Post-Millennialists, the name applied to the large body of Christians belonging to all denominations who believe thai the second coming of Christ will not precede, as the Pre-MiUennialista allege, but follow after the Millennium I q. v. I.
Post-Pridie (or the Collectio post Mysti rii m or Post Secketa, as it is called in the Gallican office) is the prayer of the Anaphora (q. v.) of the Mozarabic liturgy. Various opinions are entertained regarding the belief of t lie Eastern Church on the doctrine of the Invocation of the Holy Ghost (q.v.) in the consecration
of the elements. These opinions may be summarized in the following three: (1) That the Eastern Church gives it no effect in the act of consecration, believing thai i" take place solely, entirely, and properly in the
words of institution. (2) Thai it believes both the words of institution and those of invocation to be co- ordinately efficacious to the same end. (3) Thai the whole force of the consecration is vested in the invoca- tion, (for the history of the controversy, see Wale. Tntrod. i. 193 sip) Neale, than whom there i- do betti i authority on the subject, believes "thai the sense of the < Iriental < Ihurch may be thus expressed : The bread and wine oil', red on the altar are transmuted into the body and blood of Christ by the words of institution, and by the invocation of the Holy Ghost by the Church ; and if either of these things be wanting, the Eucharist, so far forth a- the orthodox Eastern Chun b is concerned, is nol \alid. I make the limitation because the Orien- tal Chunh has nol condemned her Roman sister for the omission oi the invocation" | Tntrod. i. 196).
The Post-Pridit varies with the festival on which it i- used. Thus, e. g . the prayer -aid on the first Sunday alter apparition is as follows:
"Mindful, <> I. ird, of thy precepts, we earnestly pray
thee that thou wouldst pour forth on these sacrifices the
plenitude of thy Holy Ghost, that while we receive them blessed Of thee, we may in all ways rejoice that we are filled with all manlier of benediction, and are {reed from the bonds of our sins. Amen. Through thy gift, holy Lord, for thou crentesi all these tbii gs rery good for us, thy unworthy servants, sanctifies! them t, qo il,;. in f_ i,;,.>M'st them t. and granlest to us that they may be blessed of thee, our God, to ages of ages. Ameu."
Cardinal Bona, who calls the belief of the Greeks a <h - testandus error, though he denies it to be more than an opinion held by some members of the Eastern Church, is rather baffled bj the Mozarabic office. He tries to
prove that il is only to be taken relatively to the re- ceiver, and quotes the Mass for Ihi' first Sunday after Pentecost : " lie pleased to bless and sanctify to us the gifts," etc By parity of reasoning it might be argued that the Roman Chunh only believes in a relative change, because the prayer in the canon runs, respect- ing the yet unconseeraled bread and wine, ••that to us they may become the body and blood of .Testis Christ."' The Post-Pridit in the Gotho- Hispanic rite seems alway- to have contained this invocation; but in the mutilation and changes to which that office has In en subjected comparatively few masses have retained it in direct, terms. The Post-Pridit for Easter-day, though not containing a direct invocation of the Holy Ghost, has a most remarkable prayer for change : " l't hie tibi panis cum hoc calice oblatus in Filii tui Corpus it San- guinem, te benedicente, ditescat." This may be profit- ably compared witli the Ximenian Post-Pridu lor Cor- pus Christi; the difference is astonishing: "Ul panis hie transmutatus in Carnem, et calix transformatus in Sanguinem," etc. In some instances the prayer for the descent of the Holy Ghost is changed into a prayer for the descent of Christ; as, for example, in the firsl i .--second) Sunday after Easter: "Christe . . . his sacriliciis propitius illabere, bisque benedict urns de- scende." The corruption sometimes takes a curious turn : thus on .Inly 25 the Post-Pridie prays that by the intercession of St. Christopher the offerers may be filled with the Holy Ghost. We may gather on the whole that Ximenes, who (like Bona) must have considered the prayer for any change after the words of institution a detestable error, softened the expression in many cases, and omitted it in many others: though enough is still left to show us what the original design of the prayer was. See Liturgy. (J. H. W. |
Post-Sanctus. See Post-Pridie.
Postulate (airtjua, postulatum, that w hich is ash </ or assumed to prove souk thing else!. "According to some, the difference between axioms and postulates is analogous to that between theorems and problems: the former expressing truths which are sclf-ovid, nt. and from which other propositions may be deduce d; the lat- ter, operations which may easily be performed, and by the help of which more difficult constructions may be effected." There is a difference between a postulate ami a hypothesis. When you lay down something which may be. although you have not proved it, and which is admitted by the learner or the disputant, you make a hypothesis. The postulate, nol being assented