713 



PREBEND. 



PRECESSION AND NUTATION. 



there are come down to us various prayers used by good men in ancient 

 times expressive of their desires, and at the same time showing how 

 other topics may properly be introduced and mingled with supplica- 

 tion. There are prayers of men who had not the light of either of the 

 divine dispensations, and there are wise directions concerning prayer in 

 the writings of such men ; but the Scriptures, both of the Old 

 Testament and the New, contain many prayers, and many hints and 

 observations respecting prayer, all of which are very instructive, and 

 held in devout reverence by those who receive the persons whose words 

 are there recorded as examples and authorities. 



From these examples, and from the instructions incidentally given, 

 Christian divines have deduced certain principles respecting prayer. 

 They have in fact raised a kind of system of prayer : dividing and 

 subdividing the several branches of it. Of these it will be sufficient to 

 say that a prayer, or a body of words expressive of the intercourse, 

 should contain (1) expressions of adoration and admiration of the 

 Mighty Being who is the object of address, by which the mind is 

 brought into a state of confidence that he can grant that which we 

 entreat of him : (2) expressions of our own unworthiness to receive 

 more blessings than he has already seen proper to bestow upon us ; 

 either on account of a general persuasion of demerit, or of some 

 particular sin of which we have been guilty. This is thought to be 

 in accordance with the actual state of every one who thus puts himself 

 as it were more immediately in the awful presence of his governor and 

 judge, and to be also salutary to the suppliant as keeping up a sense of 

 proper humility, and a disposition to acquiesce in whatever may be 

 the divine will. (3) Then comes the supplicatory part, in which 

 general or particular blessings are besought, suitable either to the 

 general condition of the person praying, or to the particular circum- 

 stances of the moment. (4) Intercession for others, the entreaty of 

 the divine favour for the whole human race, and such blessings as 

 particular classes of persons peculiarly need. This is thought necessary 

 as cherishing the kind and charitable feelings, and leading each 

 individual man to feel himself but as one of a great family of whom 

 God is the common head and the common protector, and whose 

 interests are not to be disregarded in attention to the wants and wishes 

 uf an individual member of it. (5) Lastly comes thanksgiving, a 

 devout acknowledgment of past and present mercies, the good which 

 God has given in his natural providence in general, or any special good 

 which he may have granted. Such, according to Christian divines, 

 ought to be the form into which men's thoughts cast themselves when 

 they enter into communion with God : and the various prayers 

 which are delivered in public by the ministers of religion in behalf of 

 multitudes praying together, are for the most part constructed in this 

 form, the differences arising (1) from the selection of different sub- 

 sidiary topics under each, and (2) from the greater length in which 

 each of these subjects is entered into, according to the feeling or the 

 notions concerning prayer of the individual minister ; and such also are 

 the prayers fur the most part in those collections of prayers many of 

 which are printed for the use of persons, either in their private or 

 family devotions, who find a difficulty in embodying in words the 

 sentiment of the heart. 



Liturgies are of the nature of printed collections of prayers. They 

 nre guides to the mode in which the prayers of many assembled in 

 ian congregations shall be offered. The Book of Common 

 Prayer contains the Liturgy of the English Church as appointed by 

 authority. The effect of liturgies in public worship is to restrain the 

 manifestation of peculiarities in the notions of particular ministers 

 respecting the nature and subjects of prayer : to keep out of the public 

 assemblies of Christians extravagancy and enthusiasm ; to bring the 

 will of the community at large to bear on the wills of single ministers 

 in respect of the devotional part of public worship ; and to make known 

 beforehand to the people what sentiments will be expressed, and in 

 what form of words, in the service in which they are about to engage. 





PREBEND, derived from the Latin word pra&eo (to minister to, or 

 yield), is an endowment in land, or pension in money given to a 

 cathedral or conventual church in prabendam, that is, for a mainte- 

 nance of a secular priest or regular canon, who was a prebendary as 

 supported by the prelicnd. It is named from the land or other 

 source whence the profits attached to it are derived. 



A simple prebend was one which had only its revenue for its 

 support; a prebend with dignity, one to which a jurisdiction was 

 annexed ; a prebendary holding the latter was styled a dignitary. Some 

 prebends were donative, others in the gift of laymen, who, in case of 

 vacancy, must have presented the future prebendary to the bishop ; on 

 this the bishop instituted him, and the dean and chapter then inducted 

 and placed him in a stall in the church. If a bishop were the patron, 

 he collated. At Westminster the king collated by patent, by virtue of 

 which the prebendary took possession without institution or induction. 

 A mandamus lies to compel an election to fill a vacancy. During a 

 vacancy the profits belonging to a prebendary as sole corporator went 

 to his successor ; those which he held as member of the corporation 

 aggregate were divided among the dean and chapter. A prebend being 

 a benefice without cure of souls, was not formerly incompatible to be 

 held with a parochial benefice, but one prebendary could not possess 

 two prebends in the same church, though he might hold a second in 

 any other. But now, by 1 & 2 Vic. c. 100, no spiritual person holding 



more benefices with 'cure of souls than one shall hold any cathedral 

 areferment ; or, holding any cathedral preferment and also any bene- 

 Jce with cure of souls, shall hold any other cathedral preferment ; or, 

 Holding any preferment in any cathedral or collegiate church, shall 

 iiold any preferment in any other. (Comyns's ' Digest,' tit. ' Eccl. 

 Persons,' iii. 600; Burns, 'E. L .,' 88, 90; Rogers, ' On Ecclesiastical 

 Law, tit. ' Dean and Chapter.' [DEAN.] 



By the 3 & 4 Vic., c. 113, founded on the Report of Commissioners 

 appointed to consider the state of the church with reference to its 

 revenues, very important changes were made relative to cathedral 

 preferment. The statute does not affect existing interests. Its pro- 

 visions, in general terms, are as follows : Henceforth all the members 

 of chapters are to be styled canons. Provision is made for the sup- 

 pression of many existing prebends, the creation of one additional for 

 St. Paul's, and ultimately all cathedral and collegiate churches as to 

 number of canons, are to be placed upon the following footing : 

 Canterbury, Durham, Ely and Westminster 6 each ; Winchester and 

 Exeter 5 ; Bristol, Carlisle, Chester, Chichester, Gloucester, Hereford, 

 Litchfield, Lincoln, Manchester, Norwich, St. Paul's, London, Peter- 

 borough, Hipon, Rochester, Salisbury, Wells, Windsor, Worcester, and 

 York, 4 each ; and St. David's and Llandaff 2 each. 



All bishops are authorised to confer honorary canonries, without 

 emolument, to the number of twenty-four, in each cathedral church. 



No canon is, by virtue of his canonry, for the future to possess any 

 separate estate or income, all of which are to vest in the Ecclesiastical 

 Commissioners appointed by 6 & 7 Wm. IV. c. 77. The profits of the 

 suspended canonries are to be paid to the commissioners, in whom 

 their estates, as well as those of non-residentiary prebendaries, &c., are 

 to vest. The annual incomes are also fixed by this statute. The 

 separate patronage of members of chapters is to be vested in the 

 respective bishops. Provisions are made as to the exercise of the 

 patronage of chapters. The minor canons are to be appointed by the 

 chapter. 



PREBENDARY (' Prebendarius '), one who has a prebend [PRE- 

 BEND], a canon endowed with land or an advowson or tithe. In right of 

 his prebend, he possessed an estate. He was bound by canon 42 to resi- 

 dence four score and ten days during each year. The time fixed by 

 3 & 4 Viet. c. 3, is three months. The whole body attached to each 

 cathedral or collegiate church forms, with the dean, a corporation aggre- 

 gate, called the dean and chapter. Each prebendary, having a distinct 

 estate, is, by virtue of that, a sole corporator, as well as member of the 

 corporation aggregate. The office of the dean and chapter is to consent 

 to the grants, leases, &c., of the bishop. Anciently they formed his 

 council, as they still do nominally. On his death they certify the king 

 of it in chancery, upon which a conge" d'elire is issued. During the 

 vacancy, they govern the diocese and guard the spiritualities of it, 

 unless where the archbishop has that right by prescription. Pre- 

 bendaries were bound by canon 43 to preach in their churches, and in 

 other churches in the diocese, especially those whence their profits pro- 

 ceeded, or to substitute other preachers approved by the bishop. A 

 prebendary could not make a grant, &c., until after installation and 

 induction. [Df.AN; CHAPTER.] (Termes de la Lmj, tit. 'Prebend,' 

 ' Chapter;' Corn, Dlj , tit, ' Ecclesiastical Persons.'; 



PRECEDENCE, one of the artificial distinctions among men living 

 in a state of political society. In all countries the great mass of 

 mankind will be of one level, no individual possessing political privi- 

 leges which do not belong to the rest, except as pertaining to some 

 particular employment in the various ordinary businesses of life in 

 which each individual is engaged. But these give no precedence of 

 one before another ; all move on abreast. But above these are certain 

 persons, such aa the members of the liberal professions, persons who 

 hold or have held offices in the state, peers, who take precedence of 

 the rest, and who are allowed to do so, if not by any law absolutely 

 promulgated, yet by the constant usages of society. And again, tho 

 individuals, who may form perhaps the thousandth part of the whole 

 community, who possess this privilege of precedence, have the prece- 

 dence amongst each other regulated according to usage, or, in other 

 words, by the precedents established in records of former arrange- 

 ments. The subject is one to which a good deal of attention has been 

 paid, and it is now only as an incident to the creation of new courts or 

 officers, or in singular positions of the royal family, that difficulties 

 arise. The members of the College of Arms, who are the council of 

 the earl-marshal of England, are usually referred to in questions of 

 precedency ; and to them is assigned the arrangement of public pro- 

 cessions, as at royal marriages, funerals, coronations, and the like, when 

 it is that questions of this kind come to be considered. 



Tables of precedency may be seen in many books, and especially in 

 those called Peerages. 



Sometimes the question arises among ambassadors who shall enter 

 a room or depart before another, and great tenacity has at times been 

 manifested in supporting the claims to rank of the state or kingdom 

 represented. In the ' Philoxenis ' of Sir John Finet there are some 

 almost ridiculous instances of the struggles made for precedence by 

 ambassadors of the state of Venice in the reign of James I. 



PRECESSION AND NUTATION, the abbreviated way of ex- 

 pressing the precession of the equinoxes and the nutation of the earth's 

 axis. 



These phenomena should always be considered in connection wit 



