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CHAPTER XIV.

THE BENEDICTION.

I. Origin and import of the rite.

It seems to have been from remote antiquity, a common belief, that either a blessing or a curse, when pronounced with solemnity, is peculiarly efficacious upon those who are the objects of it. So common was this belief, that it gave rise to the proverb, "The blessing and the curse fail not of their fulfilment." The consequences were momentous, according to the character of the person from whom the prophetic sentiment proceeded. The blessing of the aged patriarch, of the prophet, the priest, and the king, was sought with peculiar interest, and their execration deprecated with corresponding anxiety. Of the king's curse we have an instance, in 1 Sam. 14: 24. Saul adjured the people and said, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until the evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. Comp. Josh. 6: 26, with 1 Kings 16: 34. The blessing and the curse of Noah upon his sons, Gen. 9: 25-28, and of Moses upon the children of Israel, Deut. xxviii, xxxiii, are familiar illustrations of the same sentiment, as is also the history of Balaam, whose curse upon Israel Balak sought with so much solicitude, Num. xxii, xxiii, xxiv. The blessing of the patriarchs Isaac and Jacob, respectively, was sought with peculiar anxiety, as conveying to their posterity the favor of God and the smiles of his provi

1 Dira detestatio nulla expiatur victima.-Hor. Epod. 5, 90. Hence also the expression, Thyesteae preces, in the same ode. Comp. Iliad. 9, 455.

dence. Gen. xxvii, and xlviii, xlix. Comp. Deut. xxxiii. The son of Sirach expresses a similar sentiment, 3:9. "The blessing of the father establisheth the houses of children; but the curse of the mother rooteth out foundations."

With the question relative to the prophetic character of these patriarchal benedictions we are not now concerned. It is sufficient for our present purpose that the benediction of - patriarchs, of parents, and of all those who were venerable for their age, or for their religious or official character, was regarded as peculiarly efficacious in propitiating the favor of God towards those upon whom the blessing was pronounced.

In addition to all this, the Aaronitic priesthood were divinely constituted the mediators between God and his people Israel. They were the intercessors for his people before his altar; and stood in their official character, as daysmen between the children of Israel and Jehovah their God. In this official capacity, Aaron and his sons were directed to bless the children of Israel, saying, “The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace." Thus were they to put the name of God upon the children of Israel, and the promise of God was that he would bless them. Num. 6: 24-27. In conformity with this commission to the house of Aaron, it was a universal custom in the worship of the Jews, both in the temple and in their synagogues, for the people to receive the blessing only at the mouth of the priests, the sons of Aaron. If none of these priests were present, another was accustomed to invoke the blessing of God, supplicating in the prayer the triple blessings of the benediction, that the assembly might not retire unblessed; but this was carefully distinguished from the sacerdotal benediction.2

This view of the subject may perhaps aid us in forming a just idea of the nature and import of the sacerdotal benedic2 Vitringa, De Synagoga, Lib. 3, part 2. c. 20.

tion. The term benediction is used to express both the act of blessing, and that of consecrating,-two distinct religious rites. The sacerdotal benediction, according to the views above expressed, seems to be a brief prayer, offered with peculiar solemnity unto God, for his blessing upon the people, by one who has been duly set apart to the service of the ministry, as an intercessor with God in their behalf.3

Both this and the other forms of benediction, in the acts of consecration and dedication, are exclusively the acts of the clergy. Only the higher grades of the clergy were permitted in the ancient church, to enjoy this prerogative. The council of Ancyra and others restricted it to bishops and presbyters. And in all Christian churches it is still a general rule that none but a clergyman is entitled to pronounce the benediction. In the Lutheran church none but an ordained clergyman is duly authorized to perform this rite. The licentiate accordingly includes himself in the petition, saying, not as the ordained minister, The Lord bless you, etc., but The Lord bless us. And if a layman is officiating, he includes the form of benediction in his prayer, varying yet again the emphasis, and saying, The Lord bless us, etc. Their doctrine is, that the minister stands in the place of Christ, to bless the people in his name; and that in the benediction there is an actual conferring of the blessing of God upon the people-of which, however, none are partakers but those who receive it in faith. Such, also, is the Roman Catholic doctrine of the priesthood, derived from the prelacy of the ancient church. Immediately upon the rise of Episcopacy, the clergy began to claim kindred with the Jewish priesthood. The bishop became the representative of the Lord Jesus Christ; and the priesthood, like that of the Jews, the mediators be

3 According to Ambrose, the benediction is-sanctificationibus et gratiarum votiva collatio—votiva; quia benedicens vovet et optat.—J. Gretseri, Vol. V. 178, in Lib. 1. De Benedictionibus.

4 Conc. Nic. c. 18. Ancyr. c. 2. Arelat. 1. c. 15. Constit. Apost. Lib. 8. c. 28.

tween God and man. This delusive dogma changed the character of the Christian ministry. They now became the priests of a vicarious religion, ministering before the Lord, for the prople, as the medium of communicating his blessing to them. This perversion of the Christian idea of the ministry, which in an evil hour was put forth as the doctrine of the church, opened the way for infinite superstitions, and did more harm to spiritual Christianity than any single delusion that ever afflicted the church of Christ. It is remarkable, however, that neither the New Testament nor primitive Christianity gives us any intimation of a vicarious priesthood.

With reference to the intercessory office of the Jewish priesthood, Christ our mediator and intercessor with the Father is, indeed, styled our great High Priest. Heb. 4: 14. Comp. also, 2: 17. 3: 1. 5: 10. His benediction he pronounced upon the little children, when he took them in his arms and blessed them. Mark 10: 16. In his separation from his disciples at Bethany, when he was about to return unto his Father in heaven, he ended his instructions to them by pronouncing upon them his final benediction. "He lifted up his hands and blessed them; and it came to pass, that while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven." Luke 24: 50, 51. These acts, however, have no reference to the sacerdotal benedictions of the Jewish priesthood. They are only the expressions of the benevolent spirit of our Lord; the manifestations of that love wherewith he loved his own to the end.

The apostles, also, frequently begin and end their epistles with an invocation of the blessing of God upon those to whom they write; sometimes in a single sentence, and sometimes with a triple form of expression, analogous to the Aaronitic benediction. But these, again, appear to be only general and customary expressions of the benevolent desires of the writer towards those whom he addresses. They are a brief prayer to the Author of all good for his blessing upon the per

sons addressed. Whatever be the form of the salutation, it is only expressive of the love and benevolence, which swelled the hearts of the apostles towards the beloved brethren to whom they wrote.

But in all the writings of the New Testament we have no indication of the use of the sacerdotal benediction, in the Jewish and prelatical sense of the term, in the religious worship of the apostolical churches. It appears, indeed, not to have been a religious rite, either in the apostolical or primitive churches, during the first or second century. Neither the apostolical fathers, nor Justin Martyr, nor Tertullian, make any mention of the sacerdotal benediction. This omission of a religious rite, in itself so becoming and impressive, is the more remarkable in the primitive Christians, inasmuch as they, in other things, so closely imitated the rites of the Jewish synagogue, in which this was an established and important part of religious worship.

In regard to the reasons of this omission, writers upon the subject are not agreed. Some suppose that the secret discipline of the church afforded occasion for this omission. The doctrine of the Trinity was one of these sacred mysteries, which were carefully concealed from the uninitiated. So scrupulous were the churches on this point, that, for a time, even the use of the Lord's prayer was prohibited in public assemblies for religious worship; because it was thought that it conveyed an allusion to this sacred and hidden mystery.

Others suppose that the occurrence of the sacred name of God, to the Jews, verbum horrendi carminis, which none but the high-priest was ever permitted to pronounce, and he only once a year, on the great day of the atonement, -that the occurrence of this awful name of Jehovah, was, to the early Christians, a reason for omitting the sacerdotal benediction.5

Siegel, Handbuch, Vol. II. S. 114. J. H. Haenen, Exercit. de ritu benedictionis sacerdotalis. Jenae, 1682, cited by Siegel. Augusti, Denkwürdigkeiten, Vol. X. S. 179, 180.

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