The modern Jews, in every part of the world, keep up a domestic service. In their Liturgy, this is provided for, at least as voluminously as in any Christian ritual. As the subject is seldom treated, a few additional particulars will not be out of place; and though these relate primarily to the German and Polish Jews, they are substantially true of all others. The Hebrew Liturgy fills six or seven volumes. One of these is devoted to the Daily Prayers. They are read in the Synagogue, but are also read at home by all who are considered devout. In the morning it is the duty of every Israelite, as soon as he rises, to wash himself, and repeat a blessing. He then puts on the “garment with fringes,” and repeats another blessing. He then proceeds with a service, including prayers, psalms, and other portions of Scripture, to which large additions are made on Sabbaths and festivals. This must all take place before breakfast.
The evening Daily Service, though shorter, is of the same kind. During the morning prayer, except on Sabbaths, and holidays, the Jews make use of the Tephilin, or phylacteries. The extent of these devotions may be understood, when we add, that for the Sabbath they occupy more than fifty octavo pages. (This is statement is made on the authority of Mr. Henry Goldsmith, a learned Israelite, and professor of the Hebrew language in New York. See also the “Form of Daily Prayer, according to the custom of the German and Polish Jews, as read in their Synagogues, and used in their Families.”London, A.M. 5596)
In the New Testament, the traces of family religion are not less obvious. We gladly borrow the animated language of Mr. Hamilton of London, and ask: “Do you envy Cornelius, whose prayers were heard, and to whom the Lord sent a special messenger to teach him the way of salvation? He was a devout man, one who feared God with all his house, and prayed to God always; and who was so anxious for the salvation of his family, that he got together his kinsmen and near friends, that they might be ready to hear the apostle when he arrived, and share with himself the benefit.(Acts 10:2,24,31) Do you admire Aquila and Priscilla, Paul’s ‘helpers in Christ Jesus,’ and who were so skilful in the Scriptures, that they were able to teach a young minister the way of God more perfectly? (Acts 18:26) You will find that one reason for their familiarity with the Scriptures was, that they had a ‘church in their house.’” (Rom. 16:5)
It was doubtless recognized in regard to spiritual as well as in regard to temporal things, that “if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” (1 Tim. 5:8) That spirit of social prayer which led disciples to join in supplication or praise, in upper chambers, in prisons, in the stocks, and on the sea-beach, (Acts 1:13, 16:25; Gal 4:12; 2 Tim. 1:3) could not but have manifested itself in daily household devotion.
Our records of primitive Christianity are so much distorted and corrupted by a superstitious tradition, that we need not be surprised to find a simple and spiritual service such as this, thrown into the shade by sacerdotal rites. Yet we discern enough to teach us, that believers of the first ages were not neglectful of Family-Worship. Many of the authorities, cited by Bishop Mant, in his work on ” Daily Prayer,” are quite as cogent in favor of a domestic service, as of a daily office in the church edifice, which some are so zealously reviving.
“In general,” says Neander, in a work not published among us, ” they followed the Jews, in observing the three seasons of day, nine, twelve, and three o’clock, as special hours of prayer; yet they did not use these in a legal manner, such as militated against Christian liberty; for Tertullian says, in regard to times of prayer,’ nothing is prescribed, except that we may pray at every hour, and in every place.’ The Christians began and closed the day with prayer. Before meals, before the bath, they prayed; for, as Tertullian says, the ‘ refreshment and nourishment of the soul must precede the refreshment and nourishment of the body; the heavenly before the earthly.’ When a Christian from abroad, after brotherly reception and hospitality in the house of a brother Christian, took his leave, he was dismissed from the Christian family with prayer; because, said they, in thy brother thou hast beheld thy Lord. For every affair of ordinary life they made preparation by prayer.”(Denfwurdigfeiten, vol. ii. P.83)
To this we may add the statements of a learned man, who has made Christian Antiquities his peculiar study. “Instead of consuming their leisure hours in vacant idleness, or deriving their chief amusement from boisterous merriment, the recital of tales of superstition, or the chanting of the profane songs of the heathen, they passed their hours of repose in rational and enlivening pursuits; found pleasure in enlarging their religious knowledge, and entertainment in songs that were dedicated to the praise of God. These formed their pastime in private, and their favorite recreations at their family and friendly meetings. With their minds full of the inspiring influence of these, they returned with fresh ardor to their scenes of toil; and to gratify their taste for a renewal of these, they longed for release from labor, far more than to appease their appetite with the provisions of the table. Young women sitting at the distaff, and matrons going about the duties of the household, were constantly humming some spiritual airs. And Jerome relates, of the place where he lived, that one could not go into the field without hearing the ploughman at his hallelujahs, the mower at his hymns, and the vinedresser singing the Psalms of David. It was not merely at noon, and in time of their meals, that the primitive Christians read the word of God, and sang praises to -his name. At an early hour in the morning, the family were assembled, when a portion of Scripture was read from the Old Testament, which was followed by a hymn and a prayer, in which thanks were offered up to the Almighty for preserving them during the silent watches of the night, and for his goodness in permitting them to meet in health of body, and soundness of mind; and at the same time his grace was implored to defend them amid the dangers and temptations of the day, to make them faithful to every duty, and enable them in all respects to walk worthy of their Christian vocation. In the evening, before retiring to rest, the family again assembled, when the same form of worship was observed as in the morning, with this difference, that the service was considerably protracted beyond the period which could conveniently be allotted to it in the commencement of the day. Besides all these observances, they were in the habit of rising at midnight, to engage in prayer and the singing of psalms, a practice of venerable antiquity, and which, as Dr. Cave justly supposes, took its origin from the first times of persecution, when, not daring to meet together in the day, they were forced to keep their religious assemblies in the night.”(The Antiquities of the Christian Church, by the Rev Lyman Coleman, second edition, p. 375)
By James W. Alexander, “THOUGHTS ON FAMILY WORSHIP”