_I maintain communion with the Church of England_, _because her mode of
worship is primitive and scriptural_, _and in my judgment best calculated
to promote general and individual edification_.
“Mr. Wheatly has proved (referring us to the testimonies of Josephus,
Philo, Paul Fagius, &c.) that the ancient Jews did always worship God in
public by precomposed forms. Dr. Lightfoot not only affirms the same
thing, but sets down both the order and method of their hymns and
supplications. Now it appears from the general tenour of the four
Gospels, and particularly from Luke iv. 16. that our Saviour habitually
attended at the service of the Temple, or of the Synagogue, on every
Sabbath-day. {12a} He therefore, by this act, from week to week, gave a
public sanction to all the Jewish forms of Divine worship. And had it
been otherwise, the Scribes and Pharisees, His implacable foes and
persecutors, would not have failed to load Him with their severest
reproaches, as an open enemy to all godliness. He lived and died a
member of the Jewish Church. He moreover gave a set form of prayer to
His Apostles, which has ever since been used in the Christian Church.
And it is evident from many passages in the book of their acts, that they
also, in conformity to His Divine example, did attend on the service both
of the Temple and Synagogue; and it is expressly said, (Acts xvii. 2.)
that it was ‘_the manner_’ of Paul so to do. The apostolic practice is
therefore another sanction to the same religious institution.
“Mr. Wheatly has also shown, by sundry appeals to ancient Christian
writers, that the three first centuries joined in the use of precomposed
set forms of prayer, besides the Lord’s prayer and Psalms; and that these
were styled by so early a writer as Justin Martyr, who died in the year
of our Lord 163, ‘_Common Prayers_;’ by Origen, ‘_Constituted Prayers_;’
and by Cyprian, ‘_Solemn Prayers_.’—From hence the inference is fairly
drawn, that a liturgy composed for public use, is warranted by the
practice of our Saviour, of His Apostles, and of the primitive
Christians.” {12b}