GRACE, amongst divines, is used, first, to denote the free love and favour of God, which is the spring and [7:10:636]source of all the benefits we receive from him; and, secondly, to signify the work of the Spirit in renewing the soul after the image of God, and continually guiding and strengthening the believer to obey his will, to resist sin, and to overcome it.

Gba ce is also used, in a peculiar sense, to signify a short prayer said before and after meat.

The proofs of the moral obligation of this ceremony, drawn from passages in the New Testament, are so well known that it is needless to insist on them. But others, derived from the practice of different nations, and of remote antiquity, may not be uninteresting.

1. Athenaeus tells us, in his Deipnosophist (lib. ii.), that in the famous regulation made by Amphictyon, king of Athens, respecting the use of wine, both in sacrifices and at home, he required that the name of Jupiter the Sus-tainer should be decently and reverently pronounced. The same writer (lib. iv. p. 149) quotes Hermeias, an author extant in his time, who mentions a people in Egypt, inhabitants of the city of Naucratis, whose custom it was on certain occasions, after they had placed themselves in the usual posture of eating at table, to rise again and kneel, upon which the priest or precentor of the solemnity began to chant a grace, according to a stated form amongst them; and when that was over, they joined in the meal in a solemn sacrificial manner. Heliodorus has a passage to the same purpose in his Aethiopica, where it is stated that it was the custom of the Egyptian philosophers to pour out libations and utter ejaculations before they sat down to meals. Porphyry (in his treatise De Abstinentia, lib. iv. p. 408) gives a high character of the Samnean gymnosophists in Egypt for the strictness of their lives; and, as one circumstance in their favour, he observes, that at the sounding of a bell before their meals, which consisted only of rice, bread, fruits, and herbs, they went to prayers; that when these were ended, and not before, the bell again sounded, and they sat down to eat. This religious usage or rite was also common amongst the ancient Greeks, and, if Clement of Alexandria rightly informs us, it was derived from yet older times. He mentions that this people, when they met together to refresh themselves with the juice of the grape, sung a piece of music, in imitation of the Hebrew psalms, which they called a scho)ion. Livy (lib. xxxix.) likewise speaks of it as a settled custom amongst the old Romans, that they offered sacrifice and prayer to the gods at their meals and compotations. But one of the fullest testimonies to our purpose is given by Quintilian (Declam. SOI): Adisti mensam, says he, ad quam cum venire capimus, Deos invocamus.

Trigautius, in his elegant and instructive narrative of the expedition of the Jesuit missionaries into China (book i. p. 69), gives this account of the people of that country in the particular now under consideration. “Before they place themselves for partaking of an entertainment, the person who makes it sets a vessel, either of gold, or silver, or marble, or some such valuable material, in a charger full of wine, which he holds with both his hands, and then makes a low bow to the person of chief quality or character at the table. Then from the hall or dining-room he goes into the porch or entry, where he again makes a very low bow, and turning his face to the south, pours out this wine upon the ground as a thankful oblation to the Lord of heaven. After this, repeating his reverential obeisance, he returns into the hall.” The Turks also pray for a blessing on their meat; and many more instances might be produced of infidels who constantly observe the same custom in some way or other.

2. The fact, therefore, with respect to the heathen world being thus evident, we proceed to notice the sentiments and conduct of the Jews in this particular. Their historian Josephus, giving a detail of the rites and customs of the Essenes, who were confessedly the strictest and most pious professors of the Jewish religion, has this remarkable passage: “The priest,” says he, “prays for a blessing before they presume to take any nourishment; and it is looked upon as a great sin to take or taste before.” Then follows the thanksgiving after meat. “When the meal,” he proceeds, “is over, the priest prays again; and the company with him bless and praise God as their preserver, and the giver of their life and nourishment.”

But Philo, in his book De Vita Contemplativa, gives an account of a body of men and women stricter than even the Essenes. He distinguishes them by no particular name, though his relation is minute and circumstantial; namely, that on certain special occasions, before “they took their meals, they placed themselves in a proper decent order, when, lifting up their hands and eyes to heaven, they prayed to God that he would be pleased to be propitious to them in the use of those his good creatures.”

It appears, from the Hebrew ritual, that the Jews had their hymns and psalms of thanksgiving, not only after eating their passover, but on a variety of other occasions, at and after meals, and even between their several courses and dishes; as when the best of their wine was brought upon the table, or their aromatic confections, or the fruits of the garden, or the like. Upon the day of the passover was sung the 114th psalm, “When Israel went out of Egypt.”

Aristaeus has also a passage on the same subject. “Moses,” says he, “commands that when the Jews are going to eat or drink, the company should immediately join in sacrifice or prayer.” It is doubtful where Rabbi Eleazar found this sentence, and its genuineness has been controverted. But supposing it not to be found in scriptis, it is sufficient to know that the Jews constantly practised this custom, upon the foundation of an ancient tradition and general usage. That the prophet Daniel gave thanks before meat is evident from the Apocryphal book concerning Bel and the Dragon, where (verses 38, 39) we find that “Daniel said, Thou hast remembered me, 0 God, neither hast thou forsaken them who seek thee and love thee; so Daniel arose, and did eat.” Of this text Prudentia takes notice in Cathemirin (hymn iv.):

Hi» sumpti» Danicli» excitavit In catum faciem, ciboque forti», Amen reddidit, allelujah dixit.

It may be observed by the way, that the poet is a little mistaken in making the prophet give thanks after meat; for, according to the text, he did so before.