The Benediction by J. W. R.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · May 27, 1886

FromThe Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 20

The Benediction.

By J. W. R.

J. W. R.—The benediction, in its second and most general meaning, is, according to Webster: “Blessing, prayer, or kind wishes, uttered in favor of any person or thing; a solemn or affectionate invocation [prayer] of happiness; thanks; expression of gratitude; specifically, the short prayer which closes public worship.” Therefore we cannot see where there can be any wrong for the president of the Rivulet Missionary Society, or for the leader of any other meeting for religious purposes, to close the meeting with a “prayer or kind wishes in favor of” it; with “thanks” or an “expression of gratitude” to God. We can see no more harm, if as much, in closing a meeting with a short prayer than in opening it with a long one. If it is right for a leader to open a meeting with prayer, we cannot see how it would be wrong for the same person to close the meeting with a “short prayer.” To us there always seems something lacking, and we cannot help feeling it, when a meeting, of whatever kind, connected with the cause of God, is closed with no word of “kind wishes in favor of” the cause and work in connection with which it is held. However, if your question referred to the regular, recognized benediction, “Now may grace, mercy, and peace,” etc., we would not recommend the use of that by any person unordained. But there can be nothing wrong in dismissing with a short prayer.