PRAYER, a religious act taking the form of an entreaty for the grant of favor or the forgiveness of trespasses, and directed toward an object of worship in whose power the an swer of this entreaty is supposed to reside. Since prayer is an act almost universal among the religions of the world, it is but natural that it should exhibit a vast range of variation in its form and its spiritual level. The savage may beseech his fetish like a human king, or he may bribe it by offerings and promises, or he may bully it into granting the favors desired. In any case, he is likely to adopt toward it an attitude no more spiritual than that which he adopts toward his fellow savage. His prayer is used for the same purposes as magic, and in deed only differs from magic in that the desired very immediate and very material benefit is accomplished through the mediation of a super natural ptrson, and not by virtue of the mere wish for the benefit itself. It is rain, or the death of an enemy, or the fertility of his crops, for which he prays, and all notion of the puri fication from sin is likely to be absent. This awaits the coming of a morality less hand-to mouth, and the formation of a more or less unified ideal of conduct. While the germs of this inhere in the religion of many races of a low civilization, it is only in such faiths as Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity, which combine a background of vigorous intellectual activity with a fervent exaltation of goodness, that religion habitually expresses itself in upeceavi.° Religion, however, does not run a continu ally ascending course. The transition from a religion of morality to fetishism, demonology, and magic, easily takes place through the for malism of religious senescence. The faith that has lent dignity to its prayer through a set formula of noble words, or the sonorous ca dences of an ancient language, ultimately finds that the formula, the cadences are retained long after all memory of their significance is dead. A condition supervenes — as in many Christian denominations — where the objects of religious worship are held firmly enough in mind, but the prayer, understood but in part by the priesthood and by the laity not at all, has come to be but an induction of the worshipper into a state of devotion. This does not mark
the end of the process, which culminates in the mechanical prayer-wheels of the Buddhists of Tibet, who have all but lost their Buddhism in a degraded devil-worship. Here the idea of the object of the prayer has practically vanished, so that religion is about to be resorbed into the magic from which it has emerged with such difficulty.
Even in Christianity, and in cases where the prayer has undergone no significant degree of formalization, the nature of prayer varies be tween wide limits. It may be like that of the savage, objective in trend, and directed pri marily toward an almighty Deity, with the purpose of receiving definite physical benefits. On the other hand, as has been seen among those of a more sensitive religious constitution, prayer is rather an entreaty that the merciful God shall aid a sinner in his avoidance of temp tation. This entreaty passes over into a state where full reliance is placed in the goodness and wisdom of God; and entreaty gives way to an inner confession. In these instances the emphasis is not so much on the Deity and the answer expected of him as in the purging of the moral consciousness encompassed by the act of prayer itself. It is this awareness of pre vious sin and rejection of it, this turning over a new leaf, that lends to prayer its chief value. As William James says, the object of prayer is by far the least important feature of it. The prayer becomes a resolution of good works, accompanied by a faith that this resolution can be realized. The Deity who receives this prayer enters into the prayer merely as a sym bol and tangible object serving to fix this faith. (See FAITH). Consult Frazer, J. G.,