CHAPTER VII.

TIMES, POSTURES, AND FORMS OF PRAYER.

In the sacred volume we find no express institution of any stated hours of prayer, though periods are mentioned in the biographical notices of the worthies of the ancient church, when they regularly attended to devotional exercises. It was Daniel's custom to pray and to give thanks three times a day—a custom which he would not omit, though the writing was signed, and the decree issued, which rendered it a capital offence.* This was also the practice of David, who not only tells us how frequently, but at what particular times of the day, he engaged in religious duties:-"As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud, and he shall hear me." It is uncertain whether David refers to public or private prayer; probably the latter still the Jews in general seem to have destined three hours of the day to public devotion; the third hour answered to our nine o'clock in the morning, the sixth answered to about twelve with us, and the ninth answered to our three in the

Dan. vi. 10-12.

Ps. lv. 16, 17.

afternoon. The apostles Peter and John “went up into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour."* "Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour."† The Levitical law enjoined two lambs to be offered daily; one in the morning at the third hour, the other in the evening at the ninth. Men should pray, according to the Rabbins-1, when the sun rises; 2, when the sun has gained the meridian; 3, when the sun has set, or passed just under the horizon. It was a rabbinical fancy, that Abraham instituted the time of morning prayer, Isaac that of noon, and Jacob that of the evening. The writer of the cxixth Psalm says, "Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments." Here a definite

number is put for an indefinite; an expression equivalent to saying, "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth." Rabbi Solomon, however, says that it is to be interpreted literally; for they praised God twice in the morning before reading the decalogue, and once after; twice in the evening before the same reading, and twice after; making seven times. §

+ Acts x. 9.

Ps. cxix. 164.

Acts iii. 1. § Sevenfold acts of devotion during the day appear to have been observed by our Saxon fathers. The following directions occur in a manuscript Saxon Homily in the British Museum:-Domin. 3 in Quadraq.

A. D. 971.

Every Christian man is commanded that he always his body seven times cross with the sign of Christ's cross.

"1. First, at day break.

2. Second time at undern tide (9 o'clock in the morning.)

3. The third at mid-day.

"4. The

The primitive Christians had stated periods for prayer, most probably adopting the Jewish division of the day. Tertullian is the earliest writer who speaks of the hours, and from him it appears that the third, sixth, and ninth, were publicly announced.* Cyprian also speaks of this division, but alleges no apostolic authority for the performance of prayer at these times; he refers only to the example of Daniel in its behalf. When monachism began to prevail in the East, and men abandoned their secular engagements to be wholly occupied with religious concerns, a new distribution of the day for divine worship was necessary, to fill up the leisure which the recluses possessed. The monastic orders which arose in the fourth century under the auspices of Pachomius, Anthony, and Basil, in Pontus and Syria, originated the canonical hours of the Romish church. The whole day and night was divided into eight intervals, and the services performed at these hours are called by the ritual writers, Nocturns, Matin Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, Nones, Vespers, and Completorium, or Complin. In later times the number of offices was reduced to seven : the custom of rising in the night for the purpose of worship being given up, the nocturnal service was

"4. The fourth time at noontide, (3 o'clock, P. M.)

"5. The fifth time in the evening.

"6. The sixth time at night, ere he go rest.

7. The seventh time at midnight. A good man would do so if he awoke."

* Tert. de Jejuniis. c. 10. + De Orat. Dom. p. 196.

Pearsonii Lect. in Act. Apost. p. 40.

joined in practice to the matin lauds, and both were repeated at the same time early in the morning. Prime, or the first hour, followed lauds, and was first appointed as an hour of prayer in the monastery of Bethlehem, about the commencement of the fifth century. Tierce, sext, and nones, the third, sixth, and ninth hours of prayer, are mentioned in the second century; but had no particular service until the fifth, when the monasteries of Palestine and Mesopotamia introduced public worship adapted to them. Vespers, or evensong, had a public service in the Eastern churches at the period when the compiler of the Apostolical Constitutions flourished, probably the fourth century; and Cassian speaks of it as having obtained among the Egyptians, from the time of their founder, Mark the Evangelist. Complin, the last service of the day, was first appointed by Abbot Benedict in the sixth century. But the preceding arrangement had never the authority of a general council; and hence the custom varied in different districts of Christendom. The churches of the Alexandrian patriarchate only held two public assemblies in the day; and this was the rule in the Egyptian monasteries, the rest of the day being left for private and voluntary prayer and meditation. The canonical hours of the AngloSaxons, used by our national clergy previous to the conquest, were denominated-Uht-sang, the service for midnight-Dag-red-sang, that for the first peep of dawn-Prim-sang, that for the early morningUndern-sang, that for nine in the forenoon

Mid-dag-sang, that for noon-Non-sang, that for three in the afternoon-Efen-sang, that for the evening.

The followers of Mohammed observe five hours of prayer::—in the morning before sunrise-when noon is past, and the sun begins to decline from the meridian-in the afternoon before sunset-in the evening after sunset, and before the day is shut in— after the day is shut in, and before the first watch of the night. To these Mohammedan devotees add two more; the first an hour and a half after the day is shut in, and the other at midnight: but these are regarded as voluntary services, practised in imitation of the prophet's example, and not enjoined by the Koran.

PRAYER BEFORE MEALS.

Prayer and praise were offered by the Jews to the Divine Being before and after their ordinary meals, thus acknowledging him as the author and the giver of every good and perfect gift. The individual who omitted this duty, who ate, drank, or used any of God's creatures without rendering him thanks, was considered as a person guilty of sacrilege. On taking bread they were accustomed to say, Baruch atta Elohinoo, Melech, haslam, ha motse Lechem min haarets: "Blessed be Thou, our God, King of the Universe, who bringest forth bread out of the earth!" On taking wine, Baruch Elohinoo, Melech, haslam, Bore pereg haggephen : "Blessed be our God, the King of the Universe, the Creator of the

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