ii of kneeling was borrowed by the Christians fmm the Hebrews. We n ad in the Scripture thai Solo- mon, while dedicating his Temple to God, knell down <ui both i •> iii. 54 i, and thai Danii I thrii i
a day knell down in prayer (Dan. vi, 10). It i- said also thai St, Stephen, while suffering martyrdom (Acts vii, 59 , knell down and prayed for his murderers. St. Luke tells us thai our Redeemer in the garden of Geth- semane prayed in this humble posture (Luke \\ii. 1 1 ). It is natural that, in conformity with this divine ex- ample, the Christians should bavi ad. .pied this way uf
praying as a mark of affliction, a demonstration of sad- ness and sorrow. This is what we are Ii i to conclude trom these lines of Prudentius, one of the most trust- worthy interpreter- of Christian antiquity (Cathem, hymn, ii,
"Tc voce, tc cantu pio Rogan rvatog tm Fleudo ei caneudo discimus."
This i- also shown by the custom of the primitive Church in the liturgical practice. The Church had di- rected from the earliest time that prayers shoul standing on Sundays and during the paschal period, in sign of joy, and kneeling all the rest ol the year in sign of penitence. This rule was .already in force at the time of Justin (Qucest. ad orthodox, resp. 115); it is mentioned by Tertullian (D( Coron. milit. iii', and stated by St. Jerome in that curious passage where he -peak- of St Paul i Comment. Epist. ml Ephes. Procem. i: •• St. Paul stayed at Ephesus until Pentecost, that time of joy and victory when we bend not our ki how to the ground, but when, resuscitated by the Lord. we raise ourselves to heaven." The same custom he- came a canonic law at the Council of Nicaea (Can. ult.). It is interesting to read what Pamelius, ui his note- on the treatise of Tertullian (Z)< Coron. c. iii. n. 38), and Suicer ( Thesaur. eccles. s. \. yovv) wrote on the subject
of this manner of praying nmon to the .lews and
Christians. We have no pictures at all representing
Christians on their knees, which speak- in favor of those who assert that the tuuim a are images of the glorified soul. In conformity with the apostolic pre- scriptions the men attended public prayers in the churches bareheaded and the women veiled. In some churches of Africa the virgins bad exempted themsi Ives from this custom. Tertullian recommends it anew to their observance in his treatise /'< velandis vi:
We must add. .as a general observation, that the fnher- endeavored, with all their might, to exclude from the prayers of the faithful all ire-lures and exterior prac- tices bearing some strong feature- ol paganism. Thus Tertullian (De Oral, xii i blames sternly such Christians as. in imitation of the pagans, thought lit to make their pra\ ers acceptable tot lod by putting down their penuke.
Martigny, Diet. Chret. s. v. See Am 1 1 m -.
Prayer-book. Since the article en this subject was written (vol. ii) the Church of England has considered
the propriety of purging the Book of Co \ Prayer
of the Aihaiia-ian Creed, which the American Church rejected. In the Irish Church (Protestant Episcopal), recently disestablished, the Athanasian Creed is purged of the damnatory clauses, and retained in that modified form. Since the organization of the Reformed Prot- estant Episcopal Church, the Prayer-book originally framed for the | American) Protestant Episcopal Church
was made the basis of another Book of Conn i 1'rayer,
from which all language thai seems to justify the ritu- alism of the High-Church partj has been carefully ex- punged. Recent literature on this subject maj be found in the Edinb. I'"-. Oct. 1874, artvi; Brit. Qi . Jan. 1875, p. Ill: Church Journal (N. Y. '. dune 17. i-,.',; Blunt, Key to tin Knowledge and Ust <•/ t!,< Book <;/' Common Prayer (Lond. 1869); Contemporary A . Dec. 1872, art, vii. See Common Prayer.
Prayer of Consecration is offered in the com- munion Sen ice tor I he element- ser\ ed to the p. ople as memorials of Christ's crucifixion. In the I'lmivli of
Rome and other ritualistic bodies, this prayer i- ac- companied wiili much ceren \. In other Christian
churches the form prescribed or adopt, d is in ha: mo y
with the grave occasion which it commemoral Lord's Supper.
Prayer-days. There can he no doubl that the ser- \ i.-e in the Book of Common Prayer is intended to he d lily : yet in the United Man- this practice I conic to prevail. As a substitute for this, and thi near- est approximation the times will allow to the original
PRAYER FOR THE DEAD 481
PRAYER-TEST
usage, certain days of the week are selected on which morning and evening service is publicly held. Such days are denominated "Prayer-days," and are thus dis- tinguished from the usual "holydays." See the rubrics before the order of public baptism. — Staunton, Ecclesi- astical Dictionary, p. 540.
Prayer fok the Dead. See Dead, Praters for the; Purgatory.
Prayer, Formula of. See Forms of Prayer.
Prayer, Lord's, See Lord's Prayer.
Prayer to Saints. See Invocation.
Prayer-test. This was a proposal anonymously put forth in the name of science in the Contemporary Review for July, 1872, with the strong endorsement of Prof. Tyndall, and couched in the following terms :