THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Gospel will be decisively offered to all who did not in this world finally reject Christ, and that those who there accept him will be saved. As here defined, it is to be distinguished (1) from the orthodox doctrine of probation — it extends the offer of salvation into the future life under the conditions above mentioned (see Judgment, Divine) ; (2) from dogmatic Universalism (q.v.) — it leaves in doubt the ultimate issue of the probation; (3) from a second probation — only a single probation is affirmed; (4) from the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory (q.v.), which is not that of probation at all, but of the cleansing of such as have departed this life in faith; (5) from the assertion that the probation of all men extends into the next world — character may be decisively determined here below. The theory was advocated by I. A. Dorner, System der christlichen Glaubenslehre (2 vols., Berlin, 1879, 2d. ed., 1886-87; Engl, transl., System of Christian Doctrine, 4 vols., Edinburgh, 1880-82), and drew much attention to itself in the so-called " Andover Controversy," through its reappearance in Progressive Orthodoxy (pp. 67-111, Boston, 1885) by professors in Andover Theological Seminary. It was there maintained that the destiny of all men will be irrevocably fixed at the judgment, and that the principle of judgment is, Christ is the Judge. Scripture support for the hypothesis is sought not so much in specific passages (I Pet. iii. 18-20, iv. 5-6; Matt. xi. 21-22, x. 32) as in its harmony with the central principle of Christianity there contained, i.e., the absolutely universal destination of the Gospel, which rests upon the universal significance of Christ's person and work, and which guarantees that the final state of all souls shall be decided by their conscious acceptance or rejection of Christ as Savior and Lord. A doctrine as to the condition of many of the dead, having points of agreement with the foregoing presentation, is advocated by Edward White, Life in Christ, chap. xxii. (London, 1878). See Eschatology, § 5.
C. A. Beckwith. Bibliography: G. F. Wright, An Inquiry concerning the Relation of Death to Probation, Boston, 1882; G. H. Emerson, The Doctrine of Probation Examined, Boston, 1883; N. Smyth, Dorner on the Future State, New York, 1883; S. Leathes and others. Future Probation, London, 1886; S. M. Vernon, Probation and Punishment, New York, 1890; E. C. Gordon, in Presbyterian Quarterly, xi (1897), 218-230; G. P. Jackson, Man an Eternal Probationer, Nashville, Tenn., 1902. Further literature will be found under Eschatology; Hades; and Intermediate State.
PROCESSION OF THE HOLY GHOST. See
Filioque Controversy.
PROCESSIONS: In restricted ecclesiastical usage, tlii- term applies to the solemn entrance of the clergy and their assistants to the altar for mass or other liturgical worship, or of their return after the service to the sacristy. In a more general sense, procession means the moving in formal order, within or without the church, of a religious body, the head of which, such as bishop or priest, walks last, those highest in dignity next before him, and those lowest come first. It is taken as an obvious symbolism representing the Christian journey, and arises from the interest in giving expression to varying inner religious states, beyond the confines of the
altar. They may be (1) processions of festal joy or commemoration, expressive of thanksgiving; or (2) of prayer and penitential processions (called UtanicB, rogationes, supplicationes), as on days of petition and on occasions of great calamity or visitation; or (3) processions of honor to bishops or other dignitaries at their consecration or visitation; or (4) funeral processions. The procession may be attended with prayers and music and accompanied by candles, by statues of saints as on saints' days, or by relics as in dedications. They may be extraordinary, called by special ecclesiastical order, or, as most frequently, ordinary, prescribed by ritual law, such as Palm Sunday and Corpus Christi. In early times the persecutions hindered their growth, although funeral processions seemed to have been known. Tertullian names processio, procedere, alongside of stated worship and fasting, as a religious practise in the sense of church attendance (Ad uxorem, ii. 4; Hcer., xliii.; Eng. transl., ANF, iii. 264). By the fourth century processions with relics were common. In Constantinople where the Arians were not allowed to worship within the walls, they moved in processions on the streets with the singing of hymns, and Chrysostom instituted similar ones among the orthodox. A notice by Ambrose (Epist., xl., ad Theodosium) shows that processions were in use in the West at the same time, at least among the monks. During the Middle Ages this feature in connection with all ceremonial was developed with great magnificence by the Roman Catholic Church.
Bibliography: Bingham, Origines, XIII., i. 12, XXII., iii. 8; DCA, ii. 1715-17; J. Gretser, De catholicoe eccletia sacris processionibus, Ingoldstadt, 1600; J. Eveillon, De processionibus ecclesiasticis, Paris, 1641; D. Vatar, Dei processions de Viglise, ib. 1705; J. E. Riddle, Manual of Christian Antiquities, pp. 757-758, 771-774, 833, 2d ed., London, 1843; M. E. C. Walcott, Sacred Archaeology, ib. 1860; L. Duchesne, Christian Worship, passim, London, 1904; KL, x. 448-450.
PROCHET, MATTEO: Italian Waldensian; b. at Lucerna San Giovanni (30 m. s.w. of Turin) Sept. 28, 1836; d. at Rome Feb. 16, 1907 He was educated at the Waldensian college of Torre-Pellice, and, after serving the required year in the army, he studied theology at Florence and spent a semester in the Presbyterian College, Belfast. After serving as an evangelist in Lucca and Pisa (1861-66), and Genoa (1866-70), he was the first Protestant clergyman to enter Rome after its capture by Victor Immanuel, and there founded a Waldensian church (1870), of which he was pastor till 1S75, although in 1871 he had been appointed president of the Italian Evangelization Committee, a position which he retained until 1906, when he was compelled to retire from active life on account of the age limit. He must be regarded as almost the pioneer in the modern active Protestant propaganda in Italy.
PROCKSCH, OTTO: German Protestant; b. at Eisenberg (34 m. s.w. of Leipsic), Saxe-Altenburg, Aug. 9, 1874. He was educated at the universities of Tubingen, Leipsic, Erlangen, and Gottingen (Ph.D., Leipsic, 1899), and at the seminary for preachers in Leipsic (1898-1900). In 1901 he became privat-docent for Old-Testament exegesis at