History reading and explanation of the Scripof " Prophe- tures as practised during the Reforma-
sying." tion, a certain kind of instruction in the Scriptures (called by the Germans Prophezei) has no connection with this. It first appeared in Zurich because of the need of winning such priests as possessed, besides sufficient knowledge of the Scriptures, the talent to explain in a familiar way the Christian message of salvation. According to the reformation of the foundation of the Gross Munster, every effort should be made for the appointment of those who should every day, publicly, for one hour, preach and teach the Holy Scriptures in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages. On June 19, 1525, this regulation was put in force under the leadership of Zwingli. At eight o'clock each morning, excepting Fridays and Sundays, all the clergy of the city and the other preachers (students, chaplains, etc.), came together in the choir of the Gross Munster. After a short opening prayer, a part or the whole of a chapter of the Old Testament was read. The reading was followed by a dogmatic and practical exposition. These are the beginnings of the socalled prophesying. Megander introduced this custom in Bern, where it later developed into a school. With Peter Martyr (1556) followed the institution of the " theological lesson " for the people; prophesying was transformed into teaching. Encouraged by the example of Zurich, prophesying assumed a new and singular form in Lasco's fugitive community in London. One of their preachers, Micronius, relates, in 1554, that in the weekly prophesying, the Sunday sermons were subjected to a critical examination, so that the elders, doctors, and prophets could add thereto from the Scriptures whatever might be necessary for the understanding of the text and the edification of the congregation. This institution never attained great development as a liturgical element, since, on the one hand, the founding of theological schools took its place, and, on the other hand, the religious understanding of the congregation soon outgrew the need for its use.
Wherever religious excitement has demanded a more recondite explanation of Scripture, analogous phenomena appeared. For example, among the Jansenists of Port Royal, the study of the Scriptures was pursued in common, and from this circle Labadie transplanted the usage, in the form of a developed private worship, to Amiens (1044), Geneva (1659), and Middelburg (1666). Among his disciples in Geneva were Untereyk and Spener; the latter introduced the movement as collegia pietatis into Frankfort. From the time of Spener, prophesying, as modified by time, has endured in the Evangelical churches in the form of Bible conferences or of Bible lessons and readings, at home or in the church, and under the direction of members of the congregation or of the pastors or elders.
(Emil Eouf.)
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Prophecy- Proselytes
PROPITIATION. See Atonement.
PROPST (PROBST, PROPOSITUS), JAKOB:
German reformer; b. at Ypres (30 m. s.s.w. of Bruges), Flanders, probably in the last decade of the fifteenth century; d. at Bremen June 30, 1562. He seems to have entered the Augustinian order at an early age, and soon became acquainted with Luther, whose pupil he was at Wittenberg in the beginning of 1519. In the same year he became prior at Antwerp, where he was active as a reformer. In 1521 he was again at Wittenberg, and on his return to Antwerp as provost found that his enemies had grown bolder. Luther's writings had been burnt and his followers imprisoned; Propst soon shared their fate. On Dec. 5, 1521, the imperial counselor, Franz van der Hulst, invited Propst to accompany him to Brussels. There every effort was made to induce him to recant, and after a long resistance he finally yielded, terrified by the threat of capital punishment (Feb. 9, 1522). The Protestants were much depressed at this event, especially Luther, although the latter pitied Propst and did not believe that he had really changed his views. Propst was now transferred to the Augustinian monastery of his native city, where he soon found sympathizers and again began a Protestant propaganda. Though he carefully avoided all polemics, his enemies grew suspicious, and he was brought back to Brussels. His execution seemed inevitable, but a iellow monk aided him to escape. After a time he found his way to Wittenberg, where he married a young woman closely connected with Luther's wife.
In May, 1524, Propst found an important sphere of activity when he was called to Bremen by his friend and fellow monk, Henry of Zutphen (see Moller, Heinrich; and Zuetphen, Henry op), and given charge of the Liebfrauenkirche there. The Reformation was now carried out in Bremen ; Protestant pastors were installed in the churches, and the Roman Catholic worship was forbidden, except in the cathedral; Propst became senior pastor with the title of superintendent. In 1532 a Protestant revolutionary movement, social rather than religious, which Propst and the other pastors did not regard with favor, resulted in his withdrawal from Bremen for a short time, but on his return he was able to labor for many years in peace. In 1535 he visited Cologne with Melanchthon, and in 1540 caused a Spanish merchant, Francisco San Romano, to embrace Protestantism and to spread his new doctrines in his native land. Although heartily in sympathy with the ideas of Luther, with whom he maintained an active correspondence, Propst was not a prominent figure in the eucharistic controversy begun by Albert Rizaeus Hardenberg (q.v.), even while energetically rejecting his doctrines. He accordingly gladly resigned in 1559 in favor of Tilemann Hesshusen (q.v.) and retired from public life. Subsequent events in Bremen, culminating in the supplanting of Lutheranism by Reformed tenets, he saw without being able to prevent.
(J. F. iKENf.)
Bibliography: H. G. Janssen, Jakobus Prapositus, Luthers LeerKng en Vriend, Amsterdam, 1862.