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tendenc / , and giving them exhortations to avoid it ? He was a reformer of religtotis abuses , and came for that expfess purpose . WoulcJ he not have laboured incessantly to exterminate this most
fundamental abuse , as he must have considered it , had he entertained the views on the subject which its opponents are ready to attribute to him ? And would he not have instructed his apostles to pursue the same course ? But what is the fact ?
In the whole account of his public instructions , there is but one passage that can with any plausibility be urged as bearing the appearance of a prohibition of social worship ; and that , if examined by the same rules of interpretation as are adopted in other cases of a like kind , will be found to have no such meaning ;
whilst in the recorded discourses of his apostles , and in their epistles , there is not a single expression adverse to this practice . This solitary passage , which is of 80 much importance as to shew that professing Christians have hitherto been universally mistaken in their Master ' s intentions * and ought to reject all public
and social prayer for the future , occurs in Matt * vi , 5 , 6 : * And when thou prayest , be nofc as the hypocrites ; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues , and in the corners of the streets , that they may be seen of men . Verily , I say tinto you , they have their reward . But thou , when thou prayest , enter into
thy closet , and when thou hast shut thy door , pray to thy Father who is in secret , and thy Father who seeth in secret , will reward thee openly / Take this passage as it stands separately , without any reference to the context , to other passages of the Scriptures , or to the kind of phraseology iu general use at that time , and
without regard to the conduct of Christ and his apostles , or his particular design on this occasion , and it would be nothing extraordinary , if any person were led to suppose that it does contain something iike a prohibition of all public social prayer . But in this way uny absurdities whatever may find sufficient support in
the Scriptures . It is , in fact , by the use of this method chiefly , that the popular errors of the present day , gross as they «* ay be , are enabled to maintain their hold ou the public mind . The advocates for them are in the habit of taking detached sentences of the Bible , that seem
fo uphold their favourite opinions , and judging of them by the sound , despising a H the just rules of criticism , overlooking tl * e design of the writer , the context , the g eneral strain of the Scriptures , and making no allowance for difference in JJie customs and modes of expression mat prevailed when they were written ;
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• and in this manner it is no wonder if their hearers be misled r it would be strange , indeed , if they were not . But in forming a judgment of the passage before us , take into consideration all the circumstances that have a tendency to throw light upon it , and it will be clearly
perceived , that it neither is nor can be inimical to social worship . For in the first place it should be remembered , that it is the only passage that appears to contain a prohibition of all public prayer , whilst there are many others decidedly in its favour : secondly , if our Lord intended here absolutel y to forbid his
followers to pray in the presence of men , then his own conduct was in opposition to his iustructions ; for he not only attended the social worship of the synagogue , but there are other instances upon record in which he did pray in company : thirdly , his apostles , to whom he addressed himself on this occasion , did not so
understand him ; for there are various passages in the Acts and the Epistles which prove that they were in the habit of social prayer ; and lastly , if Christ here meant to prohibit all public social prayer , then in the context all almsgiving in the presence or with the knowledge of others , is as expressly forbidden
by him ; for he exhorts immediately before , * Take heed , that ye do not your alms before men , to be seen of them . Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth / The language in this case is not less positive and absolute than in the former . Now it is perfectly evident , that this exhortation * cannot be meant to
be understood literally , and to its full extent ; for few deeds of charity can be done with absolute secrecy ; and a large proportion of them , if performed at all , must take place in public , or with the knowledge of many individuals . Nor is it possible that so tmly benevolent a teacher as Christ was , should ever intend
to throw a check upon a practice , which , however wrong the motives may be ' from which it may sometimes proceed , is fraught with so much benefit to mankind , and for which at all times the necessity is so general and so urgent . On the
contrary , he conferred the highest praise on the poor widow for casting the only two mites she possessed into the treasury , which was a public act ; and his apostles also speak with deserved commendation of the liberal contributions of individuals
for the relief of others , particularly Paul , in the- case of the Gentiles affording such assistance to the poor brethren at Jerusalem ; none of which deeds of charity were done in secret . And to this it may not be improper to add , that his own benevolent acts , though he had no money
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Review . —Moore on So&tal Worship . 663
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1822, page 563, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2516/page/43/
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