XV. "Very speedily make the offspring of thy servant David to flourish; let our horn be exalted in thy salvation; for we hope for thy salvation every day. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who makest the horn of our salvation to flourish."

XVI. "Hear our voice, O Lord our God, most merciful father, and spare and have mercy upon us; with compassion and benignity accept our prayers; and send us not empty away, we beseech thee, O our king, from thy presence; for thou mercifully hearest the prayer of thy people Israel. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who hearest prayer.'

XVII. "Be thou propitious, O Lord our God, to thy people Israel; have regard unto their prayers; bring back the levitical service to the inner part of thy house; make haste to accept with love and favour the burnt offerings of Israel, together with their prayers; and let the worship of thy people be well pleasing and acceptable to thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who bringest back thy presence to Zion "."

a

XVIII. "We will give thanks unto thee with

By "the inner part of thy house" is meant the Holy of Holies, into which the high priest only entered but once a year; and by "thy presence," the Shechinah.

The second Temple wanted the original ark, with the mercy seat; the Shechinah, or the symbol of the divine presence; and the Urim and Thummim, by which the will of God on extraordinary occasions was made known; so that there is nothing in this prayer inconsistent with the belief that it was composed by Ezra and the members of the Great Synagogue in his time.

praises continually; for thou art the Lord our God, and the God of our fathers, the rock of our life, and the shield of our salvation. To all generations will we give thanks unto thee, and declare thy praise, because of our life which is in thy hands, and of our souls which are under thy care; because of thy signs which are constantly with us, and of thy wonders and thy bounties, which morning and noon and night are continually before us. O thou beneficent Creator, whose tender mercies are not consumed! O thou merciful Father, whose loving kindnesses are infinite! for ever do we hope in thee. For all these benefits, thy name be blessed and exalted for ever and ever; and let all that live celebrate thy praise. Selah. And let them in truth praise thy name, O God of our salvation, and our help! Selah. Blessed art thou, O Lord, whose name is good, and whose praise it is always right to celebrate!"

a

XIX. "Give peace, beneficence, and benediction, favour, benignity and mercy, to us and to Israel thy people. Bless all of us, O our Father, as one man, with the light of thy countenance. Thou hast given us, O Lord our God, the law of life; and of thy favour alone thou hast followed us with love, benignity, benediction, mercy, life and peace. And let it please thee to bless thy people Israel at all times and every moment with

a This prayer has been given before (page 52), as stated by Lightfoot to have been used in the Temple service.

thy peace. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who blessest thy people Israel with peace.

Concerning these prayers, several remarks occur; and

First, Their high antiquity appears to some persons to be doubtful. This scepticism, however, seems to have arisen entirely from the circumstance that several of them have the appearance of having been written after the final destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews. But, says Prideaux, "it is certain they are very ancient, for mention is made of them in the Mishnah, as at that time old settled forms, and no doubt is to be made that they were used in our Saviour's time; at least most of them, if not all the eighteen; and consequently that he joined in them with the rest of the Jews, whenever he went into their Synagogues, as he did every sabbath day." It is also deserving of attention, that the Jews themselves have always attributed the composition, or the appointment of them for general use, to Ezra, with the assistance of the members. of the Great Synagogue. And it is of considerable weight in favour of their antiquity, that they are written in the purest Hebrew, a circumstance

a Connexion, part i. book vi. p. 575.

The Mishnah was compiled and published about the year 150 of the Christian æra, and notwithstanding the fabulous and puerile traditions with which it abounds, in a matter of fact like that of the antiquity of the eighteen prayers, it is an authority perfectly satisfactory. Prideaux's Conn. part v. book viii. p. 574. See Appendix, No. 1.

which in more modern times could scarcely be expected.

"And with respect to the prayers that have the appearance of having been composed after the final destruction of Jerusalem, which are chiefly the 10th, 11th, and 14th," as Prideaux also observesa, "these may refer to calamities of more ancient times." And it is worthy of remark, that several of the Psalms, the antiquity of which is unquestionable, are liable to the same objection; for they contain complaints and prayers for the removal of similar calamities".

It is certain, however, there is nothing in the prayers in question inconsistent with the supposition, that they were composed by Ezra, assisted by the members of the Great Synagogue, at the time when the Jews were not all returned from the captivity, (many of whom never did return,) but when they were in part still dispersed and scattered; when Jerusalem and their other cities were by no means completely restored, and when their religious services as well as the people themselves were as yet in an unsettled state. To this it

a Conn. part i. book vi. p. 275, the note.

b P3. liii. 6. lxxiv. 1—8. lxxviii. 60, 61, &c. lxxix. 1, &c. lxxx. cii. 16, 17. cvi. 47. cxxvi. 4.

c The appellation of Synagogue was given by the Jews, not only to their places of worship and the congregations that assembled in them, but, as here, to a council of their principal elders. This is called the Great Synagogue, by way of distinction. It consisted of a succession of members from the time of Ezra to that of Simon the Just, a period of about 200 years.

may be added, that Vitringa obsérves from Maimonides, that the three first and the three last only of these nineteen prayers were considered as stated forms never to be omitted; whereas the thirteen in the middle were variable, and others much shorter were allowed, when want of time and other circumstances required, to be substituted for them. And if the three or four prayers that have given rise to doubts be admitted to have been composed after the final dispersion of the Jews, (though there is no necessity for this supposition,) still the high antiquity of the rest remains unimpeached; and being mentioned in the Mishnah "as old settled forms," but 150 years after the birth of Christ, there can be no rational doubt that they were used in all the Synagogues of his time, and consequently that he joined in them every sabbath. As however the Jews had also many other forms, besides the eighteen which they used in their Synagogues, comprising altogether the most important and necessary subjects of prayer, whatever might be taken from these, a sufficient number would remain that were indisputably ancient even in the time of Christ. Still these forms of devotion are highly important in reference to our subject; for it is impossible to invent prayers more social in their nature. They were evidently composed for public worship, in which all who attended joined.

a De Syn. Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xiv. p. 1039 & 1046. See also Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book iii. ch. 22.