The conclusion arrived at by Kichard Watson (/«- stitules, ii, 507) is just and temperate, viz. that there are advantages in each mode of worship, and that, when combined prudently, the public service of the sanctuary has its most perfect constitution. Much, however, in the practice of churches is to be regulated bj' due respect to differences of opinion, and even to prejudice, on a point upon which we are left at liberty by the Scriptures, and which must therefore be ranked among things prudential. Here, as in many other things, Christians must give place to each other, and do all things "in charity."
Among tlie modern Protestant churches, the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church use forms of praj'cr to the exclusion (generally) of free prayer in puldic worship. The Methodist Episcopal Church uses liturgical forms for sacraments and oth- er services, and free prayer in worship. The Pres- bj'terian churches use free praj^er (^Director?/ of Woi-- sMp, ch. v). The Lutheran and Keformed churches have liturgical forms for certain services, but gen- erally use free prayer in worship. A movement to- wards more full liturgical services has been going on for some time in the German Reformed Church. See German Reformed Church, and LiTURfiv. A ten- dency in the same direction appears to have arisen in the Presbyterian Churcli in the United States (see Shields, Liturrjia Erpurgutn, Philadel. 1864; see also Baird, Eutaxia, or the Presbijterian Liturgies^ N. York, 1855, 18mo ; reprinted in London as A Chapter on Lit- urgies, edited by Thomas Binney, 1850, 18mo). In the Established Church of Scotland, Dr. Robert Lee, of Edinburgh, was tried before the General Asscmlily in 1859 for using a book entitled rrayers for Public Wor- ship in the public services of Old Graj'friars' Church, Edinburgh ; and the Assembl}'' enjoined Dr. Lee to discontinue tlie practice. But the tcndencj"- went on ; and in 18G7 appeared h'Hrhologien, or Book of Prayers, being Form!! of Woyship i.tsiieil hy the Chnrrh-serrice So- ciety (Edinb. and Lond. 1807), under the auspices of Dr, Lee and Dr. Macleod. See, besides the works al- | III^R R
ready mentioned, Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. xiii; Pal- mer, Origines Lifurgica;; Leighton, Works, ii, 422 ; Mil- ton, Prose Works (Philadel. 1850), i, 'JG sq. (against forms) ; Shields, The Book of Coimn. Prayer as amend- ed by the Westminster Divines A.D. IGGl, u-ith a histori- cal and liturgical 7V(?a<ise (Philadelphia, 18G7, 12mo); Brownell, Family Prayer-book (Introduction); Butler, Common Prayer Illustrated, ch. i ; Princeton Rei iev, vii, 389 sq. ; xviii, 487 sq. ; xxvii, 445 sq. ; Alercercburgh Revieic, Jan. 1808, art. vii; Evangelical Quarterly Re- view, Jan. 18G9, p. 80.
Formularies, a general name for the articles of religion, forms of service, etc., adopted by any partic- ular church. See Creeds ; Confessions ; Liturgy.
Formula Concordice. See Concord, Formu- la OF.
Formula Consensus Helvetica. See Hel- vetic Confessions.
Fornication (rn-Tln, taznuth', iropviia, illicit sex- ual intercourse, especially of a married woman). Sec Adui.terv. From the Scriptures we learn that long before the time of Moses morals had become very much corrupted, and not only the prostitution of females, but of boys, was very common among many nations, and even made a part of the divine worship, as may be in- ferred from the Hebrew words kadesh, a prostitute bo}', and kedtshaJi, the feminine of it, which words properly and originallj' mean a person religiouslj' set apart and consecrated to the flagitious vice in question (Deut. xxiii, 18; 1 Kings xiv, 24; Job xxxvi, 14; Gen. xxxviii, 21, 22; Numb, xxi, 1 ; Deut. xxiii, 18; Hos. iv, 14). How great the coiTuptiou of manners with reference to the marriage relation was among the Egyptians appears from Herodotus (ii. 111) as well as the Bible. The wife of one of the oldest kings was untrue to 'him. It was a long time before a woman could be found who was faithful to her husliand; and when one was at last found, the king took her without hesitation for himself. With impudent shamelessness Potiphar's wife seeks to seduce Joseph (Gen. xxxix, 7). The evidence of the monuments is also not very favorable to the Egyptian women. Thus they are represented as addicted to excess in drinking wine, as even becoming so much intoxicated as to be unable to stand or wallc alone, or "to carry their liquor dis- creetly" (Wilkinson's Egypt A\, 1G7). To prevent those evils to which the Greek and Roman philosophers re- fused to oppose anj' decided resistance, IMoses made the following regulations : 1. That among the Hebrew.s no prostitute, eitlier male nor female, should l)e toler- ated ; and that if the daughter of a priest especially were guiltj' of fornication, she should be stoned and her bod}' burnt (Lev. xxi, P) ; because these things, as Moses observes in Lev. xix, 29; Deut. xxiii, 17, 18, were a great abomination in the sight of God. Fur- ther, in order that priests of avaricious minds should not, in imitation of other nations, make crimes of this kind a part of the divine worship, he enacted, 2. That the price of prostitution, though presented in return for a vow, fhould not be received at the sanctuary (Deut. xxiii, 18). This law, it seems, was sometimes violated in the times of the kings (2 Kings xxiii, 7). He also enacted, 3. Tliat the man who had seduced a female should marry her, and in case the father would not consent, should paj"^ the customary do\vry, viz. thirty shekels: in case violence had been offered, fifty shekels (Exod. xxii, 16 ; Deut. xxii, 23-29). This law appears to have originated in an ancient custom al- luded to in Gen. xxxiv, 1-12. Finally, to secure the great object, he enacted, 4. That any one who, when married, was not found to be a virgin, as she professed before marriage, should be stoned before her father's house (Deut. xxii, 20, 21). These laws, it must be ad- mitted, were severe ; but prostitutes of both sexes, not- withstanding their severity, were set apart in the time of the kings for the service of idols (Prov. ii, 16-19 :