DISCOURSE IV. 601 that of the tabernacle, or temple. The church was their whole nation, for it was ordained of God to be a national church, and the tabernacle or temple was the place of national worship : And that there might be an appearance of the whole church wor- shipping together, all the males of Israel three times a year were required to come up to the tabernacle or temple, I might add, or the ark of God in Zion, and pay their sacrifices to the Lord there. And themodes and formalities ofthis worship were prescribed with great exactness, as being typical of the univer- sal invisiblechurch, and the spiritual worship to be performed by it, awl the spiritual blessings that belong to it, as was hinted be- fore ; but the worship of the synagogue, was the natural social worship of prayer and praise, which was agreed to be paid to God weekly, by so many persons as lived in a convenient neigh- bourhood. The forms hereof were not instituted by Pod him- self, but left much to the discretion and agreement of elder and wiser men among themselves. Now the worship in christian churches, which were to be raised in every nation, is much more akin to the practiceof the synagogues, where one congregation met together, who with one mouth could-glorify God, than it is to the practice of the temple - worship, which was chiefly ordained for the Jewish na- tional church. In the synagogues there was preaéhing, praying, and reading the scriptures every sabbath. Now here it was not determined in holy Scripture, how often they should pray or sing psalms,- whether before or afterpreaching or reading, or both; nor which persons of the levites should perform those offices ; and some of the descendants of other tribes might be, and were employed in this ministry : Some of the prophets who preached to the people of old, were of other tribes ; Paul, öf the tribe of Benjamin, was desired to give an exhortation, as well as Jesus our Lord, of the tribe of Judah, read and preach- ed in the synagogue ; Acts xiii. 15. Luke iv. Hi. In short, the worship and order of the synagogues, as to the modes and circumstances of it, were such as the common prudence of men, or the light of nature directed, together with so muchof the doctrines and duties of the revealed religion of 1%loses and the patriarchs, as might be practised on any time, or at any place, or by any persons qualified for it, and appointed bymen'to that serviceAmid só is the worship and order of the christian church : It is such as the light of nature dictates, mingled with, and regulated by the doctrines and duties of .christianity, so far as Christ and his apostles have taught and prescribed them. And these are to be practised in all nations, the light of nature, reason, and common prudence, of the fellow- worshippers, agreeing upon such circumstances of human actions, as are necessary to be determined, and such as the new testament has left undetermined and uncertain.
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