"Their prayers at night consist of the following:- of the fire. Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; First, the reading of the Shema, as already mentioned, threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of and repeating the nineteen prayers, as also two bless- Israel, they all grasp the sword, being expert in war; ings or praises before the Shema, and two after it. The every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear time for repeating the Shema is from the period the in the night.' stars appear till twelve o'clock. "Beside these, there are three forms of prayers for the common days of the year, but on the sabbaths, new moons, and other festivals, there are four; the fourth is called the Musoph, or the addition, because it was instituted in lieu of the additional sacrifice of those festivals, all of which are particularly specified in Numbers 29. 1, which additional sacrifices were offered immediately after the morning sacrifice; and for that reason the prayer of Musoph is said directly after the morning prayer. "Besides the above-mentioned stated times of prayer, immediately preceding going to bed, each Jew ought| to say the following: 'Blessed art thou, O Lord, Our God, king of the Universe! who makest sleep to fall on mine eyes, and slumbering on my eyelids; let it be thy will, O Lord, my God, and the God of my fathers, to lay me down in peace, and to make me rise again in peace; and let me not be affrighted by my thoughts, bad dreams, or evil imaginations; and let my bed stand in peace before thee; and awaken mine eyes, lest I sleep to death. Blessed art thou, O Lord! who doth enlighten the universe with his glory.' "They then say the first portion of the Shema, and the last verse of the 90th Psalm, and the whole of the 91st. They then say from the beginning of the second verse of the 3rd Psalm to the end of the same; after which they say as follows: 'O Lord our God! make us lie down in peace; and make us so rise, O our King, to life, and spread over us the tabernacle of thy peace. Inspire us with good counsel from before thee, and save us for thy name's sake. Do thou protect us and remove from us foes, pestilence, sword, hunger, and troubles; and remove Satan from before and behind us, and in the shadow of thy wings shalt thou hide us; for God our keeper and preserver art thou; for an Almighty, favourable, and compassionate King art thou; and preserve us in our going forth, and in our coming in, with life and peace henceforward. Blessed is the Lord by day, and blessed is the Lord by night. Blessed is the Lord when we lie down, and blessed is the Lord at our rising up; for in thy hands are the souls of all the living, and the spirit of all human creatures. Into thy hands do I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Almighty true God! our God, who art in heaven; confirm thy kingdom perpetually, and reign over us for ever. Let our eyes behold and our hearts rejoice. Let our souls be glad in thy true salvation, when it will be said unto Zion, Your God reigneth, the Lord doth reign, the Lord hath reigned, and the Lord will reign for evermore! For the kingdom is thine; and for ever to all eternity thou wilt reign in glory, for there is not unto us any king but thee. "The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the children, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And he said, If thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord, thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear unto his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of those diseases upon thee which I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. "And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Verily this is a brand plucked out "After this, they repeat the four following ejaculations three times:-"The Lord bless thee and guard thee! the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee! the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace! “Behold he that guardeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep! "For thy salvation have I waited, O Lord! I have waited, O Lord, for thy salvation. O Lord, for thy salvation have I waited. "In the name of the Lord God of Israel, on my right hand Michael, and on my left Gabriel; before me Oureal, and behind me Raphael, and at my head is the glory of the Almighty.' "Afterwards they say a psalm. They then repeat three times, Tremble and sin not; examine your own hearts upon your bed, and lie still. Selah.' They then say the following, which ends the prayer before going to bed: 'The Lord of the world, who reigned before any creature was created, at the time when all by his will was made, and after everything ends, alone he will reign tremendous; he hath been, he is, and will be with glory. IIe is the only one, and there is no second to compare or be associated with him. He is without any beginning and without end, and to him is the power and sorereignty. He is my God and my living Redeemer, and the strong rock of my support in the time of trouble. He is my shelter, my refuge, the portion of my cup in the day I call. Into his hands do I commit my spirit, when I sleep, and when I awake, and with my spirit and my body. The Lord is with me, and I will not fear.' "In addition to these prayers, which have their stated times of being repeated, the Jews have others to be said on various occasions; for it is a maxim among them that it is not fit that man should receive any benefit or use from anything without giving due thanks to the Almighty, who created that thing for his use and benefit; and therefore, if they but drink a draught of water, they are obliged to say a grace before it." Various particulars respecting forms of prayer will be found under the article LITURGY. PREACHER, PREACHING. The word p koheleth, (Eccles. 1. 1;) in the Septuagint, EKKλŋolaσTns; in the Vulgate Ecclesiastes, signifies a preacher, or a speaker before an assembly, or one who discourses publicly on religious subjects. This practice, so laudable, and so naturally suggesting itself to a mind duly sensible of the relation between the creature and the Creator, is, as might be supposed, of the very remotest origin. From the sacred records we learn that when men began to associate for the purpose of worshipping the Deity, Enoch prophesied or preached. (Jude 14,15.) We have a very short account of this prophet and his doctrine; enough, however, to convince us that he taught the principal truths of natural and revealed religion. Conviction of sin was in his doctrine, and communion with God was exemplified in his conduct. (Gen. 5. 24; Heb. 11. 5,6.) From the days of Enoch to the time of Moses, each patriarch worshipped God with his family; probably several assembled at new moons, and alternately instructed the whole company. Noah, it is said, was a preacher of righteousness. (2Pet. 2. 5.) Abraham commanded his household after PREACHER, PREACHING. him to keep the way of the Lord, and to do justice and judgment, (Gen. 18. 19;) and Jacob, when his house lapsed into idolatry, remonstrated against it, and exhorted them, and all that were with him, to put away strange gods, and to go up with him to Bethel. Moses was a most eminent prophet and preacher, raised up by God; and by whom it is said came the Law. (John 1. 17.) How he and Aaron preached we may see by several parts of his writings. His first discourse was heard with profound reverence and attention; his last was both uttered and received with great solemnity. (Exod. 4. 31; Deut. 33.) 1077 to affect to be good, crowded the courts of princes. Jezebel, an idolatress, had four hundred prophets of Baal; and Ahab, a pretended worshipper of Jehovah, had as many pretended prophets. (2Chron. 18. 5.) "When the Jews were carried captive into Babylon, the prophets who were with them inculcated the principles of religion, and endeavoured to impress their minds with an aversion to idolatry; and to the success of their preaching we may attribute the reconversion of the Jews to the belief and worship of one God; a conversion that remains to this day. The Jews have since fallen into fearful crimes, but they have never since this period lapsed into idolatry. There were not wanting, however, multitudes of false prophets among them, whose characters are strikingly delineated by the true prophets, as may be seen in the thirteenth chapter of Ezekiel, the fifty-sixth of Isaiah, and the twentythird of Jeremiah. "Public preaching does not appear, under the Mosaic economy, to have been attached to the priesthood; priests were not officially preachers; and we have numerous instances of discourses delivered in religious assemblies, by men of other tribes besides that of Levi. (Psalm 68. 11.) Thus Joshua was an Ephraimite; but being full of the spirit of wisdom, he gathered the tribes "When the seventy years of the Captivity were expired, to Shechem, and held a discourse to the people of God. the good prophets and preachers, Zerubbabel, Jeshua, (Deut. 34. 9.) Solomon was a prince of the house of Haggai, and others, having confidence in the word of Judah, Amos a herdsman of Tekoa; yet both were God, and aspiring after their natural, civil, and religious preachers, and one, at least, was a prophet. (1Kings ch. 2; rights, endeavoured by all means to extricate themselves Amos 7. 14,15.) When the notions of pagans, the and their countrymen from that mortifying state into vices of their practice, and the idolatry of their pre- which the crimes of their ancestors had brought them. tended worship, were in some unhappy periods incorpo- They wept, fasted, prayed, preached, and prophesied, rated into the Jewish religion, by the princes of their and at length prevailed. The chief instruments were nation, the prophets and all the seers protested against Nehemiah and Ezra. The first was governor, and this apostasy, and they were persecuted for so doing. reformed their civil state; the last was a scribe of the Shemaiah preached to Rehoboam, the princes, and all Law, and addressed himself to ecclesiastical matters, in the people at Jerusalem, (2Chron. 12. 5;) Azariah and which he rendered the noblest service to his country and Hanani preached to Asa and his army, (2Chron. 15. 1, to all posterity. to all posterity. He collected and collated manuscripts &c.; 16. 7;) Micaiah, to Ahab. Some of them opened of the sacred writings, and arranged and published the schools, or houses of instruction, and there to their dis- holy canon in its present form. To this he added a ciples they taught the pure religion of Moses. At second work as necessary to the former; he revived and Naioth, in the suburbs of Ramah, there was one where new-modelled public preaching, and exemplified his Samuel dwelt; there was another at Jericho, and a third plans in his own person. The Jews had almost lost in at Bethel, to which Elijah and Elisha often resorted. the seventy years' Captivity their original language; that Thither the people went on Sabbath days, and at new was now become dead; and they spoke a jargon made moons, and received public lessons of piety and morality. up of their own language and that of the Chaldæans (1Sam. 19. 8; 2Kings 2. 3,5; 4. 2,3.) Through all this and other nations with whom they had been confounded. period there was sometimes no open vision, and the Formerly preachers had only explained subjects; now word of the Lord was precious; the people heard it only they were obliged to explain words; words in the sacred now and then. At other times they were left without a code, which were become obsolete, equivocal, or dead. teaching priest, and without the Law. And at other Houses were now opened, not for ceremonial worship, seasons again, itinerants, both princes, priests, and as sacrificing, for this was confined to the Temple; but Levites, were sent through all the country to carry the for moral obedience, praying, preaching, reading the Law, Book of the Law, and to teach in the cities. Preaching Divine worship, and social duties. These houses were therefore flourished when pure religion grew; and when called synagogues; the people repaired thither morning the last decayed, the first was suppressed. Moses had and evening for prayer; and on Sabbaths and festivals not appropriated preaching to any order of men; per- the Law was read and expounded to them. We have a sons, places, times, and modes were all left open and dis- short but beautiful description of Ezra's first preaching. cretional. Many of the discourses were preached in (Nehem. 8.) Upwards of fifty thousand people assemcamps and courts, in streets, schools, cities, and villages, bled in a street, or large square, near the Water-gate. sometimes with great composure and coolness, at others It was early in the morning of a Sabbath day, a pulpit with vehement action and rapturous energy; sometimes of wood, in the fashion of a small tower, was placed in a plain, blunt style, at other times in all the magnifi- there on purpose for the preacher; and this turret was cent pomp of Eastern allegory. On some occasions, the supported by a scaffold, or temporary gallery, where, in preachers appeared in public with visible signs, with a wing on the right hand of the pulpit, sat six of the implements of war, yokes of slavery, or something principal preachers; and in another on the left, seven; adapted to their subject. They gave lectures on these, thirteen other principal teachers, and many Levites, were held them up to view, girded them on, brake them in present also on scaffolds erected for the purpose, alterpieces, rent their garments, rolled in the dust, and nately to officiate. When Ezra ascended the pulpit, he endeavoured by all the methods they could devise, produced and opened the Book of the Law, and the whole agreeably to the customs of their country, to impress the congregation instantly rose up from their seats and minds of their auditors with the nature and importance stood. Then he offered up prayer and praises to God, of their doctrines. These men were highly esteemed by the people bowing their heads, and worshipping the Lord the pious part of the nation; and princes thought proper with their faces to the ground; and at the close of the to keep seers and others, who were scribes, who read prayer, with uplifted hands, they solemnly pronounced and expounded the Law. (2Chron. 34. 29,30; 35. 15.) Amen, Amen.' Amen, Amen.' Then, all standing, Ezra, assisted at Hence false prophets, bad men who found it worth while times by the Levites, read the Law distinctly, gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. The sermons delivered so affected the hearers, that they wept excessively, and about noon the sorrow became so exuberant and immeasurable, that it was thought necessary by the governor, the preacher, and the Levites, to restrain it. 'Go your way,' said they, 'eat the fat, drink the sweet, send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared.' The wise and benevolent sentiments of these holy men were imbibed by the whole congregation, and fifty thousand troubled hearts were calmed in a moment. "Hence they returned, to eat, to drink, to send portions, and to make mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. From this period to that of the appearance of Jesus Christ, public preaching was universal; synagogues were multiplied, vast numbers attended, and elders and rulers were appointed for the purpose of order and instruction. "The most celebrated preacher that arose before the appearance of Jesus Christ was John the Baptist. He was commissioned from heaven to be the harbinger of the Messiah. He took Elijah for his model; and as the times were very much like those in which that prophet lived, he chose a doctrine and a method very much resembling those of that distinguished prophet. His subjects were few, plain, and important. His style was vehement, his images bold, his deportment solemn, his actions cager, and his morals strict; but this bright morning-star gave way to the illustrious sun of righteousness, who now arose on a benighted world. Jesus Christ was certainly the prince of preachers. Who can but admire the simplicity and majesty of his style, the beauty of his images, the alternate softness and severity of his address, the choice of his subjects, the gracefulness of his deportment, and the indefatigableness of his zeal? Let the reader charm and solace himself in the study and contemplation of the character, excellency, and dignity of this best of preachers, as he will find them delineated by the Evangelists. "The Apostles copied their Divine Master. They formed multitudes of religious societies, and were abundantly successful in their labours. They confined their attention to religion, and left the schools to dispute, and politicians to intrigue. The doctrines they preached they supported entirely by evidence; and neither had nor required such assistance as human laws or worldly policy, the eloquence of the schools, or the terror of arms, could afford them. "The next five centuries produced many pious and excellent preachers both in the Latin and Greek churches, though the doctrine continued to degenerate. The Greek pulpit was adorned with some eloquent orators. Basil, bishop of Cæsarea, John Chrysostom, preacher at Antioch, and afterwards patriarch (as he was called) of Constantinople, and Gregory Nazianzen, who all flourished in the fourth century. Jerome and Augustine were eminent in the Latin church. For some time preaching was common to bishops, elders, deacons, and private brethren, in the primitive Church; in process of time it was restrained to the bishop, and to such as he should appoint. When a bishop or preacher travelled, he claimed no authority to exercise the duties of his function, unless invited by the churches where he attended public worship. The first preachers differed much in pulpit action; the greater part used very moderate and sober gesture. They delivered their sermons extempore, while there were notaries who took down what they said. Sermons in those days were all in the vulgar tongue. The Greeks preached in Greek, the Latins in Latin. They did not preach by the clock (so to speak), but were short or long as they saw occasion, though an hour was about the usual time. Sermons were gene rally both preached and heard standing; but sometimes both speaker and auditors sat, especially the aged and infirm. The Fathers were fond of allegory, for Origen had set them the example. Before preaching the preacher usually went into a vestry to pray, and afterwards to speak to such as came to salute him. He prayed with his eyes shut, in the pulpit. The first words the preacher uttered to the people, when he ascended the pulpit, were, 'Peace be with you,' or, "The love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all;' to which the assembly first added, 'Amen,' and in aftertimes, they answered, 'And with thy spirit.' Degenerate, however, as those days were in comparison with those of the Apostles, yet they were golden ages in comparison with the times that followed, when metaphysical reasonings, mystical divinity, Aristotelian categories, and the reading the lives of saints, were substituted in the place of sermons. The pulpit at length became a stage, where ludicrous priests obtained the laugh of the vulgar by the lowest kind of wit, especially at the festivals of Christmas and Easter. "The Reformation, the offspring of preaching, restored it to its more than pristine vigour, accompanied by the desire of the common people to read the Scriptures and to hear them expounded." Claude's Essay, edited by Robinson. PREDESTINATION. The word Predestination is of Latin original, and signifies to deliberate beforehand with oneself how one shall act, and, in consequence of such deliberation, to form a settled plan, or predetermine where, when, how, and by whom anything shall be done, and to what end it shall be done. So the Greek word poopiw, which exactly answers to the English word Predestinate, and is rendered by it, (Acts 4. 28; Rom. 8. 29,30; 1Cor. 2. 7; Ephes. 1. 5,11,) signifies to resolve what shall be done, and before the thing resolved on is actually effected, to appoint it to some certain use, and direct it to some determinate end. The term Predestination is used in Church history especially to denote the doctrine of the election and reprobation of certain individuals of the human race; a doctrine which has given rise to much controversy, but is clearly and satisfactorily stated in the Seventeenth Article of our Church, which reads thus: "Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) He hath constantly decreed by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made made to honour. Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God's purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity. "As the godly consideration of predestination, and our election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things; as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: So for curious and carnal persons, lacking the PREDESTINATION Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's predestination, is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation. "Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise as they be generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture. And in our doings, that will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly declared unto us in the word of God." The Scriptures abound with passages which at once prove the doctrine thus stated, particularly Matthew 25.34; Romans 8. 29,30; Ephesians 1.3,6,11; 2Timothy 1.9; 2Thessalonians 2. 13; 1 Peter 1. 1,2; John 6. 37; 17. 2-24; Revelation 13. 8. The moral uses of this doctrine of predestination, rightly understood, are, that it hides pride from man; excludes the idea of chance; exalts the grace of God; renders salvation certain; and affords believers great consolation: it has also been by some sectarists fearfully perverted, but the nature and limits of this work do not admit of controversial matter, and we must therefore refer our readers to other sources for a discussion of the question. PREPARE, TO, usually signifies to make ready, as Joshua 1. 11; also to fit and qualify, (Rom. 9. 23;) to appoint, (Matt. 20. 23;) to direct, establish. (1Chron. 29. 18.) God prepares mercy and truth for men when He graciously fulfils his promise and blesses them. (Psalm 61. 7.) To prepare the heart, is to mortify its various lusts, and put it into a frame of holy submission to, and constant longing for God. (1Sam. 7. 3; 1Chron. 29. 18.) The preparation of the heart and the answer of the tongue are both from the Lord. The arranging and fixing of the thoughts and inclinations of the heart about civil, and much more about spiritual things, and the giving ability to speak readily, distinctly, and to edification, are from the Lord, as his free gift and effectual work. (Prov. 16. 1.) PRESBYTER. See BISHOP; DEACON; ELDER. PRESBYTERY. The term peσ BUтeptov, signifying an assembly of aged men, or council of elders, is used of the Jewish senate or sanhedrin, (Luke 22. 66; Acts 22. 5;) and likewise of the collective body of the elders, presbyters, or priests of the Christian church. (1Tim. 4. 14.) PRESENT, minchah, (Gen. 22. 13,) a gift rendered to testify regard or subjection, or to procure or confirm friendship. From the earliest times it has been the universal custom in the East to send presents to superiors. No one waits upon an Eastern prince, or any person of distinction, without a present. Modern travellers frequently refer to this custom of waiting upon great men with presents, unaccompanied with which, should a stranger presume to enter their houses, it would be deemed a gross breach of politeness and respect. It is the custom of the East, when one invites a superior, to make him a present after the repast, as an acknowledgment of his trouble. Frequently it is done before it, as it is no augmentation of honour to go to the house of an inferior. They make no presents to equals, or those who are below themselves. Roberts says, "Not to receive a present, is at once to show that the thing desired will not be granted. Hence nothing can be more repulsive, nothing more distressing, than to return the gifts to the giver. Jacob evidently laboured under this impression, and therefore pressed his brother to receive the gifts, if he had found favour in his sight. (Gen. 33. 10.) "And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? Let me find grace in the sight of my lord.' As Esau had received valuable gifts from his brother, he wished to make some present in return; and having received cattle, it would not have looked well to have given the same kind of gift that he had received. He therefore offered some of his people (who were no doubt born in his house) as a kind of recompense for what he had received, and as a proof of his attachment." Presents of dresses are alluded to very frequently in the historical books of Scripture, and in the earliest times; when Joseph gave to each of his brethren a change of raiment, and to Benjamin five changes of raiment, it is mentioned without particular notice, and as a customary incident. (Gen. 45. 22,23.) Naaman gave to Gehazi, from among the presents intended for Elisha, who declined accepting any, two changes of raiment, and we find Solomon received raiment as presents. (2Chron. 9. 24.) This custom also is still maintained in the East. "The custom of making presents," says Maillet, "is principally observed in the frequent visits which they make one another through the course of the year, which are always preceded by presents of fowls, sheep, rice, coffee, and other provisions of different kinds. These visits, which relations and friends make regularly to each other, were in use among the ancient Egyptians; and though they are often made without going out of the same city, yet they never fail of lasting three or four days, and sometimes eight. They carry all their family with them, if they have any; and the custom is, as I have just observed, to send presents beforehand, proportionable to their rank, and the number of their attendants." In other cases, the presents made by Asiatic kings to eminent personages, are large sums of money or vestments; and sums of money are also presented to ambassadors and other strangers of consideration, who have brought them presents from other powers. D'Arvieux tells us, that when he waited on an Arab emir, his mother and sister, to gratify whose curiosity that visit was made, sent him, early in the morning after his arrival in their camp, a present of pastry, honey, and fresh butter, with a basin of sweetmeats of Damascus. Sir John Chardin tells us, in his Travels, of an officer whose business it was to register the presents that were made to his master or mistress; and Egmont and Heyman, speaking of the presents made at the Ottoman court on account of the circumcision of the Grand Seignor's children, tell us that all these donations, with the time. when, and on what occasion given, were carefully registered in a book kept for that purpose. This was formerly the custom in England, France, and other European countries, upon particular festivals, as the sovereign's birth-day, or New Year's Day; copious lists of offerings to kings and queens, and gifts by them in return, being found in the numerous Privy Purse Accounts, Issue Rolls, &c., preserved among the public records. PRESIDENT. The word D sarich, (Dan. 6. 2,3,) rendered "president," signifies an overseer, a superintendent. In the above passages it refers to the three ministers who were placed over the one hundred and twenty governors of the provinces of the Persian empire. PRESS. See WINE-PRESS. 6 Y 2 PRETORIUM, πраiтwρtov. (Mark 15. 16.) | and changed them every Sabbath-day. πραιτωριον. | Every day, This was the house or palace of the governor of a Roman morning and evening, a priest brought into the sancprovince, whether a prætor or other officer. In the New tuary a smoking censer of incense, which he set upon Testament it signifies the palace of Herod, at Jerusalem, the golden table, and which on no account was to be built by him with great magnificence at the north part kindled with strange fire, that is, with any fire but that of the upper city, west of the Temple, which it over- which was taken from the altar of burnt offering. looked, and to which there was also access from the palace (Levit. 10. 1,2.) over the open place called the Xystus, and by a bridge across the Tyropaeon, or Cheesemongers' Valley. In this palace the Roman procurators, whose head-quarters were properly at Cesarea, resided when they visited Jerusalem, the tribunal (Bnua) being set up in the open court or area before it. (John 18. 28.) In Matthew 27. 27, the term, rendered "the common hall," seems to refer to the court or part of the palace where the procurator's guards were stationed. PREVENT, TO, is understood, in our translation of the Scriptures, beside its ordinary sense of, to hinder, as denoting, (1.) To come before one is expected or sought. (Job 30. 27.) (2.) To go before, or be sooner. (Psalm 119. 147.) One is happily prevented when distress is hindered, and favours come unasked, (Job 3. 12; Psalm 18. 18,) or unhappily, when snares and afflictions come unexpectedly. (2Sam. 22. 6.) PREY. See SPOIL. PRIDE is inordinate and unreasonable self-esteem, attended with insolence and rudeness towards others. PRIEST, cohen, (Gen. 14. 18,) a person set apart for the performance of sacrifice, and other offices and ceremonies of religion. Before the promulgation of the Law of Moses, the firstborn of every family, the fathers, the princes, and the kings, were priests. Thus Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Melchizedek, Isaac, Jacob, Job, offered their own sacrifices; but among the Israelites, after their departure from Egypt, the priesthood was by Divine command confined to one tribe; and it consisted of three orders, the high-priest, priests, and Levites. The high-priest and the ordinary priests were chosen from the family of Aaron exclusively. They served immediately at the altar, prepared the victims, and offered the sacrifices; they kept up a perpetual fire on the altar of burnt offerings, and also in the lamps of the golden candlestick in the sanctuary; they kneaded the loaves of shew-bread, which they baked and offered on the golden altar in the sanctuary; The priests were divided by David into twenty-four classes, (1Chron. 24. 7-18,) which order was retained by Solomon, (2Chron. 8. 14,) and at the reformations of the Jewish religion by the kings Hezekiah and Josiah. (2Chron. 31. 2; 35.4,5.) As, however, only four classes returned from the Babylonish captivity, (Ezra 2. 36-39; Nehem. 7. 39-42; 12. 1,) these were again divided into twenty-four classes, each of which was distinguished by its original appellation. This accounts for the introduction of the class or order of Abia, mentioned in Luke 1. 5, which we do not find noticed among those who returned from the Captivity. One of these classes went up to Jerusalem every week, to discharge the sacerdotal office, and they succeeded one another on the Sabbathday, till all had attended in their turn. To each order was assigned a president. (1Chron. 24. 6,31; 2Chron. 36. 14.) The prince or prefect of each class appointed an entire family to offer the daily sacrifices; and at the close of the week they all joined together in sacrificing, and as each family consisted of a great number of priests, they drew lots for the different offices which they were to perform. It was by virtue of such lot that the office of burning incense was assigned to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, when he went into the temple of the Lord. (Luke 1. 9.) According to some Jewish writers, there were three priests employed in the offering of the incense; one, who carried away the ashes left on the altar at the preceding service; another, who brought a pan of burning coals from the altar of sacrifice, and, having placed it on the golden altar, departed; a third, who coals, and, while the smoke ascended, made intercession went in with the incense, sprinkled it on the burning for the people. This was the particular office which fell by lot to Zacharias; and it was accounted the most honourable in the whole service. This office could be held but once by the same person. lies, every one who aspired to it was required to estaThe sacerdotal dignity being confined to certain fami blish his descent from those families: on this account, the genealogies of the priests were inscribed in the public registers, and were preserved in the archives of the Temple. Hence, in order to preserve the purity of the sacerdotal blood, no priest was permitted to marry a harlot or profane woman, or one who had been divorced; and if any one laboured under any bodily defect, this excluded him from serving at the altar. Purity of body and sanctity of life were alike indispensable; nor would any one undertake the priestly office, in the early period or the Jewish polity, before he had attained the age of thirty years, or, in later times, the age of twenty years. According to Maimonides, the priest whose genealogy was defective in any respect, was clothed in black, and veiled in black, and sent without the verge of the court of priests; but every one that was found perfect and right was clothed in white, and went in and ministered with his brethren the priests. It is not improbable that St. John refers to this custom of the Jewish Sanhedrin, in Revelation 3. 5. Those priests whose birth was pure, lived in certain apartments of the Temple, in which was deposited wood for the altar, and were employed in splitting and preparing it, to keep up the sacred fire. No particular ceremony appears to have taken place at the consecration of the ordinary priests, who were admitted to the |