Any person who examines the prayers in daily use among the Israelites, must become sensible of their excellence, and the grateful expressions and high wrought admiration in which they are composed. They are adapted to every situation in life, whether in sorrow or in joy, in grief or in mirth. No one who views the wondrous creation; no one possessed of the slightest spark of gratitude for favors bestowed; nor he who looks forward with hope for relief in the hour of distress, or sickness, can possibly have any language better suited to his feelings, under any circumstances, and on every occasion. Nothing, perhaps, has tended so much to keep Israel distinct from every other nation in the world, as their religious customs and observances; but more especially so, their language, the sacred original, in which the Lord of hosts manifested himself to his favorite creature; the language in which they pray, and which, in truth, is the only relic of their former glory and paternal heritage. It is the continuance of praying in the Hebrew, which forms, as it were, a communion for their dispersed brethren, from whatever country or clime they may migrate, and constitute themselves into a congregation; a language peculiarly their own--venerable for its antiquity, and sacred from its first promulgation, as being the true channel of divine revelation. The reader will please understand that our observations, as well as the historical accounts, can only have reference to those prayers and supplications which were composed for the Jew by the men of the great synagogue, as already explained. Alas! that any innovation should have been suffered to mar the beauty of those holy compositions! There are many more of a sacred character, such as known by the name of "Peyutem," or poetical compositions, which are read in the synagogue on the festivals and other special days. These are of much later date, and have been introduced, from time to time, into the Jewish liturgy, by men eminent for their learning, piety, and devotion. They were written under peculiar circumstances of distress and persecution, during the varied dispersion of the nation, more especially in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.