Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/412

* PRAYEK. 350 PRAYER. in the divine goodness. He cited statements made by Park and Livingstone in relation to Africans. wlio were not inclined to offer i)etition to the deity, considering him too exalted to listen to hu- man appeals. Other travelers have given similar reports concerning Bushmen, Eskimo, and other trihes. The African ohservers. however, seem to have had in mind habitual worship of a nature similar to that practiced by Christians and Mo- hammedans; at any rate, later writers have given abundant testimony to the frequency of prayer in heathen Africa. As to the greater deities, it is frequently held that they are inac- cessible to ordinary persons, but should be ad- dressed through the medium of an intercessor. Minor gods, on the other hand, are open to ap- peal from any quarter. Prayer is offered also to the departed souls of the family, who are sup- posed to exercise a sort of guardianship over their kindred. In all lands. ])rol)al)ly. hunters and iishermen entreat the particular patron of their craft, or the spirit which resides in the fetish they carry. Thus. African boatmen, while crossing a river, offer prayer to a crocodile as a divine being. In Australia also it is said that any person wdiosoever may approach the abode of a spirit, to whom is addressed information and advice, on which the latter is expected to act. From sueli testimonies it inay be inferred that prayer, in a wide sense, is universal, and that supposition of its absenc^e has arisen from preju- dice, misunderstanding, or limitation of (he prac- tice to one familiar typo. (2) KtJiiial Chiiractcr. — The view is fre(|uently maintained that in lower stages of culture (uayer is quite luictliieal, and that only at higher levels docs it encourage virtue and restrict vice. It is indeed true that prayers of savages are usually direct and simple requests for temporal blessings, and it is thought to be only in early civilizations that we begin to find repentance for sins committed. Yet it may be doubted whether the beginnings of ethi<'al prayer are not to be found in a much earlier social state. It is at any rate certain that petitions of bar- barians are by no means pronii)ted simply by selfish considerations, but, on the contrary, that these also are ins])ired l>y affection, sentiment. and sense of natural and spiritual beauty. Among American Indians, for instance, ceremonial pray- ers are full of jmetry, fe(ding for nature, and desire for commvinion with the gods. (3) Impre- cntioii. — As jiraycr is employed in order to obtain benefits for the ])leader, so by a natural antithesis it is used to injure enemies, on whom it invokes the divine anger. This function of cursing is as ancient and universal as that of blessing. It is the regular business of shamans and medicine men to bring disaster on foes, cause their injury and death, blight their crops, and destroy their armies. In the same manner prayer is employed to undo the evil spirits, as in old Babylonian exorcistic formulas. (4) Formalism. — In parts of Africa prayers addressed to the gods are not in any stereoty|"'d form, but Avorshipers ask for what they desire in natural language, with a cer- tain amount of added adulation, just as they might prefer a petition to a chief. Here prayer has not reached that stage of development in which it is always offerecl in certain formulas, which, becoming traditional, are after a time be- lieved to possess some peculiar efficacy of them- selves, and to be as it were incantations or charms. Yet it is likely that even in tlic most savage religions this process has already begun, and that prescribed or traditional prayers arc ev- erywhere to be found. (5) Posture. — The atti- tude and gesture of prayer are conventional, and have greatly varied. The principles .seem to be two: first, the closest possible contact with the being addressed ; secondly, the adoption of such position as is considered to belong to a suppliant. The belief that the divine being resides in the firmament, widely spread in all ])eriods and con- ditions of culture, often causes the worshiper to raise eyes and hands toward lieavcn. This prac- tice was common in ancient (Jreece; but the pos- ture was affected by circumstances. In sup])lica- tion at the altar, the hands might be made to touch the sacred relics or images; if the appeal was made to he powers below, the hands might be placed on the earth; the suppliant might em- brace the knees of the statue, in the prescribed attitude of entreaty. The Roman veiled his head, either as a symbol of concentration, or for the purpose of shutting out ill-omened sights and sounds; he might bow the boily or prostrate him- self. Lifted hands, prostration, or kneeling, and covered head were also the attitude of prayer among the Jews. A counnon media'val position was kneeling with palms joined and hands ex- tended; the folding of hands seems to have been of more recent adoption. In the Christian sense, prayer is any voluntary expression of connnunion with God, whether formal or informal, brief or prolonged, individual or collective. Adoration, thanksgiving, confes- sion, intercession, are all joine<l with petition in Christian |)rayer. It is fundamental that the praj'ing Christian must be perfectly submitted to the will of God and desirous of finding more completely what is its application to his own conduct and aflfairs. His petitions may then embrace the supply of all his wants, physical and spiritual : and he may be sure that he will be heard and answered as God's infinite wisdom shall see best for him and all concerned in his welfare. Prayer being regarded by Christians as an ordinance of God, it follows that they must seek to be guided in prayer by the rules of His revealed will, in so far as His will has been revealed. It is therefore held by Christians in general, in accordance with their doctrine of the atonement (q.v.) and of the intercession of Jesus Christ (see iNTERCES.sioN, Doctrine of), that the only true way of access to God is through the media- tion of Jesus Christ, and that |)rayer must be made in the exercise of faith in Him. the wor- shiper taking his stand upon the ground of the obeilience or "finislied work and accepted sacri- fice" of Christ, and looking up to Christ as now interceiling in heaven. It is also held, in accord- ance with the doctrine of man's corruption, th.it prayer can be truly made, in faith, and for things agreeable to God's will, only by the help of the Holy Spirit. ' . The best discussions of (irayer from the Chris- tian standpoint will be found in the treatises on systematic theolog>' and apologetics. The fol- lowing works may also be consulted: Bicker- steth, A Trrnlise oil Prayer (18th ed., London, S^3) ; Liddon, Some Elements of Religion (Lon- don. 187:i) ; Clarke. The Chri.'itian Doetrine of Prayer (Boston. 1874) ; Monrad, The World of Prayer (Eng. trans.. Edinl)urgh. 1879). For modern objections to prayer, consult: Tyndall, On