ancient Nestorian churches among the moun- tains of Kurdistan, in eastern Armenia and Persia, are constructed of rough materials, but are very strongly and substantially built, and are evidently of great antiquity. According to ecclesiastical tradition, Chris- tianity was planted in these regions by Mar Mari and 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., I. p. 343, Art. Chapel; Dict. of the Bible, II. p. 1398, Art. Synagogue. Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture, p. 925. Todd, S. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, p. 412. ORIENTATION OF SYNAGOGUE-CHURCHES. 515 Mar Addai, two of the “Seventy”! whom our Lord sent forth; and the Nestorians regard Mar Mari, who, after many labours, died at Ctesiphon A.D. 82, as their first Patriarch, These poor mountaineers have the greatest veneration for their churches. No persecu- tions, no dangers to life and property, and no oppor- tunities for worldly advancement elsewhere, can induce them to migrate from their ancient sanctuaries. They say, ‘How can we abandon the churches where our forefathers worshipped, and where their bones have rested through many generations?” The whole of the circumstances and history of the Nestorian Church make it highly probable that the more ancient of these venerated buildings date from the second and third centuries. They are strictly oriented, and rectangular in form, with the Lord’s Table close against the East wall, in a rectangular shrine. The clergy and people enter at the West end, and always worship Eastward. It is also worthy of note that the most ancient church in Africa which has remained to our time in its original condition—namely, the church of D’jemila *—* presents the remarkable peculiarity of being without an apse.” We have, therefore, in Kurdistan, Africa, and Ireland, survivals of the ancient family of oriented, rectangular synagogue-churches, which were doubtless, in all pro- vinces of the Empire, the earliest sanctuaries of Chris- tian worship. The custom of placing Litany Desks in the xzaves of our churches, so that the readers must chant the Litany with their faces looking Eastward, seems to have de- scended to us from the ancient arrangement by which readers and choristers occupied a platform in the middle 1 Luke 10.1. Badger, Mestorians and their Rituals, I. p. 136, 226, 227. 2 It measures 92 feet by 52. Smith’s Dict, of Christian Antig., I. p. 366, Art. Church. 516 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN EASTWARD WORSHIP. of the early Christian churches and Jewish synagogues. How long this latter arrangement (which still prevails in synagogues) lingered in the Church, may be inferred from the following facts: (1) that when Justinian re- built the great church of S. Sophia in Constantinople, A.D. 544, he constructed, nearly in the middle of the church, but more towards the East, a large platform, the higher and front part of which—reserved for the Readers as distinguished from the Choir, and called the Ambo—was sufficiently spacious for the coronation of the Emperor; (2) that in the plan of the church of S. Gall, A.D. 820, the Readers’ platform was still in the ancient position, nearly in the centre of the nave.! During the long period of toleration which closed the third century, Christianity made enormous advances. Multitudes of converts were gained from all classes, and in all parts of the Empire. Eusebius tells us that “the ancient buildings ’—that is, the oriented rectangular synagogue churches which I have just described, and many of which were already “ancient” at the end of the third century—were no longer able to hold the crowds of worshippers who flocked to them: “on whose account,” he adds, “more spacious churches” were then erected.” These new and “more spacious churches” were all destroyed in 303. But there is evidence that at Nicomedia and elsewhere some of the new churches represented a new type of architecture: instead of being synagogue-churches derived from Hebrew models, they were what for want of a better name I must call femple- basilican-churches, derived from Heathen models. At this time, the Church had a living Faith and Worship ; but had not yet developed any original school of archi- tects competent to construct the large and stately 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antiq., I. p. 73, Art. Amdo. 2 Eusebius, H.E., viii. 1. ADVERSE INFLUENCE OF HEATHEN ARCHITECTURE. 517 buildings which then became necessary for the daily increasing crowds of worshippers, On the other hand, we cannot doubt that among the new converts were many accomplished Heathen architects, who carried their architectural ideas with them into the Church. Consequently, as I have said, some of the new churches were of a new type, which I have ventured to describe as temple-basilican-churches. The great temples of antiquity had an outer Court (atrium) surrounded by colonnades, and entered from the East by magnificent gateways. mia principal front and entrance of the temple itself were at the East end, and the Idol-Shrine at the West end. Between the Great Eastern Gates of the court and the entrance of the temple, in the open court, there was a sacred fountain, at which those about to enter the temple purified them- selves. Such were the sacred buildings to which the heathens were accustomed ; and the new churches, being religious buildings, were made, externally, exactly like them,—with Eastern outer Gates, open Court (atrium), Fountain, Eastern Entrance to the church itself, and Western Chancel or Shrine 1—which was a complete reversal of the plan of the ancient oriented synagogue- churches. But the temple arrangement, although adopted for the erterzor of the new churches, was obvi- ously unsuitable for their zzterzor. A covered building of another type had, therefore, to be sought. It was found ready to hand in the great daszlicas? that is, the law- courts or town-halls of the ancient heathen world. Speaking generally, one may say that the ancient secular basilica resembled a modern parish church, with its nave, pillars, and side aisles: but instead of having a rectangular chancel, the basilica had a raised semz- 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., I. pp. 365, 366, 368, Art. Church. ? Ibid. p. 181, Art. Baszlica. 518 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN EASTWARD WORSHIP. circular Apse, which was the most honourable part of the building ; and upon the chord of the apse there was an altar of the gods. Around this Apse, sat in state the judges and other persons of importance, with their faces towards the people. At the beginning and end of all public business, one of the occupants of the Apse advanced to the altar; and standing with his back to the apse, and his face towards the altar and towards the people, he devoutly poured out a libation to the sods. Immediately in front of the altar, and situated (as we should express it) at the inner end of the nave close to the chancel steps or chord of the Apse, there was a Platform not quite so high as the Apse, but higher than the nave. This platform, from which the public were excluded by rails, was reserved for mem- bers of the bar, witnesses, &c—The new Christian churches were, zxzternally, exactly like the basilicas ; and, in many cases, the old secular basilicas were used as churches. The Holy Table replaced the altar on the chord of the Apse; and the seats around the apse were occupied by the Bishop and clergy, the Bishop’s throne being in the centre, the place occupied in secular basilicas by the chief judge. The celebrant at the Holy Communion stood at the Lord’s Table with his back towards the Apse, and his face towards the Holy Table and towards the people. Immediately before him, in the nave, the Readers and Choir occupied the platform which in secular basilicas was reserved for advocates and witnesses. In the Middle Ages, this platform was taken away: the Lord’s Table was moved further back; and the Readers and Choir were still further isolated by being placed zz Chancels which were abnormally elon- gated to receive them. But these changes did not take place until several centuries after the time of which I am speaking. ADVERSE INFLUENCE OF HEATHEN ARCHITECTURE. 519 The reader will now understand why I have called these churches ¢emple - basilican - churches; they were temples without, and basilicas within. Like temples, they were adapted for Westward, rather than for East- ward worship; while the basilican arrangements removed the ministers and choir from the middle of the people, and isolated them in positions unsuitable for leading the worship, and devised originally for an entirely different purpose. In secular basilicas it was above all things important that the multitude should be sz/ent, and unable to interrupt or influence the administration of justice by the officials on the platform and apse. The arrangements made for this purpose were admirable and sensible. But the adoption of these arrange- ments in sacred buildings, in which it was above all things important that the people should zo¢ be silent, and should zot be zsolated from the officials who were to influence and lead their worship, was a grave practical blunder. We have no means of judging how many of these new and spacious temple-basilican-churches were erected at this time. In 303, all churches, both new and old, were, with some few exceptions (which we have noted), mercilessly swept away. Nine years later, A.D. 312, the victory of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, placed Christianity at the head of the civilized world. The inherent powers of the new faith, the natural reaction after a period of persecution and im- perial influence, now drew into the Church myriads of half-pagan converts. But the Church had no buildings of any kind to receive them. Probably never before or since in Christendom was there such an urgent neces- sity for the immediate erection of countless spacious churches. An immense effort was made to provide them; and magnificent new churches rose as if by 520 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN EASTWARD WORSHIP. magic in all directions. Eusebius describes these churches (which he significantly calls temples) as “ far exceeding in splendour those that had been formerly destroyed.” + But the Church had no adequate archi- tecture of her own. Consequently in these great works architects trained in heathen schools had it all their own way; and public taste, which had been formed by the splendid temples and basilicas of antiquity, seems to have been entirely with the architects. Almost all the instances I can find of churches built between 312 and 450, are of the temple-basilican type: temples without, basilicas within. The great church built at Bethlehem, by order of Constantine, was a basilica, with a chancel terminating in three apses immediately over, or close to, the holy grotto, the place of the Nativity.2 Unlike ordinary churches of the temple-basilican class, the entrance was at the West end and the chancel at the East: but this arrangement was rendered necessary by the character of the ground. The position of the chancel was fixed by the grotto: on the West of which was a platform, and on the East a steep ascent, making approach from the East impossible. The building had, therefore, to be approached and entered from the West: but this was (in churches of thts family) an exceptional arrangement, due to a special cause. The church of Paulinus at Tyre (313) had its principal front and its three entrance doors at the East end. Constantine’s church at Jerusalem (333) had its principal front looking Eastward; was entered from the East by three doors; and had an apsidal chancel at the West end. The great churches of S. Peter at Rome and S. Sophia at Constantinople, as 4 ‘Eusebius, Hi By x.)2} 4: 2 Conder’s Zent Work in Palestine, I. pp. 284, 285. ADVERSE INFLUENCE OF HEATHEN ARCHITECTURE. 521 originally built at this time, faced the East; were entered from the East ; and had apsidal chancels at the West. The church of Reparatus in Algeria (325) was a basilica, with an apse. Socrates, the ecclesiastical historian, who was born about A.D. 380, notes it as a remarkable and exceptional circumstance that the church at Antioch was entered from the West: “At Antioch in Syria the site of the church is zzverted; so that the altar, instead of looking towards the East, faces the West.”! It is clear that when Socrates wrote, altars usually stood near the West end of churches, with their ornamental fronts towards entrance doors at the East. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, A.D. 409, apologizes for building his church at Nola with the ornamental front and principal entrance towards the tomb of his patron Felix, instead of towards the East; which latter was, he tells us, in his time, the more usual custom (wsztatzor mos est). The church of S. Stephano, built at Rome in 440, was entered from the East. In all churches of this family, the Holy Table was necessarily near the West end, and the chancels were rounded or apsidal. They were more suitable for Westward than for East- ward worship. There being no seats, however, in the nave and aisles, made it comparatively easy for the worshippers to turn to the East, as we know that they did, in their devotions; but this necessitated their turn- ing their backs upon the choir, the Holy Table, and the clergy. The marvel is that the Eastward direction of Chris- tian worship was not lost under the circumstances just described. So firmly, however, was it established, that it survived a sojourn of 200 years in ¢emple-bastlican- churches ; and ultimately revolutionized the sacred archi- + Socrates, 11. Kew 22) 2 Paulinus of Nola, Z/. xxxii. 13. 522 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN EASTWARD WORSHIP tecture of the ancient world. In this particular, the victory of Christian over Pagan ideas was silent, and upon the whole complete. After the close of the fifth century, we again find orzented churches (although often of the basilican type) rising rapidly everywhere. The cathedral of Bosrah (512) was built with an apsidal chancel at the Hast end. The cathedral of Parenzo in Istria (512) had its principal front and entrance at the West end. S. Sophia at Constantinople was burnt down in 544; and was rebuilt with the principal face and entrance at the West, and the Holy Table, at the, East.» The» churcheof, 5: Apollingremia Classe was built at Ravenna in 549, with an apsidal chancel at the East, and perhaps the earliest instance of a Tower at the West end. Instances need not be multi- plied. The orientation of churches, which had tempor- arily received a check from the influence of heathen architecture, was now almost everywhere re-established. In every country, the ancient Catholic idea gained, sooner or later, a complete victory, Italy alone ex- cepted. But there, ike many other ancient Catholic ideas, it was overmatched by Paganism, forgotten, and lost. The Italian Church was more deeply paganized than any other part of Christendom, and consequently its Eastward worship entirely disappeared. Italian churches are to this day built in every direction. The High Altar in S. Peter’s at Rome is at the West end ; and the Pope, when saying Mass, stands behind the Altar with his face to the people, exactly as the Heathen did in the ancient basilicas. The history of this struggle may be illustrated by what took place at a later date in England. The Roman missionaries arrived here in the year 597. They brought with them many new customs differing from those established by the Irish missionaries in the SURVIVES PAGAN INFLUENCE EXCEPT IN ITALY. 523 native churches throughout the country. Angry con- troversies soon arose, which the political influence of Rome soon decided in favour of the new teachers, and the Irish missionaries were obliged to withdraw from England. Among other novelties, the Roman teachers brought with them the temple-basilican architecture. The original cathedral at Canterbury, the centre of the Roman influence, was a temple-basilican-church, with an altar and apsidal chancel at the West end. But the rude oriented chapels, with rectangular chancels, in which the banished missionaries had cele- brated the rites of religion, were indissolubly associated, in the minds of the people, with their highest ideas of unworldliness and sanctity. Pilgrimages were made to them. They were regarded with an extreme and grow- ing veneration: in imitation of them, oriented churches with rectangular chancels were built everywhere; and eventually an Altar was erected at the East end of Canterbury Cathedral itself. Almost all the great temple-basilican-churches of both Eastern and Western Christendom (external to Italy) were gradually oriented, by transferring the apse from the West to the East end. Since the Reformation, Ultra-Protestant sectaries have built their own churches in every direction; and have assailed Eastward worship under a vague impression that it was either Sun-worship or Popery! This, how- ever, has been a historical mistake. If the above account be substantially correct, the true position of the question may be thus summed up: Pagan Idolatrous Worship is, in the main, Westward ; Pure Catholic Christian Worship, Eastward; Roman and Dissenting Worship, in Every Direction. ( 524 ) Aree ANE? O.S.01F THE DRESS OF PRIMITIVE, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIPPERS AND MINISTERS. 1. Christian Secular Dress, Primitive and Medieval.—2. Christian Sacred Dress, Primitive, Medieval, and Modern. 1.—Christian Secular Dress, Primitive and Medteval. IN view of a subject so inexhaustible as Primitive, Medieval, and Modern Christian Worship, 1 would remind the reader that the scope of the present work is limited. Our subject is not Worship in all its extent, but merely a few of the External Characteristics of Worship. I have endeavoured to ascertain and test some of these Characteristics by a somewhat induc- tive method of inquiry; and in these Chapters on Christian Worship, I aim at little more than presenting to the reader a limited number of representative facts, which will connect Christian Worship with the principal lines of thought previously followed out in this volume. The Primitive Christian /azty always wore, in daily life, the ordinary dress of their station, profession, and country. Excepting that they paid a stricter regard to modesty than was customary among the Heathen, and usually avoided excessive luxuriousness and dis- play in apparel, the early Christians did not differ in either speech, manners, or dress, from the Heathen around them. They aimed at living devoutly, humbly, = CHRISTIAN SECULAR DRESS. 525 purely, and unostentatiously, in the fear of God; and they affected no peculiarity of any kind. In ordinary life, during the first five centuries, the Christian clergy dressed like the laity, but in a still more sober and unobtrusive style. There was then no distinction between the czvz/ dress of the clergy and that of the laity.) All wore the dark-coloured, some- what short working-tunic, varied in material, form, and decoration, according to the wearer’s rank in Society. From the beginning of the fifth century, the Bishops of Rome occupied a great civil position in the state: they exercised immense magisterial authority; and they assumed, as insignia of their office, decorations derived from the civil magistracies of the old Roman republic. Similar decorations and gorgeous robes indicating secular authority were also worn by the Bishops of Constantinople, and by other Bishops, who followed the example of the Bishop of Rome, and were, like him, high civil officials in the state. Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome A.D. 590, is sometimes repre- sented as wearing nearly the same dress and insignia as would have been his had he been Consul under the Empire.? Taste in dress, as well as in other things, had been rapidly decaying since the time of Constantine. There is abundant evidence that in the 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries, many of the Bishops adopted the greatest Oriental splendour in their secu/ar dress; and their example was readily followed by numbers of the clergy. The Second Council of Nicea, A.D. 787, censured both Bishops and Clergy for loving to “distinguish them- selves by the richness and brilliant colours of their dress,’ by “golden girdles and garments bright with silk and purple.” 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., I. pp. 580, 581, Art. Dress. 2 Ibid. Marriott, Vestiarium Christianum, pp. xlvi, xlvii, xlviii, lii. 526 CHRISTIAN SECULAR DRESS. It is worthy of note, however, that these gorgeous garments were imperial and secular in their origin and import; and were not at this date used in sacred minis- trations. Nor did they, at first, constitute any departure from the primitive custom, that Christian ministers and laymen should wear the same secular dress in daily life: for these were secular dresses, and were in the main identical with those then worn by laymen of great wealth or high official position. This development of splendour in Episcopal and clerical czvz/ dress was occa- sioned, Ist, by the Bishops and clergy attaining high official positions in the state; and, 2ndly, by the growing tendency to luxuriousness and worldliness in the Church. The Dress of which I have been speaking, whether clerical or lay, gorgeous or simple, was, up to the sixth century, essentially Roman, that is, Ovzenda/ in its char- acter. But in the sixth century, the dress of the old Roman civilization began to rapidly disappear in the West. The laity almost universally adopted the trowsers, the short military tunic (like a Highland kilt), and the short military cloak, of the barbarous Teutonic invaders, who then overran the Empire. The Bishops and clergy, who long hoped for a restoration of the ancient Ro- man Empire and civilization, strenuously resisted these changes ; and were careful always to use only the Roman form of dress. Hence arose a marked distinction between the civil dress of the laity and that of the clergy: a distinction which has been since maintained under various forms. In many countries the clergy still wear as their ordinary dress the long dark tunic or cassock, as some do in our own country; and where this is dispensed with, the conventional form and colour of the clergymans dress always distinguish him from the layman. CHRISTIAN SACRED DRESS. 527 2.—Christian Sacred Dress, Primitive, Medieval, and Modern. In all ancient nations, there was a wide distinction between the daily dress of active life, and the dress of ceremony, or Sacred Dress, which was always worn by the /azty when they attended as worshippers in the temples. The Primitive Christians, when worshipping in their churches (which they sometimes called temples’), wore the customary Sacred Dress of the time, just as, in daily life, they wore the customary civil dress. I have described in an earlier Chapter what this Sacred Dress was.” In both Heathen and Jewish worship, every lay worshipper wore (if possible), Ist, a long white tunic or cassock, reaching to the feet; and, 2ndly, a flowing white supervesture reaching below the knees. The long white tunic was provided with a girdle, and was usually decorated with a deep stole-like stripe, of black, blue or purple, extending, in front, from between the neck and shoulders, on either side, to the lower edge of the tunic. The white supervesture, called by the Jews a Tallith, was ordinarily adorned with bars of purple, red, or blue at the edges. Differences in the quality of the texture, differences in the form (as whether more or less ample and flowing), and differences in the depth, colour, and arrangement of the ornamental stripes and bars, were employed to indicate differences of rank in those who wore these garments.? While clothed in this Sacred Dress, the ancients avoided active exertion as much as possible: but if such exertion became necessary, the flowing super- vesture was, for the time, laid aside, and the long white 1 Eusebius, H.E., x. 2. 2 See above, pp. 194-197, 380, 468. 3 Marriott, Vestiarium Christianum, pp. XxxVil, XXxvViil. 528 CHRISTIAN SACRED DRESS— tunic was sometimes girt up. Consequently, the rank and file of Jewish and Heathen Sacrificing Priests never wore a supervesture while performing their sacerdotal functions: for they were then busily at work. The principal official garment of the Sacrificing Priests of antiquity was, therefore, a Jong white tunic, usually adorned with a purple stripe, and (speaking in general terms) identical with the Sacred Under-Garment worn by the wfer class of their own laity. There were no sacrifices in the Jewish synagogues: consequently, the assistance of Sacrificing Priests was not considered necessary in synagogue worship. ‘The services were entirely of a Devotional and Non-Sacri- ficial character, and were ordinarily conducted by /ay Presbyters and assistants; some of whom, however (although not of the Priestly Tribe), were set apart for their office in the synagogue by the laying on of hands, and occupied a kind of semi-clerical position. They were constantly assisted in reading the services by other members of the congregation. But all were clad alike, in the sacred dress of the /azty : the Presby- ters, the assistants, and the ordinary worshippers all wearing the long white tunic, and the white superves- ture or Tallith. A similar worship prevailed in the Primitive Christian synagogues or churches. The most prominent and fundamental principle of the Christian Revelation was, that “Jesus Christ,” the only begotten Son of God, had, by His “death upon the Cross for our Redemp- tion,” “made there (by that ONE Oblation of Himself Once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient Sacrifice, Oblation, and Satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.” ‘He had offered ONE (expiatory) Sacrifice for sins for ever ;” and had “ by that One Offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” ‘‘ THERE IS,” there- PRIMITIVE, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN. 529 fore, “NO MORE OFFERING FOR SIN.”! Consequently, Expiatory Sacrifices were as impossible in Christian churches as in Jewish synagogues (where they were strictly prohibited) ; and the Christian Church had xo order of men appointed for the offering of Expiatory Sacrt- jfices—that is, it had no Hieratic or Sacerdotal order, in the ancient acceptation of these words. The very name of the Sacerdotal Order has been lost. We have no English word for it. The Hebrew Cohen, Greek Hrereus, and Latin Sacerdos, meaning a Sacrificer, that is, a Sacrificing Priest, have now to be translated or rather mistranslated by Presbyter, of which Priest is simply an abbreviation, The Ministers in the Primitive Christian synagogues or churches, although appointed by Christ’s Divine authority, entrusted with His Evangelical Com- mission, and with the administration of His Holy Sacra- ments, and ordained for these high functions by a far more solemn and real ordination than any known in the Jewish synagogues, were always in the New Testament called by the name of Presbyters, or by other Non-Sacerdotal terms ; and were always, when officiating, robed not in the Sacerdotal garb of men offering Expiatory Sacrifices, but (like the Presbyters of the Jewish synagogues) in the long white tunic and supervesture of lay worshippers. These simple white garments, emblematical of purity and joy, were, in all countries, the ordinary ministerial vestments of the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons of the early Church. All ranks of the clergy wore essentially the same Sacred Robes; although the higher ranks, Bishops and Archbishops, were doubtless distinguished by the use of richer material, fuller sleeves, longer train, and wider stripes, than those worn by Presbyters and Deacons. In Primitive Christian art, our Lord 1 Heb. 10. 12-18. Communion Office, in the Piayer Book. 2L 530 CHRISTIAN SACRED DRESS— and His Apostles, Angels, Martyrs, and Saints, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, are invariably represented as wear- ing these white robes. In the mosaic of the Church of S. Lorenzo, dating from the episcopate of Palagius II., who was Bishop of Rome from A.D. 578 to 590, not only the Apostles, but also Palagius himself, are represented as wearing these simple white robes, Primitive Christian literature abundantly confirms the evidence of Primitive Christian art as to these having been the sacred minis- terial dress of the early Church.t The Lord’s Table was at this time covered with fine white linen; or, less frequently, with silk ornamented with gold. The sanctuary was often adorned with rich curtains. But the assigning of special colours, in altar adornments and ministerial vestments, to mark certain seasons, was unknown in the Christian Church during the first eight centuries.” We have seen that in ordinary life, during the first five centuries, the Christian clergy dressed exactly like the laity. During the same period, the Sacred Dress of the laity was exactly like that of the clergy. There was then no essential distinction between the Sacred Dress of the worshippers and that of the officiating ministers in the Christian churches, Among the Heathen, it was considered a mark of effeminacy to wear the flowing sacred dress, or dress of ceremony, in daily life. The early Christians shared this feeling. But in public Religious Processions, headed by silver crosses, the early Christians wore their long white robes, and sang psalms, litanies, and evangelical hymns, which were then a favourite means of convey- 1 Marriott, pp. xxxiil. xlvii, 35. Smith’s Déct. of Christian Antiq., I. pp. 405, 406, Art. Colour ; II. p. 2013, Art. Vestments. 2 Smith’s Dect. of Christian Antzg., I. pp. 69, 70, Art. Altar Cloths ; pp. 405, 406, Art, Colour. PRIMITIVE, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN. 531 ing the Gospel to the masses of the people. It was also customary, in the fourth century, and probably at a much earlier date, to prepare large numbers of converts to receive Holy Baptism on the eves of Easter and Whitsun Day. When the time for Baptism came, they marched to the church or baptistery, in Processional order and robed in white; and they were required to wear their white robes for eight days after Baptism.! In the sixth century, when the laity discarded the oriental Secular Dress of the then defunct Roman Empire, they also discarded its beautiful Sacred Dress. The marked distinction, so universal in the ancient world, between the civil and sacred dress of the laity was then lost; and worshippers began to appear in the churches (as they now do) in their newest and best clothes; but no longer in white robes generically different from the dress worn every day. This pro- duced a great change, not for the better, in the general appearance of Christian worship. The clergy, however, were more conservative in spirit ; and adhered strictly to the ancient Sacred Dress to which they had been accustomed in all their ministra- tions. Hence arose a remarkable difference, such as we still see in the Church of England, between the white ministerial dress of the clergy and the dress of the lay worshippers. We shall see presently that in the ninth and follow- ing centuries an enormous development took place in the mznzsterial or sacred dress of the Bishops and Clergy. Before coming to this, however, I would here introduce a little preparatory matter. First, I would remind the reader that the magnificent 1 Bingham, xx. v. 12. Smith’s Dzet. of Christian Antig., II. p. 1000, Art. Litany; p.1717, Art. Procession. 532 CHRISTIAN SACRED DRESS— Golden Vestments, spangled with jewels, worn by Heathen High Priests, were mainly of imperial and secular, rather than of religious origin and import. High Priests, or the Chief Priests of great temples, were usually potentates of almost princely rank, and held various high offices of state, the gorgeous official vestments and insignia of which they often wore in their temples. These splendid robes and decorations were the symbols of high ecclesiastical and civil authority. But neither in the case of the Heathen High Priests, nor in that of the Jewish High Priests, were these magnificent “Golden Vestments” in any special sense Sacrificial Vestments. Indeed, the Jewish High Priest, when performing his most solemn sacri- ficial acts on the Great Day of Atonement, /azd aside his “ Golden Vestments,” and officiated in whzée only, like an ordinary sacrificing priest.t Secondly. There are two or three passages in the early Christian Fathers which, as they have often been misunderstood, require explanation.— Eusebius, the Historian, Bishop of Czsarea, who died A.D. 340, describes? the dispute which took place at the end of the second century between Victor, Bishop of Rome, and the Asiatic Bishops, concerning the proper time of the Easter Festival. Policrates of Ephesus, who headed the Asiatic Bishops, wrote a letter to Victor, appealing to the authority of various great Bishops and Martyrs, of earlier date, who had observed Easter as they (the Asiatic Bishops) still did. But he especially relied upon the authority and example of the Apostle S. John, from whom they had derived their Easter observ- ance; aud whose preéminent position in the Church of 1 See above, pp. 198, 382, 383. Lev: 16. 4,23. Marriott, pp. xx. 7 note. 2 Eusebius, H.E., v. 24. Marriott, pp. 38, 39. PRIMITIVE, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN. 5 Go G2 Asia, Policrates described by calling him “ a-Priest wear- ing-the-Golden-Plate :” which probably was a well-under- stood Jewish expression (not unlike the term “ Mitred Abbot” of later times); and meant that the supreme Apostolic position of S. John gave him an authority over the spiritual Israel, analogous to that which the Golden- Plated-Priest, that is, the High Priest of old, exercised over Israel after the flesh. Referring to Eusebius (who records Policrates’ letter), Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis (A.D. 367), applies the description (apparently by an error of memory) to S. James the Lord’s brother; interprets it “zerally ; and endeavours to connect with it the foolish and utterly incredible story attributed to Hegesippus (A.D, 180)—that S. James was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies once in every year. These passages are of no real authority in connection with the subject of this Section. I have merely referred to them because they have often been misunderstood, and mis- represented. I may add that Hegesippus’ story (even if correctly attributed to him) says nothing of a Golden- Plate, or of S. James being a Priest; and simply describes him as a highly privileged and devout ascetic, clothed in linen. The next passage to which I must refer is one of real significance. Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in Syria, A.D. 420, tells us that Constantine the Great, ‘as a mark of honour to the Church at Jerusalem, had sent to Macarius, then Bishop of that City, a Sacred Robe, made of threads of Gold, which he should put upon him when performing the Office of Holy Baptism:” he further tells us that Cyril, who became Bishop of Jerusalem in 350 (succeeding Maximus the successor of Macarius), had sold (or was believed to have sold) the Robe; and 1 Epiphanius, er. i. 29, quoted in Marriott, pp. 36, 37, 40, 41. 534 CHRISTIAN SACRED DRESS— that it was eventually purchased by a stage-dancer, and was by him worn in public exhibitions.? This is very much what our knowledge of Constantine’s character, opinions, and circumstances, would lead us to expect that he would do. Although nominally converted to Christianity, Constantine remained a half-pagan, and unbaptized, until his last illness, and endeavoured to amalgamate Christian and Heathen usage in many ways. Hecaused the spear in the hand of his statue at Rome to be made in the form of a Cross. That in the hand of his statue at Constantinople was in the image of his ancient patron deity Apollo, the Sun- god: but the glory of the beams was composed of the emblems of the Crucifixion. His coins bore on the one side the letters of the Name of Christ; on the other the figure of Apollo He ordained the solemn apotheosis of his father Constantius: he issued from his Imperial mint medals impressed with the figures and attributes of Jupiter and Apollo, of Mars and Hercules; and while building magnificent Christian churches, he liberally restored and enriched the temples of the gods. Accustomed to see the Heathen High Priests arrayed in crimson, purple, and gold, spangled with jewels; and doubtless also accustomed, according to Eastern usage, to distinguish a useful or eminent High Priest by send- ing to him, as a mark of Imperial favour, some gorgeous Robe from his own Vestiarium Pontificium ;* it was very natural that Constantine should so distinguish the Bishop of Jerusalem, the Mother Church of Christen- dom. The Golden Vestment sent to Macarius was not, 1 Theodoret, H.E., ii. 23, quoted by Marriott, pp. 42, 43. 2 Stanley, Zastern Church, p. 193. 3 Gibbon, Héstory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Ill., Daa. 4 Marriott, p. xxxi. PRIMITIVE, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN. 535 however, a Eucharistic vestment, nor was it intended to be used as such. It was an essentially Heathen High Priestly Robe, probably from the Imperial Vestry, which Constantine thought might be appropriately worn by a great Bishop when performing the office of Holy Baptism. Whether Macarius ever gratified his Imperial master by wearing it, we are not told.. There is no evidence that he did. On the other hand, its having been sold by his second successor Cyril, must be regarded as strong evidence that it had long been unused, and that Cyril thought it was not likely ever to be used in Christian worship. It is certain that until the close of the eighth century, the clergy of all ranks continued to officiate in the ancient white robes. By that time, generations of incessant and barbarous warfare in Europe had sunk the Western Church into a shocking state of corruption and ignorance. But early in the ninth century, during the partial peace consequent on the victories of Charlemagne (who died A.D. 814), an effort was made to revive discipline and learning in the Church. The remarkable contrast between the prevailing dress of the laity and the flowing white robes which were still the ministerial dress of the clergy attracted much attention; and as all knowledge of classical antiquity had for three centuries been well-nigh extinct, and Primitive Church History was shrouded in impenetrable darkness, the illiterate clergy of the time endeavoured to account for their peculiar vestments by an appeal to the only History of which they knew anything, namely, that of the Old Testament. They imagined that the Sacred Dress of the Clergy must be a continuation of the Dress which God had com- manded the Jewish High Priest to wear. Assuming, as they did, that the High Priest’s “Golden Vestments ” were Sacrificial robes (which they certainly were zo?) ; 536 CHRISTIAN SACRED DRESS— also assuming that Christian Ministers were, like the High Priest, Hieratic or Sacerdotal . Priests, for the continual offering of Expiatory Sacrifices for sin (which they certainly were wot): it followed, that the Christian Vestments were intended to resemble, or ought to resemble, those of the High Priest! It was not until the revival of classical learning many centuries later, that men perceived the utterly erroneous character of this theory. Meanwhile, from the ninth century down- wards through the Dark Ages, this Levitical Vestment Theory was generally accepted. True, there were obvious difficulties in the way of its acceptance: but no difficulties deterred the critics of that period. The long white vestments of the Bishops and Clergy were in number, form, colour, texture, and adornments, unlike those of the High’ Priest: but they were like them in being long and flowing, and this was supposed to establish their identity. The obvious deficiencies in number, colouring, and other respects, were in part supplied by superadding to the ancient white vestments the gorgeous secular robes in which the Bishops and clergy then delighted, and which (as their origin was quite forgotten) were assumed to be holy garments ; and where these failed to make up the necessary number and variety, entirely new additions were made to the vestments then known. In this way, the number of Episcopal vestments was raised to 8 in the ninth century; and the number of Archiepiscopal vestments tog. Atthe close of the eleventh century, Bishops had 9 sacred vestments, and Archbishops 10. Fifty years later, Honorius of Autun reckoned 7 sacred vestments as proper for Priests; 14 as belonging to Bishops; and 16 to Archbishops, At the beginning of the thirteenth century, Pope Innocent III., by assigning two additional vestments to the Pope, raised the number for Popes to PRIMITIVE, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN. 537 18!1+ Thus the Medieval development of ecclesiastical dress, which began in an effort to assimilate the official dress of Christian ministers to that of Jewish High Priests, eventually went far beyond anything known in the Levitical Dispensation. The simple white robes of the ancient Church were, however, still retained, and used as under garments: but they were literally buried out of sight beneath the purple and gold, scarlet and blue, violet and other gorgeous colours of the new sacred vestments; the colours of which, as also those of the altar decorations, were now made to vary con- tinually with the seasons of the Church’s year. In the prolonged and complex movement known as the Reformation, our principal English Reformers kept one main object steadily in view from first to last. That object (as expressed in the Preface to the Prayer Book of 1549) was, to establish “az Order for Prayer, and for the reading of the Holy Scriptures, much agree- able to the mind and purpose of the Old Fathers, and a great deal more profitable and commodtious than that which of late was used.” Many of the questions neces- sarily raised under this principle were new and difficult, and the internal state of the nation as well as its foreign relations were unusually full of danger. In carrying out their noble principle of effecting a return to the worship and theology of the early Church, our Re- formers had at once to contend with, and to consider, two powerful and extreme parties, either of which might at any moment become supreme in the state: viz., (1) those, on the one hand, who believed in the Sacerdotal theories, and loved the florid ritual and vestments of the Middle Ages; and (2) those, on the other hand, who, ignorant of history and in violent 1 Marriott, pp. Ixxviii-Ixxxiii., 83-87. 538 CHRISTIAN SACRED DRESS. reaction against Rome, were unable to understand that the simple white vestments of the Primitive Church were not, equally with the gorgeous sacred vestments of the Middle Ages, invented or introduced by corrupt Popes. It is not my intention here to give any detailed account of the action of the Reformers from the beginning of the Reformation movement until the final settlement of our Prayer Book in 1662; still less is it my intention to discuss legal and technical questions arising out of that action. But one important result of the move- ment, considered as a whole, was the retention of the Church’s testimony to the Primitive doctrine of the authority and sufficiency of Holy Scripture, the Divine origin and commission of the Christian Ministry, and the grace of the Sacraments of Christ. Another result was the removal from our Church’s official teaching of everything in Medieval theology which represented the clergy as a Hieratic or Sacerdotal Order, like the Levitical Priesthood, for the offering of Expiatory Sacrifices. And a third result, important in connection with the subject of this Section, has been, that (with a few recent exceptions of doubtful authority) the customary Sacred Dress of the English Clergy, for more than two centuries, has been the Surplice and -Stole,t which closely resemble the Sacred Dress of the Primitive Church. 1 The University or College Hood, although allowed to be worn by the clergy during their ministrations, is not an eccleszastical vestment. (539% ) CHAPTER XXXVI. PRIMITIVE, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. I. Primitive Christian Worship was Pure and Beautiful: Medieval Worship, Florid, Idolatrous, Irreverent, and Unedifying.—2. (1) Paintings, Mosaics, and Coloured Glass: (2) Flowers: (3) Lights.—3. Veils, Altar Cloths, Altars, Curtains, Incense.—4. Primitive Evangelical use of the Sign of the Cross ; and Medieval and Modern Roman Worship of Crosses. —5. Worship of Relics.—6. Worship of Images.—7. “ Vain Repetitions:”” Purgatory: Masses: Indulgences.—8. Worship in Un- known Tongues.—g. Readers and Choirs removed into deep Medieval Chancels. 1.—Primitive Christian Worship was Pure and Beautt- Jul: Medteval Worship, Hlorid, [dolatrous, Irreve- rent, and Unedifying. BEAUTY in worship, as in all things, is alike delightful to a child and to a mature man: but it is not always the same beauty which appeals to both. The child, or the savage whose mind and spiritual faculties have not been fully developed, delights in a barbaric and sensuous kind of beauty, in florid pageantries and pomp, in masses of varied and gorgeous colours, in vistas of gold, and in golden shrines spangled with myriads of jewels: but he has often little perception of the higher and more spiritual glories of true art, in which cultured men delight. All worship ought to be beautiful, and its beauty ought to be as perfect as possible, after its kind. But the beauty appropriate to worship during the 540 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN WORSHIP BEAUTIFUL. spiritual and moral infancy of our race—such beauty as I have described above in connection with Heathen and Jewish worship—is an altogether lower kind of beauty than that which is alone suitable for Christian worship. The spirituality of Christian devotion is beyond com- parison higher and purer than that of any other religion. There was, indeed, some spirituality in the better forms of Heathenism, and much more in Judaism: but even Judaism, at its best, was a religion and worship adapted to the childhood rather than to the maturity of our race; it was a “tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith,”! and live in the glorious sunlight of the Gospel, the free and noble life of “a full-grown man, ” as distinguished from a life subject to the irksome con- straints, lower motives, and limited perceptions of child- hood. The adornments of Christian worship ought to be more simple, grave, chaste, and noble than those of less spiritual forms of devotion. They ought to be suggestive of moderation, sincerity, refinement, self- denial, purity, unworldliness, holy reverence, holy joy, and heavenly aspiration. They ought not to be sugges- tive of the tainted levities of the gilded theatre, or of the childish glories of the Baby-House; and least of all should they suggest the soft and gorgeous splendours of the homes of mammon-worship and of unrestrained luxury. Christian art should never affect a lavish and ostentatious display of gold, and jewels, and brilliant colours; but it should exhibit the infinitely higher and chaster beauty which arises from the expression of the noblest conceptions and aspirations of the spiritual mind, The beauty of Christian worship should always be such as will educate the worshippers’ minds and hearts, in seriousness, in purity, in unworldliness, in spirituality, in tenderness, in reverence. AXA), Soa, ih a4 ols Dep. OOS Gee MEDIEVAL WORSHIP FLORID AND IDOLATROUS. 54! To draw a hard and fast line between the chaste and comely beauty appropriate to Christian worship, and the more florid splendours of less spiritual forms of devotion, is perhaps not possible. Differences of nationality and culture, and differences of individual taste, will ever lead to considerably divergent opinions on this subject. But so long as the Church keeps clearly before her people the great principle that the Beauty of her worship must always be unique, chaste, and sublime, large variations in the application of the principle may be safely and charitably allowed. The Primitive Church seems to have well understood this principle. It cherished a pure and beautiful wor- ship, chaste adornments, solemn acts of reverence, and the use of white robes by both ministers and worshippers. It denounced, and long excluded from its sanctuaries, all the gorgeous and voluptuous paraphernalia of both Jewish and Heathen ritual. But in the fourth century, imperial and worldly influences began to load the fabrics and furniture of churches with luxurious decorations little in keeping with the real spirit of Christian life and devotion. These injurious innovations were resisted by many lovers of a pure and noble worship: among others, by S. Jerome,! who scornfully reprobated the arguments which would defend excessive richness in the adorn- ments of Christian worship by irrelevant analogies derived from the Jewish system. He at the same time sorrowfully contrasted the magnifience which was lavished on churches—their marble walls and pillars, their gilded ceilings, their jewelled altars—with the lamentable neglect of all care in the choice of fit persons for the ministry. But the spirit of the age was against S. Jerome,—an age sinking fast beneath a self-imposed burden of pride, selfishness, moral corruption, and ener- L Fp. Jii. 10. 542 PRIMITIVE AND MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. vating voluptuousness, Churches became more and more luxurious and splendid; and soon became full of images, and idolatrous rites. In the first three centuries, Christianity had conquered by its heroism, purity, and self-denying love. In the Dark Ages, the Church, whose Lord had refused to win the “kingdoms of the world” by worshipping the Spirit of Evil, bowed down before the idols and fetishes of the Heathen, and sought to win the world by yielding to the world. As superstition gained ground, real reverence van- ished. In the Middle Ages, it became customary to hold law-courts, fairs, and markets in the naves of churches—to eat, drink, sleep, and act plays and inter- ludes in them—and to allow in them church-ales and drinking bouts. At the same time, the use of an Un- known Tongue made public worship unintelligible, and fostered the fearful irreverence—unequalled in any other form of worship, Christian, Jewish, or Heathen—which then prevailed in the whole of the Western Church; and which may still be seen in some Roman Catholic countries :—worshippers habitually looking about, laugh- ing, talking, buying, selling, without paying the smallest attention to the service which is being conducted in a distant chancel, and in a dead language, 2.—(1) Paintings, Mosaics, and coloured Glass : (2) Flowers: (3) Lights. (1) PAINTINGS, MOSAICS, AND COLOURED GLASS.— The burial places and churches of the Primitive Chris- tians were freely decorated with frescoes of trellised vines, birds, butterflies, and other familiar objects, exactly like those still seen on the walls of the ancient Roman baths and houses of Pompeii. To these conventional frescoes, * Quarterly Review (January, 1884), p. 55. PAINTINGS, MOSAICS, AND COLOURED GLASS. 543 Christian artists began, at an early date, to add repre- sentations of the Good Shepherd bearing the Sheep, the Palm Tree or Tree of Life, the Mystical Vine and its Bunches of Grapes, and other simple Christian emblems, some of which had already been used on the Chalices at the Holy Communion. Beyond these, Christian pic- torial art does not seem to have gone in the decoration of churches, during the first three centuries. The presence of a surrounding idolatry made the early Church wisely jealous of any approach to image- worship. The Council of Elvira, in Spain, A.D. 305, truly represented the feeling of Primitive Christendom on this subject, when it strictly forbade the depicting of objects of worship on the walls of churches. Some fifty years later, however, a wider latitude than was formerly customary in church decoration began to be allowed; and scenes representing martyrdoms, and events recorded in Scripture, were depicted on the walls of churches. Noah and the Dove, Abraham beholding the Stars, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Joseph’s Dreams, Joseph’s Coat shown to Jacob by his Sons, Absalom caught by his hair, Jonah swallowed by the Great Fish, the Wolf lying down with the Kid, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, the Anun- ciation, the Transfiguration, and S. John reclining on Christ’s Breast, were among the frescoes then familiar to the eyes of Christian worshippers. In the fourth century, the art of mosazc-painting,? which had previously been employed by the Heathen almost exclusively for the decoration of floors, began to be developed with surpassing grandeur by the Church; and was soon applied to the pourtrayal of solemn and beautiful symbolical representations, and historic scenes, on the wad/s and vaulted cez/ings of churches. 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig. I. pp. 691-693, 700, Art. Fresco. 2 Tbid., II. Z. 1323, Art. Mosaics. 544 PRIMITIVE AND MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. The use of glass in windows, in Roman times, was much more common than was formerly supposed ; and examples of such glass have been met with not only at Pompeii, but in our own country in various places. At a very early period, windows of brightly coloured glass seem to have been highly esteemed as adornments of churches. Prudentius, speaking of the Basilica of S. Paul, built by Constantine, says: “In the arched window ran (panes of) wonderfully variegated glass: it shone like a-meadow decked with spring flowers.” The clories of pazuted, as distinguished from coloured glass, were probably not known until about the eleventh century.! (2) FLowrers.—The ancient and beautiful Heathen custom of strewing the graves of the dead with flowers and wreaths appears to have been, at first, rejected by the Christians, on account of its association with idola- trous rites. But the opposition to it was probably not very general or very serious: for in the fourth century, palm and olive branches were carried at Christian funerals, in token of victory; and evergreens and lilies, the symbols of immortality and purity, were strewn upon Christian graves. At Great Festivals, especially Easter and Whitsuntide, the door-posts and desks of churches were brightly decorated with flowers and foliage ; and altars were “covered with wreaths of golden crocuses and purple violets, red roses and snow-white lilies, sparkling like gems.” ? The observance of Palm Sunday, although not men- tioned in Christian writings of the first four centuries, may, nevertheless, have been a primitive usage. The ancient Coptic Church of Upper Egypt still observes 1 Smiths’ Dict. of Christian Antig., I. p. 729. Art. Glass. 2 Ibid. I. p. 253, Art. Burial of the Dead ; p. 679, Art. Flowers, LIGHTS. 545 this Festival with great splendour. Each worshipper carries a palm-branch in his hand, making the church look like a conservatory, one of the most picturesque scenes that can be imagined.t. This may be a continua- tion of the ancient Palm-ritual which the Ethiopian Eunuch,? the reputed founder of that Church, had doubtless often witnessed in the Jewish Temple. (3) LiGHTs.—During the first three centuries, the ceremonial use of Lights, then universal in connection with the idolatrous rites of Heathenism, was not allowed in the Christian Church.? Tertullian, writing about the close of the second century, ridiculed the Heathen for burning “useless candles at noon-day” in honour of their gods, “encroaching on the day with lamps.” He scornfully suggested that the Heathen gods themselves must be “dwelling in darkness” to need such lights; for no one “in his right mind” could think of offering “the light of candles and wax tapers to the Author of Light.”* To the same effect, Gregory Nazianzen,® 70 years later, says, “Let us not honour God with these things,” Considering, however, that the ceremonial use of lights at the Shrine of “the Author of Light” had been expressly enjoined by Divine Revelation in the Old Testament dispensation, we must regard Tertullian’s eloquent scorn as somewhat out of place; although his conclusion may have been fully justified by the then circumstances of the Church, and possibly also by the unique character of Christian worship. 1 Paton, Hestory of the Egyptian Revolution, quoted in the Quarterly Review (Jan. 1884), p. 134. 2 Acts 8. 27. Eusebius, H. E. ii. 1. 3 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antiq., II. p. 993, Art. Lights, Ceremonial Use of. 4 Tertullian, Apolog. xxxv., xlvi. ; /nstit. vi. 2. 5 Gregory Nazianzen, Oraz, v. 35. 546 PRIMITIVE AND MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. The superstitious burning of candles at funerals and graves was a Pagan use of Lights which the Primitive Church rightly regarded with strong aversion. It was prohibited by the Council of Elvira, in the year 305. But the funeral of the half-pagan Emperor Constantine seems to have been, in the matter of Lights, as probably in other respects, a typical pagan funeral, of surpassing splendour. While the body of the Emperor lay in state, candles on golden stands were lighted around it. The custom of using lights at Christian funerals, and at the graves of martyrs, probably became general from this time. Gregory Nyssen, A.D. 370, tells us that, at his sister’s funeral, ‘no small number of Deacons and Sub-Deacons preceded the corpse on either side, escort- ing it from the house in orderly procession, all holding wax candles.” On Easter-eve, cities were illuminated,! and crowds of worshippers, carrying Lights, flocked to the churches, where they continued in vigil until the morning of the Resurrection. From primitive times the newly Baptized were for eight days robed in white; and now they were required to carry Lights in their Processions, as symbols of Baptismal “enlightening,” and of the mystical lamps with which the Baptized would thenceforth go forth to meet the Bridegroom. The Baptism of Theodosius the Younger, A.D. 401, is thus described by an eye-witness:—‘“ All were in white, so that you might fancy the multitude covered with snow. Illustrious patricians went before, and every dignitary with the military orders all carrying wax Lights, so that the stars might be supposed to be seen on earth.” Lights were also used, at this time, for the decoration of churches at Festivals, Paulinus of Nola, A.D. 407, Robertson, Hest. of the Christian Church, I. p. 363. VEILS, ALTAR CLOTHS, AND ALTARS. 547 thus describes the use of Lights at the Feast of S. Felix, to whom his church was dedicated :—“ The bright altars are crowned with lamps thickly set. Lights are burnt odorous with waxed papyri. They shine by night and day: thus night is radiant with the brightness of the day, and the day itself, bright in heavenly beauty, shines yet more with light doubled with countless lamps.” It now became customary to kindle Lights at the ordinary services in the churches, when the Gospel was read, to symbolise the light and joy of Gospel truth. In the seventh century, Lights were introduced at the celebration of Pontifical Mass, 3.—Veuls, Altar Cloths, Altars, Curtains, Incense. In the early Eastern Church, three Veils, which were always of the finest and best materials procurable, were used at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. First, there was the Paten Veil, which covered the Holy Bread, and was regarded as representing the napkin that was about our Lord’s head. The Paten Veils of the great Church of S. Sophia at Constantinople were of cloth of gold, embroidered with pearls. Secondly, there was the Chalice Veil. Thirdly, a very thin transparent Veil, known as the Aér, was spread over the other two, and was regarded variously as representing the stone which closed the door of the sepulchre, or the shining cloud at the Transfiguration. The Lord’s Table, upon which the Holy Vessels stood, was covered with a white linen cloth, which symbolized the fine linen cloth in which our Lord’s body was wrapped. In the fourth century, the altar cloth was sometimes made of pure white silk, ornamented with gold.1. The Altars themselves—which in the earliest ages of the Church were Tables of wood, 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig. I1., p. 2011, Art. Vers, 548 PRIMITIVE AND MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. and were by the Greek Fathers, and in Greek Liturgies, almost invariably called by their Scriptural designation,1 ‘Tables of the Lord ’—were in this century often made of stone; especially in martyr-memorial churches, which were so arranged that the martyr’s tomb-stone in the sanctuary was used as a Table of the Lord. In the time of the Christian Empire, Altars were often splendid and costly in a degree which we must regard as exces- sive. In the Church of S. Sophia at Constantinople, Justinian erected an Altar of Gold, decorated with precious stones, and supported on Golden Columns. Sanctuaries were frequently hung round with rich and beautiful Curtains. The great Veil, which, in Jewish synagogues, closed the entire Shrine, had probably no place in the majority of primitive Christian churches. But in some countries, the great Veil of the synagogue seems to have been retained in Christian worship. In the Coptic Church, it is still customary to drape the doorway of the sanc- tuary with a Veil? of crimson and green silk, which is drawn aside during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Having in a former Chapter? given a sketch of the Ritual use of Incense in the Christian Church, I shall not enlarge upon it here. But I would briefly remind the reader, that, although the Wou-Rztual, or Sanatory use of Incense, to sweeten and (as was then supposed) to purify the air, at funerals and in all places of assembly, was customary among the primitive Chris- tians, as among all the ancients, its Rztval use seems not to have been allowed by the Church until the 1 1 Cor. 10. 21. Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., 1. pp. 60, 61, Art. Altar. 2 Quarterly Review (January, 1884), p. 138. 3 See above, pp. 69-73. THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. 549 beginning of the sixth century. From the luxurious custom of fumigating with sweet and costly incense great personages, at banquets, arose the incongruous and superstitious Medieval rite of ceremonially zxcensing persons, books, and other things, during public worship. 4.—Primitive Evangelical Use of the Sign of the Cross ; and Medieval and Modern Roman Worship of Crosses. The Primitive Christians gloried in the Cross, which they regarded as the symbol of Christ’s Sacrifice for them, and of their life of holy self-sacrifice for Him, In Baptism, the Sign of the Cross was made upon their foreheads ; and before almost every event and under- taking? in after life, they themselves repeated the same Sign upon their foreheads, to remind themselves that they were to receive all blessings, to discharge all duties, and to bear all trials and persecutions, even martyrdom itself, as the faithful soldiers and servants of the Crucified. Tertullian, Origen, S. Cyprian, and others, witness to this early, and truly devotional and evangelical use of the Sign of the Cross. “ The Sign of the Cross is on our brow and on our heart,” says S. Ambrose: “it is on our brow that we may always confess Christ, and on our heart that we may always love Him.” The Sign of the Cross was also used among Christians, like a masonic sign, to aid them in mutual recognition. The really devotional and evangelical use of any ordinance, rite, or sign—however necessary and excel- lent it may be—is possible only for the devout and spiritually minded; and, therefore, every such usage is 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., I. p. 831, Art. Zncense. 2 Tertullian, De Corona, iii. 550 PRIMITIVE AND MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. liable to degenerate into a merely mechanical and superstitious observance. This danger is, indeed, in- separable from all religious rites and duties. To maintain earnestness, devoutness, and spirituality of mind, is, at times, hard. To perform some little custo- mary mechanical act is always easy. It is also easy, in a superstitious age, to attribute to the mechanical act alone, the rich blessings derived from the spiritual act which it symbolizes, and to which it was intended to minister. As early as the third century, the Sign of the Cross began to be abused. The Sign was by some superstitiously regarded as endowed with inherent Divine powers, which God had never in any way connected with it. It was believed that the Sign of the Cross made upon the forehead in Baptism, or made with uplifted arms by the Celebrant in the Holy Eucharist, was the most essential and efficacious part in these Sacraments. “It is the authoritative use of the Sign of the Cross,” said S. Cyprian, “ which works the effect in all the Sacraments;” and S. Augustine and S. Chrysostom echoed the same fanciful and utterly erroneous principle, which soon became the centre of a host of senseless and degrading superstitions. It was believed that the mere Sign of the Cross put demons to flight ; that it healed diseases and the bites of venomous beasts; and that it took away the power of poisonous plants. Consequently, the sign of the Cross was supersti- tiously used as a charm for all sorts of purposes; and was supposed to remove both physical and spiritual pol- lution and all noxious influences from food, drink, vessels, churches and other places! As the darkness of the Middle Ages deepened, the superstitious uses of the Sign of the Cross, as of almost all other Christian 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., Il. pp. 1895-1898, Art. Sign of the Liv pis, PRIMITIVE AND EVANGELICAL USE OF CROSSES. 551 symbols, rapidly accumulated; and Public Worship was interrupted by frequent Crossings; all of which were removed from our Church’s worship at the Reformation, excepting the Primitive Sign of the Cross made upon the forehead in Holy Baptism. The history of the Cross itself (as distinguished from its Sign), in connection with Christian ritual, must now claim our attention. I repeat, the early Christians gloried in the Cross of Christ, that is,in Christ’s glorious Person, efficacious Sacrifice, and redeeming Love; and they took delight in tracing (often in fanciful ways) the mysterious form of the Cross in almost everything. The mast and yard of a ship seemed to them to be an uplifted symbol of the Crucifixion, borne over the track- less ocean by thousands of vessels to all lands. The ship itself and the mast were an inverted cross: the human body with the arms extended was a cross: the frame-work upon which victorious armies erected tro- phies was across, like that on which the Blessed Saviour of our lost world had conquered man’s spiritual enemies : His was the true victory; and He Himself was the uplifted Trophy, upon Whom Apostles, Martyrs, and Saints in all the world gazed with infinite love, gratitude, reverence, and holy joy. The Roman armies themselves unwittingly worshipped the Crucified, and were led to all their victories by a cross: for their Verz//um, or cavalry Standard, which was always the chief object of worship in their camps, was a cross, made of a spear, cross bar, and banner, supporting the eagle of victory at the summit. Even makers of idols had to begin with a Cross, on which the clay model was first erected. The early Christians built many of their churches in the form of a cross.) Their public religious Processions were headed by crosses; and the cross soon became a 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., I. p. 479 note, Art. Cross. 552 PRIMITIVE AND MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. recognised symbol and ornament in the shrines of churches. Ata very early date, the sacred Monogram, >< formed from the first two Greek letters of the name of Christ, X and P, was used privately among Christians, as a well-understood symbol of the glorious Person and Cross of Christ.4 The Heathen, who knew nothing of the symbolical and evangelical use of the Cross, and regarded every- thing from their own idolatrous point of view, retorted upon the Christian apologists by charging them with worshipping the cross as an idol—a charge which, dur- ing the first three centuries, was entirely untrue, and was easily answered. ‘‘ We neither worship crosses, nor wish to do so,” said Minutius Felix, A.D. 220.? Constantine the Great, after his celebrated vision, A.D. 312, Christianized the Imperial Ensign by removing the Eagle from its summit, and placing there a Wreath of Victory, and, in the centre of the wreath, the well-known sacred Monogram which he had seen in the vision. The new ensign is thus described by Eusebius :-—“ A long spear, overlaid with gold, formed the figure of a Cross by means of a transverse bar at the top. At the summit of the whole was fixed a wreath of gold and precious stones, within which the symbol of the title of salvation was indicated by means of its first two letters, the letter P being intersected by Xin the centre. From the cross bar of the spear was suspended a square cloth of purple stuff, profusely embroidered with gold and precious stones. Beneath the crown of the Cross, immediately above the embroidered banner, the shaft bore golden medallions of the emperor and his children.” This original standard formed the pattern of others 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antiq., II. p. 1310, Art. Monogram, 2 Ibid., I. p. 815, Art. Zmages. MEDIEVAL WORSHIP OF CROSSES. 553 which Constantine ordered to be carried at the head of all his armies.) The new standards were probably as much worshipped as the old had been. The well-known pagan proclivities of this great Emperor leave no room for doubt that he would regard with complacency the worship of the Christianized standard by his super- Stitious soldiery. This camp-worship of Constantine’s standards was probably the first beginning of that idolatrous homage which, from this century downwards, was paid to the material Cross. In A.D. 326, the Empress Helena, mother of Constan- tine, visited Jerusalem, to explore and purify the Holy Sepulchre, which was said to have been defiled by the Heathen. In the earliest accounts of the exploration, no allusion is made to the legendary discovery of the True Cross. The courtly historian Eusebius knew nothing of it. But legend and fraud were soon at work with respect to Helena’s journey. It was said that she had found the True Cross. A quarter of a century after the exploration, Cyril of Jerusalem believes the story, and says that fragments cut off the Cross were spread over the whole world. The story grew rapidly: Helena, it was said, had by Divine guidance discovered the Holy Sepulchre; and after the removal of some earth, three Crosses were found, and, at some distance from them, the superscription which Pilate had attached to that of our Lord. The True Cross was miraculously dis- tinguished from the other two, by its touch healing a sick woman. A later version of the story was still more definite : the superscription had been found attached to the True Cross, whose identity was further established by its recovering a sick woman and raising a dead man. Helena was overpowered by witnessing these wonders, 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antiq., II. p. 908, Art. Ladarum. 554 PRIMITIVE AND MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. and she adored the Cross.1 S. Ambrose’s remark that this adoration was not intended for the wood, but for “Him who hung on the wood,” shows that he was prepared to extenuate idolatry by arguments similar to those used by the Heathen. Pieces of the True Cross were sold without limit, for the supply, like the demand, was inexhaustible. “ However much might thus be cut away from the Cross,” says Paulinus of Nola, “the bulk of the wood miraculously remained undiminished!” ? Four or five centuries afterwards, the Medieval Church of Rome established the Festival of the Finding of the Cross; and in order to give these foolish legends the stamp of authenticity, produced an alleged ancient decretal letter of Pope Eusebius, in which he ordained the observance of the Festival. This letter was a forgery, and is now acknowledged to be so by Roman Catholic writers. But for centuries it was received as genuine ; and it was not discovered until the revival of learning before the Reformation, that this Eusebius had died in the year 310, that is, sixteen years before Helena’s journey to the Holy Sepulchre. It was soon believed that all Crosses had supernatural powers—that they cured diseases of the feet, healed the sick, emitted flames, and performed other wonders. Crosses were now fetishes, and were the objects of a degrading idolatry, as they still are in the Church of Rome. A day was appointed, and a Liturgy drawn up, for the Adoration of the Cross. From the ninth century (the period of the Spurious Decretals), Crosses were regularly consecrated; praises were sung, and prayers were offered up to them. The doctrine on which this idolatrous worship was based was as 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., I. p. 499, Art. Cross, Adoration of. 2 Ibid. I., pp. 503-506, Art. Cross, Finding of. 3 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Biog., 11. p. 303, Art. Husebius—Fofpe. WORSHIP OF RELICS. 555 follows:—‘“ Christ is embodied in the Cross, as the Holy Spirit was in the Dove. ... Christ is actually present under the form and semblance of the Cross:” ! or, in the words of S. Thomas Aquinas,? “ The cross is adored with the same adoration as Christ, that is, with the adoration of /atrza[the worship paid to the Supreme God]; and for that reason we address and supplicate the Cross just as we do the Crucified Himself!” This is still the doctrine of the Roman Church. The present Pope, Leo XIII, in a recent Encyclical, has ordered the teaching of the schools of religious philosophy to be strictly conformed to the Summa of Aquinas, the work from which the above extract is taken. Since the Reformation, the primitive and evangelical use of the Cross has been general, but not universal, in our English Churches. Those who, like the present writer, favour this use in our pure reformed worship, do not yield to Puritans, or any other advanced Protest- ants, in the abhorrence, shame, and sorrow with which they regard the degrading cross-worship described above. 5.— Worship of Relics. The Worship of Relics, based on a belief in their miraculous powers, has always been a _ prominent characteristic of Heathen superstition. The relics of Oedipus were venerated by the ancient Athenians: those of Linus, by the Thebans: those of Alexander the Great, by the Alexandrians. The bones of Zoroaster were regarded as the safeguards of Persia. The bones, teeth, and other relics of Buddha are still worshipped in the East, and are believed to possess miraculous virtues. 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., I. p. 494 note, Art. Cross. 2 Summa, III. xxv. 4; quoted by Littledale, Plazz Reasons against Joining the Church of Rome, p. 40. 556 SEMI-CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. The Levitical Law of Uncleanness, which regarded as unclean all who touched “a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave,’! preserved the Jews from Relic- Worship; and their freedom from this superstition was inherited by the Christian Church of the first three centuries. But the Emperor Constantine and the semi- converts of the fourth century downwards brought with them into the Church the worship of Relics, and faith in their tutelary power. Constantine was the first who, contrary to the spirit of the Primitive Church, ventured to move the bodies of saints. In order to gain for Constantinople a prestige similar to that conferred on Rome by the remains of S. Peter and S. Paul, he trans- ferred to his new capital “the holy relics of Andrew, Luke, and Timothy.” S. Ambrose, A.D. 393, fully believed in the wonder-working power of relics; as did also S. Chrysostom, who says, “ Let us fall down before their (the saints’) remains; let us embrace their coffins; for the coffins of the martyrs can acquire great virtue.” Not only S. Ambrose and S. Chrysostom, but S. Basil, S. Jerome, and probably the whole Church of that age, had the blindest faith in the power of martyrs’ bones, and other relics, to drive away sickness, death, devils, leprosies, agues, fevers, and toothaches. Relics were consequently regarded as most valuable posses- sions: they were bought and sold for high prices; and Relic-Traffic became an important and lucrative busi- ness. Monks were caught in the act of exhuming bones from graveyards in order to sell them as relics. Numerous relic-frauds were exposed, and were indig- nantly denounced by S. Augustine. But the world had then gone mad after relics, and refused to be warned. Rome soon became the central mart of this traffic; and 1 Lev. 19. 11-22. Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antiq., Il. pp. 1768 et sq., Art. Relics. Bp. Browne, Zxfosition of the Thirty-Nine Articles, p. 510. WORSHIP OF RELICS. 557 among the Relics which were then, or afterwards, sold or revered, the following were conspicuous :—the Beard of Noah: The Bones of Samuel: the Blood, Hair, and Garments of John the Baptist, and the Bones of his father Zacharias: the Inscription of the True Cross: Pieces and Nails of the True Cross: the Spear, Sponge, Reed, Crown of Thorns: 21 Seamless Coats of Christ: the Hairs and Garments of the Blessed Virgin, and Drops of her Milk: one of S. Stephen’s ribs, and one of the stones with which he was slain. Of the extent to which the Relic-mania has prevailed, and still prevails, we have abundant evidence in the present day. Zzwo entire bodies of the Apostle S. Bartholomew, both attested by numerous Papal Bulls, are still worshipped, one at Benevento and one at Rome: and there are, besides, three Heads of this same Apostle, one at Naples, one formerly at Reichenau, and one at Toulouse; and two Crowns of his head (at Frankfort and Prague) ; and five of his Jaws; and ezght of his Arms; and ¢hree of his Legs; besides portions of his Skin and Hair, and many of his Teeth, in various places !? The Heathen honoured their idols, fetishes, and relics, by keeping Lights burning before them. From the sixth century, when Rome became the Centre of the Relic-Traffic, the semi-Christians of the time began to burn lamps before Relics, as the Heathen had done; and, failing better reasons, they alleged fictitious miracles in justification of the practice. The oil in the lamp which burned before the Relics of S. John the Baptist, at Tours, dubbled miraculously ; and other wonders were unceasing.2 Priests were appointed to keep vigil, and 1 Littledale, Plain Reasons against Joining the Church of Rome, pp. 49, 50. 2 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., Il. p. 997, Art. Lights, Ceremonial Use of; p. 1542, Art. Paganism. 558 SEMI-CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. chant Psalms before Relics; and under the name of Relic-Worship, a degrading Fetish-Worship as revolting as any known in Heathenism, and maintained by impos- tures and frauds unparalleled in Heathenism, became the scandal and scourge of the Medieval Church. When any church was rich enough, or fortunate enough, to obtain possession of an important Relic, the real religious life and devotion of the place were at an end. Enter- taining, deluding, and robbing the ignorant crowds of pilgrims who flocked to the place, became the one absorbing pursuit of the inhabitants. The multitudes, who thronged the church at all hours, interrupted the regular services, and made real and quiet devotion im- possible for the few who still desired it. The older and more spiritually minded clergy and monks warned the people in vain; and in vain deplored the awful and growing levity and worldliness of their brethren who, in daily increasing numbers, devoted themselves to pro- moting the new worship. By the consent of leading Roman Catholic theo- logians, the supreme worship of /a¢ria is still accorded in the Church of Rome to all alleged Relics of the Passion, such as the Nails of the Cross, the Crown of Thorns, the Seamless Coats; while the inferior worship called duliza (the service due from a slave to his owner) is similarly allowed to Relics of the Saints. 6.— Worship of Images. Like the Jewish Church at the time of our Lord, the Primitive Christian Church was thoroughly imbued with a horror of idolatry. The degrading image-wor- ship which prevailed among the Heathen appears to have then produced in the minds of Christians what would, under other circumstances, have been an exces- WORSHIP OF IMAGES. 559 sive dislike of all pictures and statues in places of worship. Tertullian, writing about A.D. 192, thought it wrong to make even such masks as actors wore, be- cause they were a kind of images. His contemporary, Clement of Alexandria, held the same rigid view; and Minutius Felix (A.D. 220), Origen (A.D. 230), Lactantius (A.D. 303), and the Council of Elvira (A.D. 305), bear witness to the extreme aversion of the early Christians to everything which even remotely resembled idolatry.! Then, as now, the more educated Heathen engaged in controversy with the Christians, and endeavoured to justify Idol-Worship by declaring that an idol was nothing in itself, and was merely employed to assist devotion by bringing before the mind asymbol or repre- sentation of the person and attributes of God. Athen- agoras, an early Christian apologist (A.D. 117), combated this plea. He also tells us that the pagans, not very consistently with the above argument, appealed in his time, as they still do, to alleged miracles and cures wrought by images, as a justification of Image-Worship.” Historic pictures and mosaics, containing figures of Apostles, martyrs, and eminent saints, were not allowed to be depicted on the walls of churches previous to the latter part of the fourth century. A superstitious belief in the miraculous powers of Pictures became general amid the growing ignorance and savagery of the sixth century. People readily believed that the images of the saints quenched the violence of fire, healed the sick, and possessed all the supernatural powers which were ascribed to the saints themselves. Leontius, Bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus, A.D. 590, speaks of the flow of blood from pictures as of frequent occurrence. The Church of the 6th century, having arrived at 1 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig., I. p. 814, Art. Zmages. 2 Athenagoras, Afo/. xviii. xxvi, Littledale, p. 38. 560 SEMI-CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. this stage of superstition, was ripe for idolatry ; and the idolatry immediately appeared. Incense was offered, Lights were burned, and Priests chanted before Sacred Pictures ; and crowds of semi-pagan worshippers kissed these Pictures, or kissed the hand to them, and bowed down in adoration before them, exactly as the Heathen did before their idols. Three centuries later, namely in the gth century, Sacred Statues were worshipped, like the Pictures, in churches. Through the growing influence of Rome, the sides of churches in Western Christendom were lined with Side-Altars, surmounted by Images of our Lord, the Virgin, Angels, and Saints; and the old polytheistic idolatry of the Heathen world was revived under Christian epithets and symbols. The public Processional worship of the Medieval Western Church was, equally with its worship in sacred buildings, thoroughly paganized. At the head of each Procession was carried, not the simple Cross of the early Church, but the Host, or an Image of the Virgin, cr some other Image, which received the same prostrate adoration that had been given to images of Ceres, or of other Heathen Divinities, in the olden times. The medieval and modern Roman doctrine, with respect to the worship of images, is, that to all images of Christ, whether statues or pictures, the supreme worship of /atrza is due.. Images of the saints are sup- posed to receive the lower kind of worship called dudia. But this distinction between two kinds of religious worship is not recognised in Scripture, nor understood by the multitude, who worship all images alike with the same idolatrous homage, Roman Catholic contro- versialists endeavour to justify their Church’s idolatry by precisely the same two inconsistent arguments which are used by the Heathen: viz., (1) that the Images are merely worshipped as symbols; and (2) that the Images WORSHIP OF IMAGES. 561 are worshipped because they possess supernatural virtues and work miracles. Pope Pius VII. granted an indulgence of 100 days to every one who devoutly kissed the feet of an alleged miraculous Image of the Virgin and Child in the Church of S. Agostino.1 Wonder-working images are an im- portant part of the religious apparatus of Romanism among all ignorant and half-civilized populations, The marvellous influence of the Beautiful in worship, to which I have often alluded in this work, has been, like almost every other ennobling influence of art, per- verted and misapplied by Idolatry. Beauty thrills the whole of our being, and produces an impression which seems almost miraculous. Devout and credulous and highly sensitive worshippers, full of the excitement and expectancy generated by a long pilgrimage, and kneel- ing for perhaps the first time before the divinely beau- tiful idols of Pagan Greece and Rome, or before the, if possible, more beautiful Pictures and Images of the Medieval Church, were overpowered by a new and unutterable sensation, as if the god himself were before them, and had poured his divine influence and energy upon them, and through them, without measure. Beauty is the handmaid of true spiritual worship, and greatly assists the uplifting of our souls to Him who is the Uncreated Beauty and Glory of the universe. But it may be, and alas! it often is, prostituted, by being employed to drag men’s souls down in grovelling adoration before Idols of gold, or silver, or wood, or stone, or paint. 1 Littledale, p. 39. 2N 562 SEMI-CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 7.— Vain Repetitions”: Purgatory: Masses: Indulgences. (1) “VAIN REPETITIONS.’—We have seen above, that the fundamental principle of Formalism—viz., a belief in the cumulative efficacy of a number of me- chanical repetitions of a sacred formula—has been from remote ages, and still is, widely accepted in the Heathen world. The Heathen use Rosaries, and firmly believe in the efficacy of the “ Vain Repetitions ” which our Blessed Lord condemned. This superstition affects the external apparatus of worship in Tibet: where Praying Wheels and Praying Flags everywhere attract attention in the open air; while in the temples, a number of priests or monks often simultaneously chant an entire Chapter of their sacred books in a few moments, by taking each a separate verse. The paganized Church of the Middle Ages adopted the Heathen doctrine of the efficacy of “ Vain Repetitions;” and the use of Rosaries became general among the semi-Christians of the eleventh century. The modern Roman Rosary is made up of 166 beads, on which are recited 1 Creed, 15 Our Fathers,and 150 Hai Marys? the Virgin being the chief object of worship! These figures painfully illustrate the proportions in which Christianity, Polytheism, and Formalism appear in the popular semi-Christian worship of the Roman Church. (2) PURGATORY.—The need of expiatory cleansing from sin, and a deep consciousness of the insufficiency of “the blood of bulls and goats” for the taking away of sins, were widely felt among the Heathen.2 Conse- quently the ancient Egyptians, long before the dawn 1 See above, pp. 156-159. 2 Littledale, p. 53. 3 See above, pp. 148, 149. PURGATORY. 563 of history, devised and adopted the doctrine, that, after death, Purgatorial Fires purged away the sins of the righteous soul, before it was conducted to the dwelling- places of the blessed.!. From ancient Egypt, the cradle of so many religions and philosophies, this doctrine of Purgatory, variously developed and. modified by poets, philosophers, and priests, passed into the religious systems of pagan Greece, Rome, and other ancient nations. The evolution and wide acceptance of this utterly baseless speculation, demonstrate how deeply our race have in all ages felt the need of a Great Expia- tion which should cleanse even the best of men from their many defilements, “from a@// sin,’ and make them “whiter than snow,” pure and acceptable in God’s sight. The Hebrew Revelation knew nothing of Purgatory, which was, at best, man’s expiatory system, devised by himself, in his natural darkness and ignorance, to solve the highest and most mysterious problem of his exist- ence. It was an erroneous solution of that problem: but the Old Testament Revelation, by sacrifice, type, and prophecy, prepared the way for the true solution, the manifestation of the One Tremendous Expiatory Sacrifice on Calvary, the Crucified Man-God and God- Man, bearing the sins of the world. The proclamation of the Gospel revealed God's, as distinguished from Man’s, expiatory system, and relegated the ancient speculations about Purgatory to the dust-heap of pagan myths and fancies. “ The dead which die in the Lord ” are “blessed :” to them death is an unspeakable “ gain.” They are “with Christ,” ‘in joy and felicity ;’ and “they rest from their labours,” “There shall no torment touch them,” ? 1 See above, p. 241. 2 Philipp. 1. 21, 23. Rev. 14. 13. Wisd. 3. 1-3. Prayer Book, Office Jor the Burial of the Dead. 564 SEMI-CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. But the old Heathen doctrines of Purgatory, popu- larized by such writers as Plato and Virgil, were not easily eradicated from the imaginations of men who had been taught from childhood to believe them. Ata very early date, they began to appear in Christian teaching, and to obscure the simplicity and the glory of the Gospel. Origen,. born A.D. 185, at Alexandria, in Egypt, the cradle of Purgatorial doctrine, and his contemporary Tertullian, in northern Africa, under the shadow and influence of Egypt, were the first who imported the Purgatorial speculations of the Heathen into Christian theology. Multitudes of the imperfectly instructed converts from Heathenism were only too ready to be- lieve that the old familiar stories of Purgatory, which had filled their imaginations from childhood, might be accepted as at least not inconsistent with the Christian revelation. The soil was prepared, and the weed grew ; and in the Dark Ages, the fearful Purgatorial Doctrine of the Roman Church, which had not a shadow of foundation in Scripture, and was simply an importation from paganism, was established, to the satisfaction of the ignorant and credulous, by fictitious visions and apparitions of the dead.1. According to the Roman doctrine, the pains of Purgatory, both physical and mental, are in all respects, except in mere duration, the same as the pains of Hell; and the received opinion is that their duration may extend to thousands of years. (3) MASSES AND INDULGENCES.—The Roman doc- trine is, that the souls in Purgatory may be much relieved, and their period of torment shortened, by the Sacrifice of the Mass ; and that the ameliorating power of Masses is strictly cumulative, in proportion to their number. Masses are sold, at a certain tariff, to all who 1 Bp. Browne, Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles, pp. 493 et sq. 2 Littledale, pp. 104, 108-110. MASSES AND INDULGENCES. 565 can pay for them. Not unfrequently, a rich man, who has lived an evil life, makes amends at its close by contracting with his priest for a couple of hundred thousand Masses for his soul. The priest who obtains a contract of this kind, which he cannot possibly fulfil in person, lets the saying of these Masses to a number of middle-men, who sub-let their holdings to starveling country curates, who say the Masses at a miserably cheap rate. In this awful way, the glorious and blessed Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood is travestied and made a matter of huxtering and bargaining, until it becomes part of an elaborate praying mechanism, which is infinitely sadder to contemplate (because an infinitely greater degradation of sacred things) than the Praying Wheels and Praying Flags of Tibet. While the soul of the rich profligate is supposed to escape thus easily by a golden key from the torments of purgatory to the joys of heaven; the souls of the poor, who do not possess the key, must needs endure ages of purgatorial misery, unless released by gratuitous Papal Indulgences. But gratuitous Indulgences soon became all but impos- sible to obtain: for Indulgences themselves became a matter of traffic, mainly for the personal enrichment of Popes and their creatures ; and this Indulgence traffic, which rivalled the Mass traffic, reached its greatest height of corruption in the Pontificate of Leo X., when the pro- flizate Tetzel, the agent of that Pope, aroused the indigna- tion of Luther (A D. 1517), and hastened the Reformation, by the scandals connected with his sale of Indulgences in Germany. 1 Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, II. p. 386. Bp. Browne, p. 504. Littledale, p. 100. 566 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 8.— Worship in Unknown Tongues. The worship of all God’s intelligent creatures is intelligible worship, excepting where the free and natural action of the devotional Instinct has been cramped and hindered by narrow prejudices, super- stitions, or interests. The Heavenly hosts worship intelligibly.1. The worship of the Jewish Church was always intelligible worship, in a language understood by the people. The whole of Heathen worship, with certain exceptions, has ever been intelligible, in the vulgar tongue of the people. The principal exceptions referred to in Heathen worship are, the later Zoroas- terian Fire-worship in Persia, Mohammedan worship in India, and Maori worship in New Zealand. Ina pre- ceding Chapter,” I explained the superstitions which, in these instances, induced the Heathen to tolerate the anomaly of an unknown tongue in public worship. The same devotional anomaly, due to influences which I must now describe, is also found in the three most corrupt branches of the Christian Church, viz., in the Roman Church, in the Nestorian Church of Kurdistan, and in the Coptic Church of Egypt; and in them alone. The Apostolic principle with respect to the language which should be used in Christian worship was thus stated by S. Paul: “If I pray in an [unknown] tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful ;” “in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might intruct others also, than ten thousand words in an [unknown] tongue.” Worship in an unknown tongue was condemned not only as ‘un- 1 See above, Chapter VII., § 1, p. 65. 2 See above, Chapter XVI., § 5, p. 216. Modern Hindu worship is in part conducted in Sanscrit, which is now a dead language, © UNKNOWN TONGUES. 567 edifying, but as an insuperable obstacle to intelligent congregational responding: “how shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say the Amen at thy giving of thanks [in the Holy Eucharist], seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest?”? The Apostolic principle was firmly adhered to in the Primitive Church, the Public Services of which were always conducted in the vernacular tongue of the people.” Origen tells us that ‘the Greeks used Greek in their prayers, the Romans Latin.’ We learn from S. Jerome that sometimes more than one language was used in the same service, in order to make it intelligible to men of different nations. ‘“ At the funeral of Paula, the Psalms were sung in Greek, Latin, and Syriac, because men of each of those nations were there.’? S. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, compared singing in church without understanding to ‘the chattering of parrots and mag- pies, crows and jackdaws. But to sing with the under- standing is by the will of God given to man.’ Theo- doret (A.D. 420) pointed out that the Hebrew books of the Old Testament were not only translated into the Greek idiom, but into the Roman, Egyptian, Persian, Indian, Armenian, Scythian, and Sauromatic languages.* In public worship, man speaks to God, and God speaks to man; and the language, if it is to convey man’s thoughts and aspirations to God, and God’s comfort and blessing to man, ought to be such a language as man understands. About the middle of the third century,’ the hosts of 1 1 Cor. 14. 14-19. 2 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Antig. I1., pp. 1015-1017, Art. Liturgical Language. 3 Bp. Browne, Lxfosition of the Thirty-Nine Articles, pp. 570, 571. 4 Taylor, Dissuasive from Popery, p. 431. 5 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, I. p. 273. Guizot, History of Civilization, I. p. 30. 568 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. Northern Barbarians began the long series of devastating inroads, which, after many temporary checks and delays, eventually shattered the Roman Empire, and obliterated the Roman language, dress, and civilization. Inthe sixth century, the old Latin tongue of Southern and Western Europe was everywhere replaced, in common use, by the barbarous jargons of the invaders. But lack of literary enterprise, veneration for the beautiful Latin idiom, contempt for the new jargons, and a fond hope, long cherished, that the Latin Empire, civilization, and tongue would soon be restored in their former glory, prevented the much-needed translation of the Latin Liturgies and Scriptures, which had become quite un- intelligible to the people. As time went on, the Papacy, whose ambition was to erect a world-wide spiritual empire upon the lines of the ruined secular empire of Rome, learned fully to appreciate the Ecclesi- astical importance of forcing its own language, as a badge of subjection, upon all Churches which could be induced to adopt it. As soon as this idea was developed, the influence of the Papacy became an insuperable obstacle to the translation of the Church’s Services; and during successive centuries of worship in an un- known tongue, not only was the joyful noise of congre- gational singing and responding absolutely silenced in the greater part of Western Christendom, but even the historical fact that such worship had ever existed was utterly forgotten. By the use of an unknown tongue, the principal medium of appeal to the understanding and conscience in worship was lost. To meet the unsatisfied devotional cravings of the people, subsidiary means of appealing through the eye and ear were exalted into the first place. Art and ceremony were overstrained, in the attempt to make them adequate substitutes for a noble UNKNOWN TONGUES. 569 liturgy, instead of occupying their proper position as its handmaids. Churches were crowded with images, pictures, and altars. Dumb signs were multiplied. Ritual developments of every kind were called for and encouraged. Worship became more and more elaborate, and fantastic, and laden with minutie. The architectural and decorative adornments and ritual details of Medieval worship were often as beautiful as human genius could make them. But still the spiritual famine prevailed. For the Art of Worship, considered in all its height and breadth and depth of scope, as embracing every worshipper, and every highest faculty of every wor- shipper, was not understood. Quite apart from its in- congruous and degrading idolatries and superstitions, the ritual of medieval worship, considered merely as a product of devotional art, was sensuous, lopsided, over- wrought, wanting in intelligence, wanting in dignity, wanting in unity, and wanting in simplicity. An “ex- cessive multitude of ceremonies did more confound and darken, than declare, and set forth, Christ’s benefits to us.” 1 The worship of the modern Nestorians is another instance of Christian worship in an unknown tongue. Their vernacular language has gradually changed from the ancient Syriac, in which their Liturgies are still written, to various corrupt dialects which are practically new languages. Consequently, the worshippers do not understand the services: but they nevertheless maintain a certain amount of congregational responding. While the Nestorian Priest, with uplifted hands, and with his face turned towards the East, solemnly supplicates God to pardon and bless the people, the worshippers, although they do not understand his words, realize that he is 1 Preface of Prayer Book. 570 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. praying for them, and they frequently support his intercessions by exclaiming “Amen,” and uttering a response taken from their liturgy: “Give Thy blessing, O Lord.”! The Epistle and Gospel are, however, read in the vulgar tongue, in order that the people may understand the Scriptures. The worship of the modern Coptic Church of Egypt is another instance of Christian worship in an unknown tongue. The ancient Coptic language, in which the Liturgies of the modern Copts are written, has now been replaced, in common use, by the Arabic. But congrega- tional responding is not yet quite extinct among them. In the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, when the priest concludes the recitation of the words of institution, the whole congregation chant the appropriate and impres- sivé Uresponse>, fl )/beliéve® thisis )true 7) PhewGopiic Priests, like those of the Nestorian Church, exhibit a laudable desire to instruct the people in the Holy Scriptures. The lessons from Scripture are first read in the unknown Coptic, and are then translated, or ex- plained, to the people in Arabic. ? 9.—Readers and Choirs removed into deep Medieval Chancels. We have seen above; that in the earliest ages of Chris- tianity, the Readers and Choristers in Christian churches, as in Jewish synagogues, occupied a platform almost in the centre of the building. A few centuries afterwards, through the influence of Heathen architectural ideas, basilican-churches were generally built; in which the 1 Badger, Mestorians and their Rituals, 1. pp. 218, 380; II. p. 146. Grant, Nestorians, p. 60. 2 Smith’s Dict. of Christian Biog. I., p. 682, Art. Coptic Church. Quarterly Review (January, 1884), p. 136. 3 See above, pp. 467, 476, 484. CHOIRS IN DEEP MEDIEVAL CHANCELS. 571 Readers and Choirs occupied the platform reserved in secular basilicas for advocates and witnesses, immedi- ately in front of the apsidal chancel.| Some centuries later still, in the Middle Ages, when under the chilling influence of an unknown tongue all idea of congrega- tional responding was lost in the greater part of Western Christendom, it became customary to build churches with enormously elongated chancels? and elaborate chancel screens; and to place the Readers and Choirs not only behind these screens, but, in many instances, as far up in the chancels, and as remote from the people, as possible. This arrangement, which still prevails in some churches, is certainly impressive and pleasing to the eye, and is quite in keeping with the Medieval theory that worship ought to be in the main a beautiful dumb show, in which the people have little or no part but as spectators. But for the purposes of Primitive Catholic Worship, responsive, congregational, and full of life and devotion—which is the ideal worship of our Reformed Church—the retention of the Medieval ar- rangement is singularly unfortunate. As matters now stand in this respect, it is difficult to suggest a remedy at once practicable and complete. But the mere draw- ing of public attention to the subject, in its historical and devotional bearings, may do some good. Much has already been accomplished by discarding heavy screens, and using in their stead screens of a light and open construction; and also by removing choirs and readers from the inner end of chancels, and plac- ing them close to the naves in which the worshippers assemble. In many of the great English Medieval churches, the chancels are now used principally for Holy communion and for week-day services; and the 1 See above, p. 518. * Beresford Hope, Worship and Order, p. 111. 572 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. Readers and Choristers, at the crowded Sunday Ser- vices, are ranged zz the naves, north and south, under the central tower, and immediately in front of the Chancel screen. This arrangement greatly facilitates congregational responding. CA5t3 34 CHAPTER XXXVII. MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. I. Partial Revival of Congregational Responding since the Reformation. —2. Musical Worship.—3. Beautiful Worship.—4. Loss of Silent Prayers and Processional Worship at the Reformation.—5. Loss of Reverence.—6,. Conclusion ;: “ The greatest of these is Love ” (1 Cor. 13. 13). 1.—Partial Revival of Congregational Responding since the Reformation. IN the year 1544, the old Latin Litany was revised and translated into English by Archbishop Cranmer, and adapted to music. This translation was accompanied by the following rubrical directions :—“ Such among the people as have books and can read, may read them quietly and softly Zo. themselves :” all the Responses were “to be answered by the Chozr.”1 These directions show that the lost idea of Congregational Responding had not then been recovered. The congregation (as distinguished from the choir) were not allowed to answer the Responses audibly. In 1548 a Committee was appointed to examine the Services, with a view to preparing the way for the for- mation of a book of Common Prayer. It is curious to note that many of the Committee objected to the trans- 1 Hopkins, Sémgle Chants, p. iii. Short, Hestory of the Church of England, I. p. 188, § 225. Hardwick, Church History of the Reformation, p- 206. 574 MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. lation of the zwole of the Communion Office. As the result of their labours, a carefully amended Communion Service was published, some parts of which, including the Prayer of Consecration, were still in Latin ; while the other parts, which related more particularly to the gene- ral communicant, were in English.} In the first Prayer Book of King Edward VI., 1549, all the Services were in English: but the Reformers seem to have been still somewhat timid with respect to Congregational Responding, The order for “ Matins” and “ Evensong” contained translations of the ancient responses ; but it contained no direction as to who were, or were not, to answer them. In the order for Holy Communion, however, the “ People” were desired, in ove place, to “ answer” in conjunction with “the clerks.” In Edward Sixth’s second Praver Book, 1552, “the People” were in several places directed to join in the Services. During the reign of Queen Mary (July 6, 1553, to November 17, 1558), Popery was re-established in England: the old Latin Services of the Medieval Church were again brought unto use; and the people were excluded from their share in Public Worship. On the death of Mary, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne, and the work of the Reformation was resumed. The use of the English language was immediately allowed in the Litany, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Apostle’s Creed ; and a Public Disputation was held in Westminster Abbey, at which one of the subjects dis- cussed was, Whether it were contrary to the Word of God and the custom of the Primitive Church to use an Unknown Tongue in the Public Service, and Administra- tion of the Sacraments ? Upon this question, the friends 1 Short, I. p. 254, §§ 308, 309. Procter, On the Book of Common Prayer, p. 20. REVIVAL OF CONGREGATIONAL RESPONDING. 575 of the Reformation seem to have gained an easy vic- tory;1 and the use of the English Prayer Book was re-established. At the last revision of the Prayer Book, in 1662, the number of rubrical directions for “the People” to re- spond was increased to about twenty. The ancient Catholic principle of Congregational Responding was then adequately and firmly established in the worship of our Reformed Church. But the revival of this principle, after it had been so many centuries in abey- ance, was not effected without a struggle. Many of the most zealous Reformers, especially the Puritans (who paid little attention to history), were altogether unable to divest themselves of the old Medieval aversion to hearing the People’s voices in the Public Services of the Church. Moreover, Congregational Responding depended mainly upon the use of fixed Liturgies; and there was then an erroneous impression abroad, in Puritan circles, that all Liturgies were of Popish origin, and idolatrous tendency. Consequently, the Puritan clergy manifested a growing determination to extinguish Congregational Responding in their places of worship by the novel device of a long extempore prayer. On March 25, 1661, a Commission of Bishops and Noncon- formist Divines, known, from its place of meeting, as the Savoy Conference, was appointed to revise the Book of Common Prayer. The Conference was not a happy one. A spirit of extreme narrowness and unreasonableness prevailed on both sides. Baxter and the Nonconformist party regarded the ‘ Responses’ of the People as irrever- ent and unseemly ‘interruptions’ of Public Worship; and they demanded that the Litany should, by the omission of all the Responses, be consolidated into one long 1 Short, I, p. 345, § 405. 576 MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. prayer! that the Commandments should be read con- tinuously, the intervening supplications of the laity being omitted ! and so on, throughout all the Services !! On the other hand, the Bishops pointed out that Re- sponses were consistent with the practice of the early Christian and Jewish Churches; and that they were useful in keeping up the attention and exciting the devotional feelings of congregations, However much we may regret that the Bishops at the Savoy Confer- ence did not make large and generous concessions to the Puritans, in the direction of greater freedom, we must feel grateful to them for maintaining the ancient Catholic right of the People to their share in Public Worship. It is worthy of note, that this right was not maintained by the exclusion of all extempore prayer from our Church’s worship; for the Bishops expressly stated, in reply to the Puritans, that custom allowed the use of extempore prayer in churches immediately before the sermon. So far, the victory of Congregational and Responsive Worship in the Church of England was complete, oz paper. The principle had been vindicated, and embodied in numerous rubrics. But the practice had still to be revived. And no one seems then to have realized what enormous efforts would be required to instruct and train, in the practical art of Congregational Responding, an entire nation, which had for many centuries been accustomed to the dumb worship of the Middle Ages, and which had just emerged from the almost equally dumb worship of Puritanism under the Commonwealth. Responding, although practised by a few zealous Church people, continued to be decidedly unpopular until the beginning of the eighteenth century. The Puritans, and 1 Short, II. p. 242, § 671. REVIVAL OF CONGREGATIONAL RESPONDING. 577 the multitudes of Church-goers who had been brought up in Puritan traditions, inveighed against Responding; they contemptuously called it “a tossing of tennis balls,” and set it down as one of the points of formalism. The re- sult was, that, by the silence of the immense majority of worshippers, the Church’s noble liturgical worship was mutilated, and reduced too often to a droning duet between the clergyman and clerk—a grotesque, and unedifying parody of worship, which was undoubtedly less devotional than the crude extempore services of the Nonconformists. Earnest and eminent Churchmen, notably Atterbury and Addison, endeavoured to stir up the nation to a more hearty and appreciative render- ing of the Church’s Services: but without much imme- diate success They did succeed, however, in removing prejudices, and in producing a widespread conviction that Congregational Responding was in itself a good and suitable thing. This was a great gain to the Church. For although the conviction referred to ordinarily lay dormant, still it was in existence, and was liable to be galvanized into active operation by any outburst of religious enthusiasm. The conscience and popular intelligence of the nation were thenceforth favourable to Congregational Responding, instead of being against it. John Wesley perceived the edo Sorel importance of Congregational Responding, and endeavoured to revive it. Hetells us in his Diary that on one occasion his example led a whole congregation, previously. silent, to join with him in repeating the responses. Even’ in extempore services, he encouraged the ejaculatory re- sponding which is still a prominent feature in Methodist 1 Atterbury, Sermons, IV. p. 192. Addison, Zatler, No. 241; Spectator, Nos. 54, 112. Abbey and Overton, 7he English Church in the Eighteenth Century, IL. p. 473- Py 10) 578 MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. prayer-meetings. A considerable amount of Congrega- tional Responding was also evoked by the fervour of the creat Evangelical Revival; and some old Evangelical congregations still respond remarkably well. The work of the Evangelical Revival was soon sup- plemented, on its dogmatic side, by the leaders of the Tractarian movement. With great learning and elo- quence, and also, alas! with serious admixture of error, they forced upon the attention of the nation some im- portant elements of Scriptural truth and holy living. But unfortunately, these eminent and devoted men, like their evangelical predecessors and rivals, occupied them- selves almost entirely with dogmatic theology, and personal religion; and (although they subsequently befriended the Ritual movement) they devoted little or none of their time and attention to the solution of ritual questions. Meanwhile, the ritual of the Church of England, as found in at least 99 out of every 100 of her churches, was a barren and howling wilderness, which, instead of fostering spiritual life, was little better than its grave. Through the want of appreciation of ritual questions by the Tractarian leaders, the conduct of the Ritual Revival, when it appeared, immediately passed into less competent hands.1 This was a great misfortune. Had ritual questions been taken up in earnest by Pusey and his companions, these questions would at least have received a learned and philosophic treatment. Nor would such a treatment have been un- necessary. Questions of secondary importance, such as points of ritual, are often more difficult, and require more scholarship to settle them, than greater matters. As it was, these questions of ritual were left to be solved by young and devoted clergymen, who, with 1 Beresford-Hope, Worship in the Church of England, p. 10. REVIVAL OF CONGREGATIONAL RESPONDING. 579 hearts full of the love of Christ, were toiling day and night amid the masses of ‘home heathenism’ in the slums of our great cities. Overwhelmed with parish work and responsibilities, far from libraries, and with little leisure for careful study and investigation, these clergymen were forced by the spiritual necessities of the population around them, and by the awful deadness of the Church’s worship, to plunge headlong into ritual questions of the utmost intricacy and difficulty, and to act as leaders of a great movement. It was inevitable that they should make many and serious mistakes, both in principle and in detail. Dr. Pusey befriended them, and warned them to be cautious. The extreme wing of the Low Church party assailed them with indiscrimi- nate abuse, and endeavoured to drive them out of the Church. But friendly cautions, and unfriendly attacks were equally beside the mark. What the Ritualist movement needed above all things was patient, kindly, and really learned instruction from those who could give it. But this was long withheld. When any new move- ment arises in the Church of England, the approved method is, to get up a kind of ecclesiastical “ faction- fight” about it; and when the rage of this “ fight” is expended, and the dust and din cease, then both parties betake themselves to a calm study of history and theology, and discover that they might have been friends from the first, had they been a little more patient, and a little better informed. I have pointed out that, during the Reformation period, the Puritans were unable to distinguish between Medieval Worship and Primitive Catholic Worship ; and therefore, being disgusted with Medievalism, they rejected both. This was ¢#ezr fundamental mistake in matters of ritual. Up to a certain date (now happily passed, as | believe), many of the Ritualists of our own 5So MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. time, like the Puritans of the Reformation, failed to distinguish between Medieval Worship and Primitive Catholic Worship; and therefore, being devotedly Catholic in principle, they endeavoured to assimilate the Church’s Worship to Medieval Worship, under the erroneous impression that the latter was Catholic. This was their fundamental mistake in matters of ritual. With the utmost enthusiasm, they added ceremony to ceremony, and rule to rule, until they had overlaid the noble Catholic Ritual of our Church with almost the whole of the interminable ceremonialism of the corrupt Medieval Church. People were naturally alarmed, and thought of S. Augustine’s celebrated complaint at the beginning of the fifth century, “that (the rules and ceremonies of Worship) were grown to such a number that the estate of Christian men was in worse case con- cerning that matter than were the Jews.”! Many of the Ritualists muttered the English Liturgy as rapidly and inaudibly as the Latin Liturgy is muttered in Roman worship. Chancels were enormously elon- cated, and barricaded with heavy Medieval screens; and the use of gorgeous Medieval vestments became popular. All these departures from Primitive Catholic Worship were made under the impression that they were Catholic; and, for a time, the Ritual Revival seemed destined to undo the work of the Reformation, and to extinguish the remnant of Congregational Responding which still remained in the Church. But of late years, wider knowledge and better counsels have prevailed; and the earnest pleadings of Mr. Beresford-Hope and other able friends of the movement, on behalf of con- cregational responding, have not been in vain. The majority of the Ritualist party (whether their interpre- 1 Fp, lv. 19. Preface of Prayer Book. REVIVAL OF CONGREGATIONAL RESPONDING. 581 tation of the Church's law be technically correct or not) have gradually assumed a position which is consistent with loyalty to the Reformation Settlement as contained in the Prayer Book. A mere blind copying of Medieval rites, is now a thing of the past. The irreverent gabbling of the Services has been generally discontinued and discountenanced ; and in the majority of Ritualistic Churches, one may now, thank God, hear the Gospel simply and fervently preached, and the Services clearly, solemnly, and sweetly rendered, with excellent Congre- _ gational Responding. The partial revival of Congregational Worship which I have here endeavoured to sketch, has not been with- out an influence upon other communions, Even the Church of Rome has been affected by it. Long before the Reformation, the spirit of the Reformation was abroad ; and Litanies used in the Open-Air Processions of the Medieval Church were translated. Since the Reformation, and especially in recent times, the Roman Church has endeavoured to satisfy the popular craving for vernacular devotion by superadding to the Latin Liturgy an irregular bundle of vernacular litanies, prayers, and hymns.t' Also, in some Roman Catholic countries, notably in Bavaria, very successful efforts have been made by the Priests to train the people and school children in the art of chanting some of the Latin responses. Many of the principal Nonconformist congregations have also been influenced by the revival of worship in the Church. In proportion as the Church’s worship has become Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful—in true accord with the Instinct of Worship in our race—so, in the same proportion, has 1 Beresford-Hope, Worship and Order, p. 107. 582 MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. the devotional power of her Services increased; and the novel systems of worship devised by the Puritans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, have been felt to be as poor in devotion, as they are unattractive in form. During the last twenty years, many of the most influential Nonconformist Congregations in Eng- land have discarded the old Puritan cu/tus, and have adopted liturgical and congregational worship. The same change is said to be in progress, and for the same reason, in the United States of America. The American Professor Hopkins, of the Presbyterian Seminary at Auburn, when recently advising his co-religionists to adopt Liturgical Worship, is reported to have said :— “A very large number of the children of Presbyterian families, and many of the cultivated and tasteful of our members, have sought a more cheerful, more varied, more sympathetic service in another Communion. There is not a Presbyterian pastor in the land but can testify to such losses. The Anglican Church has been largely recruited from our ranks. There are thousands in that Church at present who have been drawn away merely by the superior attractions of its cultus.... The tracks are all one way. It is largely due to this fact, that of all the sects in the United States, the Anglican is growing the most rapidly at the present time.”1 There are, however, other causes at work in promoting our Church’s growth. Her Apostolic polity, historic position, pure Creed, and full and free pro- clamation of the Gospel, in conjunction with a bold declaration of Scriptural truth respecting the Divine Commission of the Church and the Grace of the Sacra- ments, have, I venture to think, much to do with the remarkable progress of the Anglican Church: but her 1 Trish Ecclesiastical Gazette, June 2, 1883. ' °F MUSICAL WORSHIP. 533 warm, bright, Catholic Ritual is also, beyond doubt, as Professor Hopkins states, an important factor in promoting her influence. 2.—Musical Worship. Medieval Worship was in the main Primitive Catholic Worship veiled in an Unknown Tongue, and almost buried out of sight beneath a superadded mass of gorgeous vestments and idolatrous rites. What was Primitive and Catholic in Medieval. Worship was for the most part good and suitable for all time: but the superadded elements of ritual were, almost without exception, highly objectionable corruptions of worship; and as such, they were swept away at the Reformation ; when a fairly successful return to Primitive Catholic Ritual and Doctrine was effected in the Church of England. Worship had been Musical in the Primitive Church ; and it continued to be Musical in the Middle Ages. Musical intonation is, to most people, more expressive and agreeable than any other kind of sound; and it is audible over a greater area than any other kind of - sound, For these reasons, the worship in the sanctu- aries of Christendom, until the Reformation, continued to be Musical, like the worship in the temples of all other religions, and in the Heavenly Temple itself. The English Reformation, being based on the principle of a return to Primitive Worship, consistently mazztazned, without arbitrarily exforczng, the Church’s right to have her services musical. Liberty was, however, wisely al- lowed. The Psalms and other portions of the Services might “de sung or said in churches.” But there were per- 1 Hullah, The Speaking Voice, p. 15. 584 MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. sons at the Reformation who objected indiscriminately to everything in Medieval worship; and these persons of course objected to Musical Services. They attacked the Musical Worship of the Church on what seemed to be its weakest point, namely, the use of Musical Instruments. In the Lower House of the Convocation of 1562, there was a fierce debate on the proposition, “That the use of Organs be removed;” and on a division being taken, 58 votes were given for the pro- position, and 59 against it. The narrowness of this division encouraged the Puritans (who still maintained their place in the Church); and, with mistaken zeal, they denounced musical services and organs as “ Popish,” “ Unchristian,” “Babylonian.” Afterwards, during the civil war and the Commonwealth, the Puritans re- carded themselves as “ appointed by God” for “taking out of churches the Book of Common Prayer, surplices, and fonts; and for the breaking down of organs.” The new organ in Boston Church having fallen, the Puritans gave out that God had, in answer to their prayers, sent “a mighty wind,’ which “forced its passage into the church,” “blew down the organ, and stopped its breath.” } On the other hand, the more learned and intelligent Reformers firmly maintained the Church’s right to have her Services Musical, where possible, and to employ organs or other instruments to assist church music. The singing of the Psalms in Public Worship was ex- pressly legalized in 1549. In 1559, Queen Elizabeth’s Injunctions? provided for “the encouragement and the continuance of singing in the Church of England:” 1 Burnet, History of the Reformation, III. p. 302. Short, Zhe History of the Church of England, 1. pp. 383, 385, §§ 423, 424. Halley, Lanca- shire, ws Puritanism and Nonconformity, I. pp..111, 375. 2 Procter, On the Book of Common Prayer, p. 59. MUSICAL WORSHIP. 585 “according to which order,” says Heylin, “ Plain-song (Gregorian Chanting) was retained in most parish churches for the daily Psalms.” In the reign of King Charles I., the High Church party, especially in London and Oxford, cultivated church music with great success. The musicin many English churches during this reign almost rivalled the religious music of Italy. Great attention was also paid to church music in the reign of Charles II. The English chants composed during the Reformation period, and down to the close of the seventeenth century, were unexceptionable: simple, good, and well adapted for congregational use. They were beyond comparison superior to the elaborate and highly artificial music composed during the Middle Ages,* In the eighteenth century, there was a sad falling off in church music. The chants composed during this century. were for the most part utterly despicable, and unfit for public worship. The religious life of the Church had by this time been lamentably impoverished, first, by the loss of the Puritans (including the best of the Low Church party), and, secondly, by the loss of the Non-Jurors (who were the cream of the High Church party). The spiritual atrophy consequent upon these losses would fully account for the Church’s lack of life and fervour during the eighteenth century. But other causes were also at work. The nation had recently suffered from the terrors and bondage of Puritan rule under the Commonwealth, and from the no less intoler- able terrors and bondage of Popish rule under King James II. Consequently the minds of the great majority of English people in the eighteenth century 1 Evelyn’s Diary, I. pp. 123, 165, 188, 343, 394. E. J. Hopkins, Scngle Chants, Introduction. Cf. the sketches in John Jnglesant, pp. 103, 210, 435: 586 MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. were filled with a horror of everything Puritan and of everything Popish. Religious zeal, spiritual and evan- gelical preaching, bold denunciations of vice, and stirring appeals to the conscience and feelings, were regarded with suspicion; and were disliked, and dis- countenanced as remnants of the odious reign of the Puritans. On the other hand, frequent services, beauty, music, and reverence in worship, and the religious observance of Festivals and Fasts, were dreaded, and cried down as Popery. In this way, by the loss of two extreme but devoted and saintly sections of Churchmen, and afterwards by the concurrent action of two power- ful sets of prejudices, affecting respectively the spirit and the externals of worship, almost everything spiritual, earnest, reverent, and lovely was cast out of the Church’s worship.’ Listless silence became more than ever the “accustomed manner” of congregations, instead of audible responding ; and as spiritual apathy increased, choirs deteriorated or disappeared, and veaa- ing the Psalms, by the clergyman and clerk alternately, became almost universal, The chanting of the Services (which King William ITII.’s Commissioners? had recom- mended to be discontinued in Cathedrals) became so absolutely extinct in parish churches during the eighteenth century, that it was supposed to be illegal. So profound was the general ignorance upon the subject, that the revival of congregational chanting about a generation ago was regarded by both church people and dissenters, and by many of our Bishops and dignitaries, as a lawless revival of Popery! The highest authorities in the Church believed that chanting, although tolerated as-a sort of necessary evil in 1 Abbey and Overton, Zhe English Church in the Eighteenth Century, II. pp. 6, 50. a Tid Thp.748s. MUSICAL WORSHIP. 587 Cathedrals, was not allowed in parish churches, With- in the memory of men not yet old, Archbishop Sumner inhibited Dr. Mill from chanting the Psalms in his parish church; and this monstrous inhibition was only removed by a legal decision which re-affirmed the ancient right of the Church to have her Services Musical. But this decision was unfortunately powerless to remove the abounding ignorance and prejudice of which the good Archbishop’s inhibition was but an outward sign. Musical Worship—with which God has filled the whole heavens and the whole earth since the creation— continued to be denounced, by many in authority, and by many party leaders, in the Church of England (not- withstanding that it was expressly allowed by their own Church), as “unspiritual worship,” ‘sensuous worship,” “formal worship,” ‘a tickling of the ears,’ “the thin end of the wedge of Popery ;” and any clergy- man who introduced it in his church was marked, and often openly insulted, as an enemy of religion ! The unspeakable Church Music of thirty or forty years ago, “confined to the wretched solo of a parish clerk, or to a few persons huddled together in one corner:of the church,” gives too favourable an idea of the Church Services of the eighteenth century. “ Our divine Liturgy,” says Hartley Coleridge, was “ rendered wholly ludicrous by all imaginable tones, twangs, drawls, mouthings, wheezings, gruntings, snuffings, and quid- rollings, by all diversities of dialect, by twistings, con- tortions, and consolidations of visage, squintings, and blinkings, and upcastings of eyes.”+ The music in Nonconformist chapels was, if possible, a degree more awful. The Nonconformists long resisted the introduc- 1 Hartley Coleridge, Zssays and Marginalia, II. p. 338. Abbey and Overton, II. pp. 269, 481. 588 MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. tion of organs into their places of worship ; but at the end of the last century, Rowland Hill led the way towards a better state of things by erecting an organ in his Surrey Chapel. Organs are still abjured by many Presbyterian congregations: but in general, the remarkable musical revival which has done so much for the Church during the last thirty years is now spreading rapidly to other communions. The chief impediment now to the popularity of Musical Services in the Church is musical zeal without discretion. If the grand old hymns and chants, in which the choir and congregation can join heartily, are neglected: if the music of the service is treated as if it were everything, and the congregational devotion as if it were nothing: if the music is ordinarily beyond the reach of the people, and often beyond that of the Choir ; and above all, if the Church’s ‘seasons’ are marked (as they now often are) by a series of ‘ dveaks-down’ in the hymns and chants; many serious people will begin to tremble at the approach of the ‘ seasons,’ and will wish for the return of the good old times when both ‘seasons’ and music were entirely neglected ! 3.—Beautiful Worship. Many persons at the Reformation were not aware that God had from the beginning impressed wondrous Beauty upon all true worship in heaven and on earth. Medieval Rome had liberally employed art as the handmaid of religion, to beautify worship; and with those who understood no higher principle than undis- criminating hostility to everything which had existed in Medieval times, this fact was regarded as a sufficient reason for dismissing art from God’s service, and ruth- lessly destroying its products. The simple and beautiful BEAUTIFUL WORSHIP. 589 white surplus, which was the historical representative of the sacred “ white robes” worn in ancient times by ai/ worshippers, was supposed to have been invented by the Popes, and was discarded and denounced by the Puritans as “a Popish livery”! Stained-glass windows of exquisite beauty and priceless value were broken, as “relics of Popery,’ by Puritan ministers and church- wardens; and were “repaired and beautified with clear white and bright glass again”! With reference to the historic figures and symbolical representations which they contained, the savage destruction of these windows was gloried in as a breaking of “ Painted Puppets” and “ Popish Idols.”+ The gloomy meeting-houses and bald wearisome services of the Puritan Sectaries have often been described. Beauty and joyousness and sweetness were excluded from their worship. But Puritanism does not seem to have applied its morose theories to daily life, until some way on in the seven- teenth century. The older Puritans could be natural and joyous everywhere, except during their religious “exercises.” The barbarous customs of cock-fighting, and throwing or shooting at cocks, were their favourite recreation in wet weather. Abdias Assheton, the Puri- tan rector of Sladeburn, who could not endure a sur- plice, or an organ, or a painted window, delighted in the bark of hunting dogs, and loved to ride across country ina brilliant hunting-coat. The Puritans were fanatically opposed to the observance of Saints’ Days, and to the drinking of healths, as a giving of honour to men. But when a health was proposed, the strict Puritan drank generously, saying, “I will pray for it (the person’s health), and drink for my own.”? 1 Halley, Lancashire, its Puritanism and Nonconformity, I. pp. 158-160, 181, 186. 2 Halley, I. pp. 181, 206, 207, 215. 590 MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. The principal English Reformers seem to have understood that a worship which is not chaste and beautiful must fail to cultivate the heart, and to express its highest devotional feelings. But the development of comely beauty in the Church’s worship has been continually opposed and hampered, since the Reforma- tion, by the prevalence of Puritan traditions. There has been a constant struggle between the ultra-Protest- ant delusion that Beauty in worship was the result of Popish guile, and the Catholic principle that God de- signed all worship in heaven and on earth to be, as far as possible, perfectly Beautiful, after its kind. This struggle still continues, but its issue is no longer doubt- ful. Churches, chancels, and services are being every- where beautified ; and around us we see the descendants of the Puritan sectaries erecting, at great cost, highly ornamental Gothic churches, in which surpliced choirs are sometimes heard chanting liturgical services, The Instinct of Worship may, for a few generations, be more or less thwarted in its action, but in the long run it will prevail. As public opinion seems now to have rightly determined that English worship in the future shall be Beautiful, I would venture to again remind the reader that the Beauty of Christian worship ought to be pure, chaste, noble; suggestive of moral and spiritual excellence; and not suggestive of luxurious worldliness and the vulgar display of material wealth. 4.—Loss of Silent Prayer and Processional Worship at the Reformation. At the Reformation, the reaction against the scandal of Public Prayers being muttered, in an Unknown Tongue, was so strong, that many of the most influential Reformers determined to make the Church’s Services LOSS OF PROCESSIONAL WORSHIP. 591 audible and intelligible from beginning to end. How- ever natural this course may have been, in those troubled times, we must now recognize that it involved a de- parture from the central principle of the Reformation, which was to effect a return to Primitive Catholic Faith and Worship. For Primitive Worship was enriched and varied by occasional Silent Prayers, and by Prayers which were chanted “in a low voice;” and all such Prayers were too hastily excluded from the Prayer Book of our Reformed Church. In one place only, namely in the Service for Ordaining Priests, does our Prayer Book recognize Silent Prayer: a rubic there directs that “there shall be Silence kept for a space,” for the secret Prayers of the Congregation on behalf of those who are about to be ordained: but these prayers are not given; and, as I have said, the Prayer Book does not contain any supplications to be said either silently, or “in a low voice.” Our Church has suffered loss by this mistake. The Instinct of Worship having been in this particular repressed, and Church people deprived of an important devotional resource, common to all ancient forms of worship, we need not be surprised that irregular attempts have been made to supply the deficiency. The excessive quietism and stillness of Quaker worship represent a genuine, although overstrained effort, to obtain that repose, reflection, and silence, which ought not to be altogether wanting in the worship of a great national Church, The scandalous idolatries which discredited Medieval Processional Worship occasioned another great loss to our Church. People thought that all Religious Pro- cessions were Popish and Idolatrous. They knew nothing of, or did not consider, the glorious open-air Processions of the Hebrew and Primitive Christian 592 MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. Churches, and of all living religions in all ages and countries. Consequently, our Church emerged from her Reformation troubles almost completely shorn of the beautiful and bright Processions which were so admirably adapted for carrying religion to the heathen masses who cannot, or will not, enter ordinary places of worship. Surely the wild Processions of the Salvation Army are a voice from the nation’s heart appealing to the national Church to enrich her impoverished devotion, by reviving the well-ordered and sweet Processions of ancient Catholic worship. 5.—Loss of Reverence. All true and free worship surrounds itself with an atmosphere of Reverence. The Worship in Heaven is reverent! The Worship in Heathenism has in all ages been remarkable for its reverence The Worship in the Jewish Church was full of reverence; and this reverence was lovingly guarded by many excellent and appropriate regulations,? Primitive Christian Worship was also full of reverence, and was careful to adequately express and foster that reverence. Reverence is not Worship. There may be much real but misdirected Reverence, where there is very little spiritual Worship ; and there may be true Worship, with a grievous lack of the spirit and appliances of Reverence. The relation- ship between spiritual Worship and Reverence is some- thing like the relationship between the natural Life of any member of our species, and the subtile principles of self-respect, modesty, and consideration for others. What Life is without the mysterious feelings and environments created by these principles, Worship is 1 See above, pp. 68, 87, 102, 115. * See above, pp. 201-208. 3 See above, pp. 430-435, 469. 4 See above, p. 500. LOSS OF REVERENCE. 593 _ without Reverence: it is rude, barbarous, gross, and entirely wanting in the higher and finer qualities, Primitive Christian Worshippers, although probably less stiff and constrained than our modern congregations, expressed their Reverence by more serious and reverent demeanour, and by more pronounced devotional pos- tures—by standing with uplifted hands and eyes, and by frequent bowing down, kneeling, and prostration. They also expressed their Reverence—their sense of unworthi- ness and need of purification—by never entering God’s Presence in Public Worship in their ordinary apparel, but always in sacred white robes, Further, the early Christians were exceedingly reverent in their treatment of Holy Things, such as the Consecrated Elements in the Holy Communion. Reverence in the reception of the Lord’s Supper had been expressly enjoined by the Holy Ghost, and its neglect had been punished by sick- ness and death. “Whosoever shall eat the Bread and drink the Cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. ... For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the Body. For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and nota few sleep.”? Christian writings of the second, third, and fourth centuries are full of evidence that the Apostolic and Primitive Church treated the Holy Eucharist and the Consecrated Eucharistic Elements with the deepest reverence. The Eucharist was received at least weekly by all Christians. Care was taken that the Elements should not fall upon the ground, or be applied to com- mon uses, “ Make thy left hand,” says S. Cyril, “as it were a throne for thy right, which is on the eve of receiving the King.” After receiving the Bread, the 1 y Cor 11. 27-30 (Revised Version). 594 MODERN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. recipients were to say “Amen; ” and after receiving the Cup, they were again to say “ Amen.” ! The principle of Reverence received a terrible blow in the sixth century, when the Northern Barbarians discarded the sacred ‘ whzte robes’* worn in public wor- ship for many ages by all civilized men; and began to attend the churches in civil or military costume. Ina spirit worthy of haughty and blood-thirsty barbarians, they despised and rejected the time-honoured and beautiful symbolism which reminded all worshippers that those who come before God decked only in the splendours of this world, are “ miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked ”? in His sight. The worship of their descendants in the Middle Ages was, as might be ex- pected, fearfully irreverent* And this evil was then creatly increased by the use of an Unknown Tongue, and by an extreme sacerdotal theory of worship, which accustomed the people to neglect their part in the Services, and to worship by proxy. The few remnants of reverence extant in the Church centred around idola- trous usages, These usages, and the acts of reverence connected with them, were removed by the Reforma- tion: but little was done to restore to Public Worship the rich and legitimate reverence which had existed in Primitive Christendom; and the efforts which were made by the Church in this direction were strenuously opposed by the Puritans, who regarded as idolatrous almost all reverence for sacred buildings,’ persons, and ordinances. The wearing of Surplices, bowing at the Name of Jesus, kneeling at the Holy Communion, turning to the East at the Creeds, the commemoration of our Blessed Lord’s Nativity, Death, and Resurrection, and almost the whole apparatus of Reverence, were dis- 1 Cyril, Catechetical Lectures, xxiii, 21, 22. 2 See above, p. 531. 8 Rev, 3. 17. 4 See above, p. 542. “THE GREATEST OF THESE IS’ LOVE.” 595 countenanced and denounced by the Puritans and by those who were influenced by their teaching. Matters became continually worse and worse, among both Church people and Dissenters, until the much-needed Ritual Revival of the present century, which has done much— although much still remains to be done—to fully restore to the Church her ancient power of expressing adora- tion and reverence. 6.—Conclusion : “ The greatest of these 1s Love” Cn Cor. 14.13). The “Revival of Learning,’ which preceded and accompanied the Reformation, emancipated reason and conscience from the intolerable domination of a foreign power. Hundreds of earnest and devoted men rejoiced in their liberty, and were full of confident belief that they could easily devise new constitutions for Churches, and new systems of devotion, which would revolutionise and purify the religious worship of the world, and last till the end of time. The newfangled and ephemeral “paper constitutions” of the French Revolution, and the equally ephemeral philosophical systems of recent German speculators, had their theological and ecclesi- astical counterparts in the Reformation period. The widest diversities of religious opinion prevailed, and were held with enthusiastic confidence. Add to this, that in the strong and necessary reaction against the spurious idea of unity promulgated by Rome, the Scriptural idea of unity was in great part lost; and the majority of men quite forgot that to wantonly rend the Church by internal strife, or by open schism, was a grievous sin against God. All these evils arose out of the natural infirmity of human reason, when placed without adequate know- 596 CONCLUSION. ledge for its guidance, in a new and trying position. They were the natural misfortunes of the time; and they were curable: a little Love, and a little of the charitable forbearance which Love produces, would have cured them all. But alas! this remedy was not understood. The simple words, “the greatest of these 2s Love,’ are God’s voice speaking to us in the language of heaven; and none of the great teachers and scholars of Christendom have yet fully succeeded in unfolding their meaning to the hearts of men. In future ages, when the Church shall have worked the Gospel of Christ more perfectly into the life of our race, and when the mists and darkness, which world- old and world-wide vices have gathered around the inner spiritual vision of humanity, shall have been swept away by the sanctifying and enlightening influ- ence of the Holy Spirit, the Divine Mystery of Love will shine in a clear sky, and men’s minds and lives will be filled with it. But the time is not yet; and at the Reformation it was far distant. The Roman Church had then its own translation of the mystic words, “the createst of these is Love:” which became, by this trans- lation, “the greatest of these is the Holy Office of the Inquisition, with its racks, and thumb-screws, and tor- tures.” The translation given by Churchmen and Puri- tans was virtually a repetition of that given by the Roman Inquisitors :—“ the greatest of these is persecu- tion, with its fires and swords, fines and imprisonments, ear-croppings, nose-splittings, and butcheries.” When men cannot, or will not, understand God’s Word, Satan is at hand to misinterpret it for them. The great and terrible error of the Reformation, and of the period since, has not been intellectual, but moral 1 1 Cor. 13. 13 (Revised Version), “THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE,” 597 and spiritual: it has been the want of large-hearted, patient, Divine charity; the only altogether ruinous want, the want of Love. Almost all the Reformers, of all parties, remained Papists in the worst sense until the day of their death: they never emancipated them- selves from the old Medieval heresy that men should promote religion by infamous anathemas, by cruel and uncharitable words, and by cruel and uncharitable acts. Freed (although but in part) from Popish thraldom, they were like wild untrained boys breaking free from school, who run, and leap, and shout for joy; but presently, when their paths cross, they strike and beat each other, and fill the air with rude and angry sounds, The ignorance of the time was great. It was then a rare thing to find a New Testament in any church. Even the names of the Canonical Books were imperfectly known. Erasmus tells us that the spurious Gospel of Nicodemus was set up in Canterbury Cathedral as a portion of Holy Scripture!! The history and theory of worship were utterly unintelligible to the many ; and were but partially understood by the learned. The Prayer Book, which contained a reasonably close ap- proximation to Primitive Catholic Ritual, was regarded as Popish. Many thought that, in it, “the ceremonies of Antichrist were tied to the service of God.” Under these circumstances, the Church ought to have allowed the widest possible measure of freedom, con- sistent with purity of worship. While firmly maintain- ing the fundamentals of revealed religion, the Church ought to have clearly indicated, and earnestly recom- mended, the ritual usages of the Primitive Church, in so far as they were applicable to modern worship: but she ought, also, to have expressly recognised that 1 Short, Zhe History of the Church of England, I. p. 128. 598 CONCLUSION. these ritual usages were matters of secondary import- ance, in which uzzformity, although desirable, should not be enforced, at least for a time. Had a generous freedom been allowed: had the Church’s ritual teaching been definite, and yet kindly and tolerant, the asperity of ritual controversy would have been softened, calm and learned investigation would have obtained a hear- ing, and truth (which was almost entirely on the Church’s side) would soon have made its way. But the evil demon of persecution was adopted by all parties as the patron saint of the Reformation ; and the Church’s impregnable controversial position was irreparably weakened by the blind and angry passions which per- secution aroused, The declaration of open war between the ‘ High’ and ‘Low’ Church parties may be considered to have taken place in 1566, when an attempt was made to /orce ritual uniformity upon 98 of the London clergy. Of these 98, 61 conformed and retained their benefices; and 37, including, as Archbishop Parker acknowledges, “the best, and some preachers,” refused to conform, and were mercilessly driven from their positions in: the Church. Contrary to the expectation of their judges, these 37 conscientious and self-denying men “ showed reasonable quietness and modesty”! under this insane and devilish persecution. But their “reasonable quietness and modesty,” which seemed for the moment to smooth the way of those in power, could not restore to the Church’s heart the warm and noble blood which she had lost by this suicidal act. Nor did the outraged families, friends, and congregations of these saintly men, show “reasonable quietness and modesty:” they acted with the rage, unreasonableness, and vindictiveness, common 1 Short, pp. 401, 402, § 432. = “THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.” 599 among people who have suffered grievous wrong; and they raised a flame which has burned for three cen- turies. In 1570, Thomas Cartwright, Lady Margaret Reader of Divinity at Cambridge, espoused the Puritan cause. He was in consequence deprived of his Readership and Fellowship ! The controversy became daily more and more exasperated by unchristian and injurious acts; and the period in which calm judging on the part of the public was possible had virtually passed away when a memorable dispute. in 1585 became the origin of Hooker’s Lcclestastical Polity. In this profound and splendid work, the Church’s position, polity, and ritual! were defended with crushing effect. The crude and super- ficialargumentsadvanced bythe Puritans, and thelearned, thoughtful, and incisive rejoinders of Hooker, need not be reproduced here. Piles of Burnt Cartridges from old battle-fields have at best but a melancholy interest. To Hooker the controversy was child’s play. His light and polished blade, of the keenest temper, in a hand of unrivalled energy and skill, hacked the poor Puritans to pieces with the greatest ease. But alas! he knew no mercy for these simple and earnest men who were too dull, or too busy, or too much blinded by the sense of inexpiable wrongs, to be convinced by his matchless dialectics. Written in the midst of a cruel, stupid, and ruinous persecution, Hooker’s great work was simply the tool of arbitrary power: it contained (if I recollect aright) everything noble, except the noblest thing of all, pleadings for the vanquished: it enforced almost every principle except the highest, that “the greatest of these is Love!” JI can understand a punctilious and refined WOMAN, like Queen Elizabeth—arbitrary in temper and 1 Hooker, Ecclestastical Polity, I. pp. 520-559, Chaps. xxvili—xli. 600 CONCLUSION. more than ordinarily fastidious in matters of dress— dividing the Church and the kingdom about a surplice / but I cannot so easily understand how a MAN—and above all a man of such vast powers as Hooker pos- sessed—could do so, without stifling some part of the “still small voice” from above, which he was sent into this world to interpret and to speak.! At the Hampton Court Conference (1604), King James I. truly told the Puritans that their scruples were matters of weakness. Instead, however, of arguing from this, that the Church, as the Representative of the Divine Love and Mercy of Christ, should maintain her own views on secondary points with all loving forbear- ance towards the weak who could not accept them: the narrow-minded and pedantic King informed his Puritan subjects that if they were honest and good men, they would be easily won to conformity ; and that if they did not conform, “they ought to be hanged !” and he would “ hurry them out of the land!” ? The persecuting Church was soon humbled, and persecuting Sects were exalted in her stead. Under Cromwell (1655), persons were forbidden to employ the ejected and impoverished Church clergy as tutors to their children. The old Roman Catholic gentry, like the Church clergy, were reduced to absolute beggary ; and the Presbyterians punished as “scandalous” per- sons who employed Popish “tailors.” The prayers of the Prayer-Book were not allowed to be used even in private devotion.4 People who had been married accord- ing to the Church Service were declared to be “ guilty 1 Lord Bacon, another master-mind of the post-Reformation period, appears to have acted more conscientiously in the ritual controversy than he did in some other things, He tried hard to obtain concessions for the Puritans. 2 Short, II. p. 30, § 509. 3 Ibid., p. 188, § 609. * Tbid., II. p: 200,'§ 616, “THE GREATEST’ OF THESE IS LOVE,” 601 of fornication,” until they submitted to be remarried by a Presbyterian minister. The Presbyterians were equally opposed to the toleration of Independents, Quakers, Socinians, and the other new sects which then sprang up.” The Independents, being anxious to secure toleration for themselves, were willing to tolerate the sects; but they would grant no toleration to Papists and Church people. Eventually, the English nation, wearied and disgusted with the intolerance of the Presbyterians and Sectaries, restored the Church, the Monarchy, and the Royal Family, in 1661-2. It was hoped that these had learned wisdom by their long humiliation and adversity: but this hope was disappointed. In the negotiations which then took place between the Church and the Noncon- formists, irritability, narrowness, partisanship, wrong- headedness, and mutual distrust were painfully con- spicuous on both sides. There were then Churchmen with great intellects: but God, in His displeasure with an intolerant and unloving people, raised up no man with a great and loving heart, equal to the occasion. By an Act of Parliament which received the Royal Assent on May 19th, 1662, the Idol of Ritual Uniformity was set up, clad in surplice, for the worship of the dis- tracted nation ; and persecution broke out afresh against the Puritans, In the midland and northern counties, through the generosity and Christian feeling of in- dividual Bishops,’ several revered and saintly Noncon- formist clergymen were allowed to retain their livings unmolested, without complying with the requirements of this unjust and offensive Act: but many others, especially in the south, were mercilessly ejected, to the irreparable loss of the Church. 1 Halley, Lancashire, its Puritanism and Nonconformity, I. p. 461, 2 Halley, I. p. 434. 3 Halley, II. pp. 142, 146, 151. 602 CONCLUSION. Through all these Reformation troubles, the most violent and unscrupulous party-leaders, in the ranks both of the Church and of Nonconformity, were Jesuit Priests, commissioned by the Court of Rome to identify themselves with the various parties of Reformers, and to disintegrate the Reformation movement, by fanning the flame of party-strife. The Church’s experience in the nineteenth century seems to prove that the evil work of fomenting theological hatred can be successfully accomplished by Satan, without the aid of the Jesuit Order. However this may be, there is conclusive evi- dence that Rome successfully employed these unscrupu- lous tactics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.! The many unlovely features of the politico-religious movement which went by the name of Puritanism must not be allowed to conceal from us the fact that under the unprepossessing exterior of that great party there was to be found, like a vein of precious metal, the pure . gold of the Low Church clergy. Their final expulsion from the Church’s ministry in 1662 was an unspeak- ably great and lamentable loss. And the no less un- fortunate expulsion of the Non-Jurors, a generation later, about a miserable question of politics, deprived the Church of many of the best of the High Church party. To the mere politician and man of the world, it may seem a very trifling matter to eject a handful of over- zealous Puritans or High Churchmen, whose benefices can be filled within a week by men who will not so readily give them up. But spiritually-minded observers know that the case is much more serious. For in the first place, when the Law of Love is violated, God withholds His blessings ; and spiritual famine ensues, It is, also, a part of God’s method, to maintain the life of His 1 Goode, Rome’s Tactics. “THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.” 603 Church in high efficiency by the presence and influence of a very few persons upon whom He has bestowed exceptional graces. These highly-favoured servants of God are not necessarily the cleverest, wisest, or most learned men in the Church (although they may be so): but they are eminently earnest and conscientious; and are therefore likely to become the victims of persecu- tion. The loss of a few dozen men of this kind may at any time lower the devotional life of the Church twenty percent. Nothing could be more unwise than the Medi- eval and post-Reformation principle of incessant Ecclesi- astical blood-letting (if I may so call it), which was so long relied upon as a sovereign remedy for the Church in all distempers and troubles. In the natural order, if a man was ill, the old medical prescription was to this effect :—“ Bleed the patient profusely. If he then seems to be growing weaker, bleed him again. And if he still gets weaker, bleed him again, more profusely! and await the result!” The same mode of treatment has been unsparingly applied to the Church; and with a result similar to that usually obtained by the old medical practitioners—exhaustion, coldness, loss of the vital principle, death ! During the long period of exhaustion consequent upon these oft-repeated blood-lettings, the inert, un- sympathetic, half-dead corpus of the Church failed to assimilate the fervour of Methodism, which was there- fore alienated and lost; and by this loss, the warmest heart-blood of the Church was again drawn off in almost every parish in England. Church life then sank so low, that during the first thirty years of the nineteenth century, the religious zeal and theological culture of the Divinity Schools in the great English Universities were smothered in the aroma of port wine; and young men, full of enthusiasm and genius, were at 604 CONCLUSION. once disgusted with their Mother-Church, and sent forth as her future lights and teachers, without having received one particle of that salutary ballast which a sound theological training would have imparted. The result was the Tractarian Exodus to Rome; and the weak and suffering body of the Church was again pro- fusely bled! The High Church party, having by this Exodus lost their most zealous and able men, resolved to restore the vigour of the Church by drawing off her Evangelical blood! A determined effort was made to drive Gorham and his Low Church brethren out of the ministry! Butamid all this folly and wickedness, God’s infinite and unmerited Love began to shine upon our suffering Church, and this mad attempt to cast out the Evangelicals signally failed. Meanwhile, High Church- men, Low Churchmen, and Broad Churchmen, singly, or variously combined against each other, were earnestly engaged in other and equally mad attempts to heal the Church’s distempers by the old panacea of blood-let- ting. Maurice, Kingsley, and Stanley were threatened or attacked: but God’s Love to the Church sheltered their noble lives ; and they enriched her spiritual life and thought, enlarged the scope of her labours, and died in her ranks in peace. It is not easy to speak of nearer and more recent events. As I write,! I look down from my study window upon the adjoining parish of S. Oswald’s, where the battle thickened around the saintly Dykes. I could not accept his views (any more than the views of some others whom I have named): but I saw his anguish, and, in a measure, I shared it as I watched his death-struggles. Who will now say that the Church was not enriched by his life, and saddened by his death! Oh, Everlasting Love! A beam of 1 In S. Giles’ Vicarage, Durham, England. “THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.” 605 Thy Light shone in him! His was a pure and loving spirit ! I well know that there are fundamental errors which the Church cannot, and dare not, tolerate. But it isa grave mistake to confound errors with the individuals who may at any particular time be, or may be thought to be, the teachers of them. Many of these individuals are either very young, or very rash, or very imperfectly educated ; or they may have fallen temporarily under the influence of some powerful intellect; or their error may affect but a small part of a life eminently useful. Many men, if fairly treated, are easily led away from their errors, or grow out of them. Scores of the half- Papists or half-Atheists of twenty years ago, are now humble, Christ-loving ministers of the Church, “shining as lights in the world.” When people’s lives and hearts are evidently given to God, surely His Church ought to have long and loving patience, before she decides upon the terrible expedient of casting them out of the Lord’s vineyard. Even this may indeed be necessary in cases of serious and aggressive error. But the most grievous error of all, and the error most injurious to the Church, is the want of charity. Many things must occupy her attention: but “the greatest of these is Love.” On secondary questions, such as matters of ritual, no one age or country can ever be a perfect model for any other. The Church must consider all the circumstances of time and place, and use her freedom. But speaking in ceneral terms, the whole history and philosophy of ritual show that our Church and her greatest theologians are not mistaken in looking back to the Apostolic and Primi- tive Catholic Church as affording a standard to which our worship should, as nearly as possible, approximate. If the conclusions arrived at in this volume be substan- tially correct, we ought to spare no pains to make our 606 CONCLUSION. Church’s Worship thoroughly Responsive, Congrega- tional, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful. But while earnestly pressing for these ritual improvements on account of their undoubted devotional importance, I would venture, in conclusion, to once more remind the reader that there are weightier matters still: that the createst needs of the Church of England, at present, are a wide charity on secondary points of ritual, less mere party contention among loyal Churchmen, and far more simple and outspoken preaching of Pardon and Peace by faith in the One Sacrifice on the Cross, TN DEX: ABLUTIONS, Heathen, 162; Moham- medan, 201; Jewish, 469 ; Primitive Christian, 499. Accadian Penitential Psalm, with Rubrical directions, 238. Adoration, 99, 100, 474. Africa, Heathen Worship in, 251. Altars, 161, 162. Altar Cloths, 547. American Indians’ Worship, 260. Angels, nine Choirs of, 47. Animalism, in modern life, 129. Ants, their power of sight, 132. Apis, worship of, at Sinai, 221. Archaic Idols, 277, 280, Ark, the removal of the, to Jerusalem, 322. Asia, the Temples of, constructed for Westward Worship, 167. Atonement, the Great Day of, how observed in the Jewish Temple, 444. . . Automatic Contractions of the Muscles, compared to Instincts, 15. BAAL, worship of, 223. Babylon, 227. Babylonish Saints’ Calendar, 233. Baptism, ancient ritual of, 505. Barak’s Victory, 312. Baxter, opposed to Congregational Responding, 42, 575. Beauty, the expression of the Divine Love, 2 ; suggests the Infinite, 74 ; in Heavenly Worship, 102; in Heathen Worship, 212; in Hebrew Worship, 361, 362, 381, 406, 437, 459, 468; in Christian Worship, 539; Puritan hostility to, 588. Bechuana Worship, 252. Benediction, in the Jewish Temple, 427. Beresford-Hope, Mr., advocates con- gregational worship, 580. Black, when worn by Heathen Priests, 197. Blood-Letting (Ecclesiastical), 603. Borsippa (Birs-Nimrud), temple of the Seven Spheres at, 229. Buddhism, 262. Buddhist Worship, various directions of, 165 ; Liturgy and Rubrics, 266. Bushmen, saying of the, 293. CARTHAGE, temple at, 166. Ceres, worship of, 227. Chancels, Medieval Choirs in deep, 570. Choirs, in the Jewish Temple, 435 ; in Synagogues, 467 ; in Primitive Christian churches, 484, 515; in Temple-Basilican churches, 518, 519; in Medieval churches, 570. Church, the, a necessity, 286. Churches, synagogue type, 514; temple-basilican, 517; Medieval, 570. Christ honoured the Devotional Ritual of His time, 30. Circumambulation of Altars, 177. Confirmation, in a Jewish Syna- gogue, 477- 608 Congregational Worship, what it ought to be, 491; partial revival of, since the Reformation, 573; dis- liked by Puritans, 575 ; assisted by Wesiey, 577- Congregations, Jewish, how made to join in the Synagogue Services, 474, 476. Constantine the Great, Half-Pagan till the end of his life, 534. Creation, worship at the, 116. Creeds, origin of the custom of Turning to the East at the, 506. Cross, sign of the, 549; devotional use of the, 551. Crosses, worship of, 555. Cruelties, in Heathen Worship, 282. Cubit, length of the Jewish, 372 z. Curtains, round Sanctuaries, 548. Cuzco, in Peru, temple at, 169. DAILY PRAYER, by an Ashango Chief, 293. Daily Sacrifices, bs Jewish Temple, 25 Dee of S. Wilktmoak 183; Great Sun, of the Ponca Indians, Ig, Dancing, Religious, 185 ; abuse of, 186, 192; Mania, 187. David’s Victory, 315. Day of Atonement, Ritual of the, Decorum not everything in worship, 461. Devil-Idols, 290. Devil-Worship, hideous ugliness of, 9, 75, 289. Devotional Postures, Temple, 433. Devotional Ritual, not given by Revelation, 20; in Jewish Temple, AP Dine Thrones in Heaven, Budd- hist belief, 82. Diana, temple of, at Ephesus, 168 ; worship of, 224. Dignity, a characteristic of the Wor- ship in the Jewish Temple, 437. Diocletian Edict for the Demolition of Churches, 512. Dissenters, adopting the Church’s system of worship, 37, 582, 590. in Jewish INDEX. Dreary Worship, 462. Dress, of Heathen Worshippers, 194; of Heathen Priests, 197; 0 Heathen High Priests, 198; of Jewish Levites, Priests, and High Priests, 380 ; of Jewish Worship- pers, 468 ; of Christian Ministers and Worshippers, 524-538. Dumb Worship, 35, 576. EARLY TRAINING, of Jewish con- gregations, for congregational wor- ship, 477. Eastward Worship, a heathen tradi- tion respecting its antiquity, 173 ; in Christian Church, 501; not Sun- worship, 506; not Eucharistic, 509 ; not Roman, 522. Ebal, solemnity on Mount, 308. Egypt, temples of, 167; ancient religion of, 239; ancient Heathen Calendar of, 241. Epidemics in the Middle Ages, Dancing Mania, 32. Esquimaux Priest and Clerk con- ducting Worship, 261. Expiation, in Heathen Worship, 145. Extempore Prayer, allowed before Sermons in Churches, 576. Externals of Worship important, 4 ; are there any guiding principles with respect to the, 7. F., the best Musical Note for ordinary Congregational Responding, 475. Faculties and Senses, limitations of the human, 131. Festivals, in Jewish Temple, 440. Flowers, 544. Font, Norman, in S, Giles’ Church, Durham, England, 279. Formalism, in Heathen Worship, 1506. Fountains, before Heathen Temples | and Altars, 162. Future Judgment, ancient Egyptian doctrine of a, 240. Future Life, Assyrian doctrine of a, 230. GERIZIM, solemnity on Mount, 308. Gladness in Heathen Worship, 193; in Jewish Worship, 463, 469, 473. INDEX. Glass, coloured and painted, 544. - God, illustrations of the mysterious Essence and Being of, “the Wind,” 135; the Ether, 136. Golden-Plate, Priest- wearing - the, BRAD Golden-Robe, presented by Con- stantine to Macarius, 533. Greece, Temples of, constructed for Westward Worship, 166 ; ancient Heathen Worship in, 225, HALLEL, how sung in the Jewish Temple, 441. Hallelujah Victory of S, German, 489. Heathen Choirs, Roman, 226. Heathen Devotional Ritual, 175. Heathen Responses in Africa, 251. Heathen Worship, 145. Heathenism “athirst for God,” 291. Heaven, a Temple, 21, 46; real and local, 141. Heavenly Worship, an _ objective reality, 129; the original worship, 143. Helena, Mother of Constantine, 553. Herod’s Temple at Jerusalem, Plat- forms and Principal Gates of, 408 ; Court of the Gentiles, 410; Royal Porch, 412; Sanctuary, 416; Trea- sury, 416; GreatAltar, 417; Holy House, 418 ; ground Plan of, 420. Hindu Worship, 257. Holy Houses of Gold, as Shrines of Temples, 373. Hosanna Anthem, at Feast of Taber- nacles, 457. Hours of Heathen Worship, 160, Human Sacrifices, considered to be Expiatory, 149. Hymns, ancient Egyptian, 249. Hyper-Spiritualism, how far errone- ous, 25. IDOLS, place of, at West of Altars, looking Eastward, 162. Tllumination of Jewish Temple, at Feast of Tabernacles, 459. vee eth ame in Christendom, 588. 609 Impersonal Spiritual Forces, 133. Incense, Ritual use of, 69, 102, 548. India, Temples of, 169. Inductive Method of Inquiry applied to the Externals of Worship, 7. Indulgences, 564. Infants’ Schools, Congregational and Musical Method of Instruction i in, 35: Instinct of Worship, 3; its Nature, I; its Power, 8, 17; its Autho- rity, 19 ; not Infallible, 19 ; its pro- ducts respected by Revelation, 22; its Interpretation, 25. Instincts, of Nutrition, Language, Ornamentation, Education, 12, 13; of Gallinaceous Birds, 14; prior to Experience, 14; develop- ment of, 15. Invention of Congregational Re- sponses by Methodists and Salva- tionists, 36. Ireland, ancient churches of, 513. Isaiah 6. explained, 43. JEPHTHA’S Victory, 313 Jerusalem, elevation of, 336. Jesuits, became Protestant party- leaders, at Reformation, 602. Job % 7, Worship at the Creation, 116 “Jubilee Singers,” 303. Judith’s Thanksgiving Service, 316. KAFFIR Worship, 253, LAMB, The, Worship of, in Heaven, 9. Laodicea, Semi-Arian Council at, prohibited Congregational Sing- ing, 492. Laplanders’ Worship, 259. Light, certain vibrations of, unseen by men, 132. Lights, ceremonial use of, 545. Litany of Ra, 250. Liturgies, Buddhist, 266; Jewish, 367 2, 4213; Primitive Christian, 494. Lord’s Table, 547. 2Q 610 INDEX. . Loud Singing, ordinarily unsuitable in prayer, 34. Love, the Creative Principle, ex- pressed by Beauty, 2; “the greatest of these is Love,” 595. “ Tuminous Voices,” Buddhist belief respecting, 280. ». } MALTA, Temple in, 166. Masses, 564. Matter, may be Ether in motion, 136; capable of glorification, 137. May Revellers, 188. Medieval Dumb Worship, its influ- ence still felt, 42. Minerva, Worship of, at Troy, 224. Moab, temples of, 167. Modern Scepticism, with respect to the Spirit of Evil, 288. Mohammedan Worship, towards Mecca, 165; in Africa, 255; in Asia, 257. Monogram, the sacred, 552. Mosaics, 542. Musical Worship, 33, 37-40, 73, 208; Laodicean, 491 ; Modern, 583. NaTIVITY, Angels’ Worship at the, 116. Nature, its songs and sighs, 97. Negro Worship, 252, 254, 255. Nestorian churches, 514. New Zealand worship, 261. Nile, influence of the, on the struc- ture of temples, 165, 167. Northern Tribes worship towards the North, 164. OPEN-AIR SERVICES (Jewish), 295. Orientation of churches, 513-516. Orpheus, said to have been the teacher of Moses, 306. Otaheite, excellent singing in, 261. PAINTINGS, 542. Palm Branches, 454. Palm Sunday, in Coptic Church, 544 Papacy, the, 121. Passover, in Jewish Temple, 440. Patriarchal Worship, 297. Persecution, at Reformation, 596. Places of Worship, Heathen, 161. Plan of Herod’s Temple, 420. Ponca Indians, Great Sun-Dance of the, 191. Porch, of the Heavenly Temple, 46. Prayer, Heathen, rests on sacrifices, Thos Priesthood, the Christian, Non- sacerdotal but Divinely Commis- sioned, 529. Primitive Christian Worship, East- ward Direction of, a _ reaction against Heathenism, 173 ; Pliny’s account of, 489; prayers, bright and Scriptural, 495. Processions, Heathen Religious, 181; Jewish and Christian, 184, 455, 530; abused by Church of Rome, © 184; loss of, in modern times, 590. Purgatory, doctrine of, 562. Puritanism, opposed to Congrega- tional Responding, 42, 575. QUAKER Worship, 591. READERS, in middle of congrega- tions, in Synagogues, 467, and in Primitive Christian Churches, 484. Reading the Scriptures, in the Temple, 457. Reason, its functions in religion, 16. Red Sea, Thanksgiving Service at the, 300. Reformation, the, 41, 72. Reformers, in Heathen religions, opposed to Westward Idolatrous Worship, 172. Relics, worship of, 555. Responsive and Congregational Wor- ship, in Heaven, 66, 67, 86, 102, 114; in Heathenism, 200; in the Jewish Temple, 428; in Syna- gogues, 470; how maintained, 474; in the early Christian Church, 486 ; partially revived since the Reformation, 572. as INDEX, 611 Resurrection, the; 138. Revelation has not imposed a system of peo von Ritual, 20, 363-367, 481, Revolt in Heaven, Assyrian tradition of the, 230. Reverence, in Heavenly Worship, 68; in. Heathen Worship, 201, 246; in Jewish Worship, 430, 469; in Christian Worship, 499 ; loss of, 592. Ritual Revival, the modern, 578. Rome, the Papacy, 121. Rosaries, used in Heathen Worship, 158; modern Roman Catholic, 562. SABBATH, Babylonian, 233, 235. Sacramental Ritual, how far given by Revelation, 20, Sacred Rivers, influence of, on the construction of temples, 384. Sacrifices, Heathen life based on, 147. Sacrificial Ritual, 20, 361, 480. Sacrificial Vestments, Heathen, white, | 198 ; Jewish, white, 383. Szeculum, Festival of the, 225. Salvation Army, significance of the wild Processions of the, 585. Scape-Goat, 446, 449. Science, its discoveries unfavourable to Materialism, 131. Sensuous Worship, its error, 26. Second Temple (Jewish), the found- ing of the, 330. Seraphim’s Worship, 43. Shepherds’ Worship, at the Nativity, 118. Shoes put off in early Christian Wor- ship, 499. Shrines, Heathen, 162. Side-entrances, in temples, 163. Silent Prayers, in Jewish Temple services, 435; in Synagogues, 473; in Buddhist Worship, 499; in Christian Worship, 499; loss of, since the Reformation, 590. Sin begins in spiritual departure from God, 3. Solomon’s Temple, 385, 390; Dedi- cation of, 399. ** Song of Degrees,” 336. Songs of Moses, sung on Sabbath Days in the Temple, 428. Sound, certain vibrations of, unheard by man, 13. Standard, of Constantine, 552. Sun-worshipy 164. Sympathy, power of, in Worship and in Education, 35. Synagogues (Jewish), Worship in, 461; structure and arrangements of, 464; relation to Christian Worship, 464; in Galilee, unique construction of, 465; how Respon- sive and Congregational Worship is maintained in the, 474 ; a Confir- mation in, 477. Synagogues (Primitive Christian), 480. Syria, temples of, 168. TABERNACLE, the Mosaic, 167, 368. Tabernacles, the Feast of, 451. Tallith, use of the, in Hebrew wor- ship, 468. Temple, in Heaven, 21, 46, 141. Temple, of Solomon at Jerusalem, 385; of Herod, 408; Ground Plan of Herod’s, 420. Temples, great antiquity of some, 161, 243; Assyrian and Baby- lonian, 229; Donations to, 244. Therapeutee, their worship, 488. Tibetian Buddhism, Formalism of, 158. Tithes, 155. Tractarian Leaders, not the leaders of the Ritual Revival, 578. Trash, in Heathen systems, 281. True Cross, legends respecting, 553. Turning to the East at the Creeds, 506. UNIVERSE, the Material, bears traces of a spiritual origin, 133. Unknown Tongues, not used in Heavenly Worship, 65; sometimes used in Heathen Worship, 216; in Christian Worship, 566. Un-Musical Worship better than Un-Congregational Worship, 449. “4612 INDEX, 2 2 = “VAIN Repetitions,” in Heathen Westward Worship, in Heathenism, Worship, 157; in Christian Wor- causes of, 171. ship, 562. Whisper-Chants, in Synagogues, 474. Vasishtha, the Vedic Prophet, prayer | Worship, direction of, in Heathenism, of, 293. Westward, 164 ; in Jewish Taber- Veils, Eucharistic, 547; for Shrine, nacle, Westward, 383; in Syna- in Coptic Church, y gogues, towards Jerusalem, 402, Vine of Pure Gold, in Herod’s| 465; in Primitive Christian Church, Temple, 419. Eastward, and in Roman Catholic Voice, its sympathetic power dimi-| and Dissenting Communities in nished by distance, 467, 477. every direction, 501-523. WALL of Jerusalem, the Dedication | ZACHARIAS, the Priest, his Vision in of the, 331. . the Temple, 426. THE END. sd | * By the same #Futbor. fF Third Edition, carefully revised, Crown 8vo, cloth, bevelled boards, 3s. 6d. HEARTY SERVICES: REVIVED CHURCH WORSHIP. By the REv. J. G. NORTON, M.A., Rector of Montreal, Canada, °* ** Public Worship, as conducted in many of our Churches, instead of fostering spiritual life, is too often little better than its grave,"—/xtroduction, CoNTENTS.—Preface—Introduction—Lay Responsibility (I. II. III.)— The Power of Hearty Services, and how they may be attained (IV.)—The Idea of Worship (V. VI. VII.)—Devotional Postures (VIII. IX.)—Fast- ward Worship (X.)—Note on Devotional Postures in Heathenism—Note on Eastward Worship in Heathenism. ‘‘A good word and hearty recommendation are due to these useful and vigorous sermons. ... It is the kind of book to be useful in the parish of any clergyman who is trying to revive an interest in Church matters. Vigorous common sense and genuine earnestness mark them throughout,’’—Church Quarterly Review, ‘This book deserves to be read carefully by clergy and laity, and will not be read by any of them without profit, The true-hearted, manly Church of England teaching that pervades it, is a guarantee alike against any wavering towards Romanism or Puritanism, We earnestly advise the clergy to read it, and reproduce a large portion of it in their own sermons. ‘The Anglican, and, therefore, true Catholic, habit of turning towards the East, is better treated of here than in any book we have met with. Mr, Norton tells us, and almost demonstrates, that ‘Pagan worship is, in the main, westward ; Catholic Christian worship, eastward ; Roman and Dissenting worship, in every direc- tion.’ His remarks on ‘worship’ are especially worthy of attention; but, as we have said, it will be well if many portions of it are repeated—as to the teaching at least—from many pulpits, and discussed in many of our Church Guilds,” —Church Bells, ** Among the excellent points in these Lectures (for such they really are) we note that the duties of the laity are clearly set forth; and the remark is made 2R ¥ 2 me ll , that, while laymen complain of the lawlessness of the clergy, they should con- sider whether they themselves obey their Prayer-Book. ‘Thére is an interesting discussion at the end of the volume on Eastward worship and its origin.”— Literary Churchman, ** A neat volume of earnest and bright sermons. . . . Interesting and sug- gestive book... .. Mr. Norton has given a very exhaustive account of the Eastward worship of the Church: He proves satisfactorily that its origin is derived neither from Pagan nor from Popish sources. . . . A valuable contri- bution to the current opinions upon this subject.”—/ohn Bull. . ‘* Ably prepared.”— Yorkshire Gazette. ‘‘An earnestly written and carefully argued treatise. ... His title is no introduction to the advocacy of extreme views. . . . Christian devotion in its most Catholic form. . . . Style lucid and trenchant.”—Newcastle Journal, **Would that this kind of sermon were more frequently heard in our churches, . . . The spirit of the writer is admirable, . . . There is a marked avoidance of all party spirit, and a determined stand made for rightful Church authority. . . . There is a very interesting note of twenty-five pages on the origin of the Eastward Position in worship. . . . The author differs from the recognised authorities, and seems to us to have made out his case against them.”—Durham Advertiser. ‘*Eminently calculated to arrest attention. . . . Viewed as a literary effort, the work is exhaustive on all the points embraced ; it is large and Catholic in spirit, . . . and to Churchmen of devout feeling it will operate as a guide to the accomplishment of all that the writer desired.”—Awuckland Times, ‘‘ Appeals very strongly and effectively to the consciences of the laity. ... The idea of public worship is well analysed. . . . There is an excellent Note on Devotional Postures in Heathenism,”’—Vational Church. ‘*A substantive treatise on a topic of unspeakable importance... upon which no distinct and separate work, available for popular use, can well be said to exist. . . . The volume has been penned with a vigorous hand,... manly and straightforward style, both of thought and expression. ... He has stated the case [Note on Eastward Worship in Heathenism] impartially on both sides, and brought together a vast number of facts which indicate extensive reading, considerable learning, and a most scrupulous study of the question in hand. . . . He appears to make good his point. . . . A guide to devotion like this cannot fail to do much good,’’—Durham Chronicle. ‘*The sermons are sound in tone, faithful in exposition, and chaste in style. We can commend them cordially to the attention of earnest-minded Church- men, whether clergy or laymen. ‘The learned and elaborate note on ‘the Eastward Position’ forms a valuable appendix to the discourses.”—/orth of England Advertiser, ‘The author has a very happy way of putting his views forward. ... Mr. - Norton’s feeling on the idea of worship is all that can be desired. . . . There is much that deserves praise in the historical treatment of Eastward Worship. This part of the work is very full of information, and we think the author's conclusions are perfectly justifiable and true. We have often rebuked those who think that the laity are merely required as mutes in church, and we gladly recommend to any and all who think so a volume which will make them wiser.” —Church Times, LONDOSJ9)\)45-LS_ GARDNER, DARTON & CO,, ¥ St Rcd dASUBA pcs "S AMVUCIT any Z af! by wits: pee Hedin eh al Y 7KInBY ST | ME | HATTON CARDEN, — LONDON— ae ° a (a i »