CIIAPTER XIX. 479 iv. 16. So after the reading the law and the prophets, Paul and Silas were engaged in preaching, when the muster of, the synagogue asked them for a word of exhortation for the people ; Acts xiii. 15. 9. Q. But were therenot other places of prayer distinct from the synagogues? A. The synagogues were sometimes called prayer-houses, yet there were prayer-houses called proseuchai, which differed fromsynagogues in three respects. -1. Synago- gues were built for public worship, but these places of prayer for any ones private devotions occasionally. 2. Synagogues were covered houses, but the places of prayer were courts or inclosures with walls, and open to the sky.-3. Synagogues were chiefly in towns or cities, the prayer - houses in open fields, or on mountains : such are mentioned where our Saviour spent a whole night in the prayer-house, as it should be translated ; Luke vi. 12. and thither pious persons resorted, and prayer was wont to be made:; Acts xvi. 13, 16. 10. Q. Is there any certainty that there was any synagogues before this time ? A. That there were some places of assembly for divine things in the land of Israel, before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, seems pretty plain from Ps. ixxiv. 7, S. " They have burned,up all the syna- gogues of God in the land." Though they might be but very fewand not established by any authority, nor so constantly attend- ed as afterward. And yet, considering that theJews fell so fre- quently into idolatry before, and had so few copies of the law, it is questioned by some learned men, whether there were any such synagogues at all in the land of Israel till after the Babylonish captivity. II, Q. What eminent and remarkable service was done by these public places of worship ? A, It is supposed that fre- quent public readings of the law in the synagogues, after that, time, were a special means to excite and perserve in the people of the Jews, that universal and perpetual hatred of idolatry, to which they were po shamefully prone before; and did also diffuse and maintain the knowledgeofthe,true religion and virtue in the land. 12. Q. Were these synagogues built any where.besides in Judea ? A. When the Jews were afterwards scattered abroad into various nations, they built places of worship for them- selves wheresoever the rulers of the countrywould permit them. 13. Q. Of what advantage were these synagogues to the ,heathens, or afterward to christianity ? A. It was by means of these synagogues that the heathens, where the Jews were dis- persed, came to know the true God, and some general principles of virtue and piety, and became proselytes of the gate ; and by these public places and seasons of worship, there was afterward an opportunity given to publish the gospel of Christ ,by the apos- I
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