God did prescribe them on several occasions. The words which the priest was to utter in blessing the people of Israel, are thus specified : " Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee : the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee : the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace a." In like manner, when a man that had been slain was found, inquisition was to be made for his blood ; and the elders of the city that was nearest to the body, were to make a solemn affirmation before God, that they knew not who the murderer was, and at the same time in a set form of prayer to deprecate the divine displeasure11. At the offering of the first-fruits, both at the beginning and end of the service, there were forms of very considerable length, which every offerer was to utter before the Lordc.
When David brought up the ark from the house of Obed-edom to the tent which he had pitched for it in Jerusalem, he composed a form of prayer and thanksgiving for the occasion, selected out of four different Psalms d, and put it into the hand of Asaph and his brethren for the use of the whole congrega- tion. In all following ages, the Psalms were used as forms of devotion : Hezekiah appointed them for that purpose when he restored the worship of God, which had been suspended and superseded in the days of Ahaze; as did Ezra also at the laying of the foundation of the second temple f. Nay, the hymn which our blessed Lord sang with his disciples im- mediately after he had instituted his supper as the memorial of his death g, was either taken from the Psalms, from 113th to 118th inclusive, or else was a particular form composed for that occasion. All
a Numb. vi. 23 — 26. »- b Deut. xxi. 7, 8.
c Deut. xxvi. 3, 5—10, 13—15.
d Compare 1 Chron. xvi. 7 — 3G. with Ps. cv. 1 — 15. and xcvi. 1 — 13. and cxxxvi. 1. and cvi. 47, 48.
e 2 Chron. xxix. 30. f Ezra iii. 10, 11.
s Matt. xxvi. 30.