has taught us by the prophets, and who, on the day of Pentecost, descended in tongues of fire upon the apostles, in Jerusalem, the head of the church."3

Such being the decided testimony of the church, setting forth the doctrine of the Trinity as the grand characteristic of the Christian religion, it is no matter of surprise that this doctrine is so constantly advanced under all circumstances; especially that it is repeated in their doxologies, psalms, and hymns. They repeated the doxology at each assembly for religious worship, and at each rehearsal of the liturgy; and with the same they also concluded their homilies and their catechetical instructions. This doxology was as follows: "To God the Father, and his Son our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, be honour and might for ever and ever. Amen."

They were so minutely careful respecting the phraseology of these forms, that it became a question, which Basil the Great discussed at length, whether the preposition ev, in, or dia, through, or ov, with, should be used in connection with the Holy Spirit.* From this we learn that in the fourth century the same controversies were had on this subject which were renewed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries throughout Germany, Holland, England, France, and Sweden.

Eusebius describes the heresy which denied the divinity of Christ as having arisen in the second century, which Victor, A. D. 189, and others, opposed. "There are works of certain brethren older than Victor's time, which they wrote in defence of the truth against the heresies then prevailing. I speak of Justus, and Miltiades, and Tatian, and Clement, and many others, in all which the divinity of Christ is asserted. For who knows not the works of Irenæus, and Melito, and the rest, in which Christ is announced as God and man? Whatever psalms and hymns were written by the brethren from the beginning, celebrating Christ, the Word of God, by asserting his divinity. Since then the doctrine of the church has been proclaimed so many years, how could it happen that those until the times of Victor preached the gospel after this manner, [denying the divinity of Christ, as the enemies of Victor falsely alleged,] and how are they so devoid of shame as to utter these falsehoods against Victor, well knowing that Victor excommunicated that currier Theodotus, the leader and father of this God-denying apostasy.'

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So general was this recognition of the Trinity in public prayer, in the fourth and fifth centuries, that merely upon the mention of the name of God, the adoration of God in three persons was, of

course, presupposed and implied. Nay, it may be affirmed as a general truth, that any petition addressed to either of the persons of the Godhead was directed to all. To prevent confusion of mind, it was indeed decreed by the Council of Hippo, c. 21, A. D. 397, and confirmed by the Council of Carthage, A. D. 525, that the prayer should be directed to the Father only, but this was distinctly understood and explained to be a prayer to the three persons of the Godhead.* Similar sentiments are found abundantly in the writings of the ancients, so that it is an undeniable fact that their prayers and psalmody were indited by zealous trinitarians. "From all which," as Bingham very justly observes, "it is evident, to a demonstration, that the three persons of the Holy Trinity were always the object of divine adoration from the first foundation of the primitive church, and that the giving of divine honour to the Son, and Holy Ghost, as God, was not the invention or addition of any later ages."

§ 3. OF DIVINE WORSHIP PAID TO CHRIST.

It is a peculiar characteristic of the Christian religion, that it offers divine honours to Christ. It teaches not merely that prayer should be offered in the name of Jesus, but directly to Him. Every prayer, and every hymn, while it honours the sacred Trinity, has also another design. It distinctly recognises the divinity of Christ, and shows what views the Christian church had of the person of the Saviour. Pliny says, A. D. 107, that "they were wont to meet together on a stated day (the Lord's day) before it was light, and sing alternately, among themselves, a hymn to Christ, as God. To sing a hymn, carmen dicere, may imply, either that they offered to him a sacred song or a prayer; but in either case it was the offering of divine honours to him.

* Si qui catholici fideles hujus sacramenti nunc usque videantur ignari, deinceps scire debent, omne cujuslibet honorificentiæ et sacrificii salutaris obsequium et Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, hoc est, sanctæ Trinitati ab ecclesia catholica pariter exhiberi.. In eujus utique uno nomine manifestum est, sanctum quoque baptisma celebrari. Neque enim præjudicium Filio vel Spiritui Sancto comparatur, dum ad Patris personam precatio ab offerente dirigitur: cujus consummatio, dum Filii et Spiritus S. complectitur nomen, ostendit, nullum esse in Trinitate discrimen. Quia dum ad solius Patris personam sermo dirigitur, bene credentis fide tota Trinitas honoratur; et quum ad Patrem litantis destinatur intentio, sacrificii munus omni Trinitati uno eodemque offertur litantis officio.-S. FULGENT. RUSP. Ad Monimum, lib. ii. c. v. edit. Basil. 1621, p. 328.

Polycarp, in his epistle to the Philippians, i. 12, says, "Now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he himself who is our everlasting High-Priest, the Son of God, even Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and in truth, and in all meekness and lenity." The church of Smyrna, in their circular epistle respecting the death of Polycarp, say, "Neither is it possible for us ever to forsake Christ, who suffered for the salvation of all such as shall be saved. throughout the whole world, the righteous for the ungodly; nor to worship any other besides him. For him indeed, as being the Son of God, we adore."

Origen against Celsus says, "All supplications, prayers, and intercessions are to be offered up to the most high God through this High-Priest, who is above all angels, who is the living Word and God." He further says, "we pray also to the Word himself, and make supplication." This he vindicates at length against the charge, on the one hand, of worshipping more Gods than one; and on the other, against the imputation of worshipping him as a subordinate and created being, showing that he is one with God, and our Mediator and Intercessor with the Father. He concludes this discussion by declaring, "We worship the Father, while we admire and adore the Son, who is his word, and wisdom, and truth, and righteousness; and whatever else we are taught to believe of the Son of God, begotten of such a Father."2

This interesting passage fully illustrates the sentiments of the primitive church on the subject. A multitude of other passages, to the same effect, may be found in the authors quoted in the index.3

§ 4. OF THE FILIAL AND CONFIDING SPIRIT OF THE PRAYERS OF

THE CHURCH.

By this the Christian religion is distinguished from all others. It teaches us to offer our addresses unto God as our Father; to come unto him, not as a servant unto his master, but as children to a parent, confident of finding audience and acceptance with him. "Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father." To the Jew, the Lord God is a being of terrible majesty, repelling every presumptuous approach to him. To the Christian, he is one of endearing kindness and condescension, inviting him to draw nigh with confidence. To the one, he appears in stern and awful sanctity; to the other, in the mild majesty of love.

§ 5. OF THE SIMPLICITY AND BREVITY OF THE DEVOTIONS OF THE

PRIMITIVE CHURCH.

THE prayers of the church were offered in language the most artless and natural. Even the most learned of the apologists and early fathers, such as Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobius, and Lactantius, who were no strangers to the graces of diction, refused all ornamental embellishments in their addresses to the throne of grace, alleging that the kingdom of heaven consists not in word but in power. 1 Cor. iv. 20.* Their prayers were accordingly offered in the greatest simplicity, and as far as possible in the phraseology of Scripture. This artlessness and elegant simplicity appears in striking contrast with the ostentation and bombast of a later date.

This contrast appears equally great also in the brevity of these prayers. It was a maxim in the primitive church, that many words should never be employed to express what might better be said in a few. So manifest was this excellence, that Basil, Chrysostom, and Gregory the Great successively attempted to abridge the formularies of the church and restore their early simplicity and brevity.1

§ 6. OF THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT OF THEIR DEVOTIONS.

THE church, receiving the acknowledged truth that in every place he that feareth God and doeth righteousness is accepted of Him, restricted her devotions to no particular tongue. It was, indeed, a disputed question, at a very early period, in what language Christ and his apostles performed their devotions? Whether in the Greek, or Hebrew, or Syro-Chaldaic. But it was not accounted essential that the devotions of the church should be performed in the same language. Accordingly, there are extant examples of prayers and of spiritual songs which were uttered in the vernacular tongue as early as the second and third centuries. Celsus, indeed, urged it as a grave objection against the Christians, that they introduced into their prayers certain strange and barbarous expressions, having reference probably to such terms as Amen, Hallelujah, Hosanna, etc. To which Origen replied, that both

* Cum de rebus agitur ab ostentatione submotis quid dicatur spectandum est, non quali cum amœnitate dicatur; nec, quid aures commulceat, sed quas afferat audientibus utilitates.

Greeks and Romans, in prayer, spoke in their own native tongue; each, in his own dialect, offering prayer and praise to God as he is best able. And the Lord of all languages listens to each supplicant praying in his own tongue, but hears, as it were, one voice expressed by different signs and in various sounds. Similar sentiments are expressed by other writers."

No prescribed time or place for prayer was required by the church. Nor was any rule given respecting the direction of the eye, the bending of the knees, or position of the hands. Neither was there any established form of prayer or praise for general use. With the single exception of the instructions given in the Apostolical Constitutions for the private use of the Lord's prayer, there is no instance of any synodical decree respecting it until the sixth and seventh centuries.3 Every church, whether national or individual, prescribed its own mode of worship. In many instances the prayers of the church were merely submitted to the examination and approbation of the bishop. Beyond all question, the use of a liturgy and ritual was at first wholly voluntary. This subject is discussed at length by Bingham, who maintains that a liturgy and set forms of prayer were used from the beginning, but admits that each church was at liberty to form their own liturgy, and that the prayers were probably uttered memoriter, and continued for one or two centuries by tradition, before they were committed to writing."

Respecting the number of prayers offered in public, no general rule was given. It was customary, however, to begin and close religious service with prayer. Here, as in other things, the same simplicity was advocated by Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Cyprian, Irenæus, Origen, etc. But the Latin and Greek churches, in time, greatly departed from the spirit and taste of the primitive church.

§ 7. OF AUDIBLE AND SILENT PRAYER.

THIS distinction was first made in the secret discipline of the church. Silent prayer was restricted to the mental recital of the Lord's prayer, which neither the catechumens, nor the profane of any description, were allowed to repeat. Professing Christians repeated it in the presence of such, not audibly but silently. But at the communion, when withdrawn from such persons, they repeated it aloud at the call of the deacon.

There was another species of silent prayer, which consisted in pious ejaculations offered by the devout Christian on entering upon