HOURS OF PRAYER

The Mosaic law did not regulate the offering of prayer, but fully recognized its spontaneous character. In what manner or how far back in Jewish history the sacrificial prayer, mentioned in Luke 1:10, originated no one knows. In the days of Christ it had evidently become an institution. But ages before that, stated hours of prayer were known and religiously observed by all devout Jews. It evidently belonged to the evolutionary process of Jewish worship, in connection with the temple-ritual. Devout Jews, living at Jerusalem, went to the temple to pray (Luke 18:10 Acts 3:1). The pious Jews of the Diaspora opened their windows "toward Jerus" and prayed "toward" the place of God's presence (1 Kings 8:48 Daniel 6:10 Psalm 5:7). The regular hours of prayer, as we may infer from Psalm 55:17 and Daniel 6:10, were three in number. The first coincided with the morning sacrifice, at the 3rd hour of the morning, at 9 AM therefore (Acts 2:15). The second was at the 6th hour, or at noon, and may have coincided with the thanksgiving for the chief meal of the day, a religious custom apparently universally observed (Matthew 15:36 Acts 27:35). The 3rd hour of prayer coincided with the evening sacrifice, at the ninth hour (Acts 3:1; Acts 10:30). Thus every day, as belonging to God, was religiously subdivided, and regular seasons of prayer were assigned to the devout believer. Its influence on the development of the religious spirit must have been incalculable, and it undoubtedly is, at least in part, the solution of the riddle of the preservation of the Jewish faith in the cruel centuries of its bitter persecution. Mohammedanism borrowed this feature of worship from the Jews and early Christians, and made it one of the chief pillars of its faith.

Henry E. Dosker

Of Stations, and of the Hours of Prayer.
... Chapter X."Of Stations, and of the Hours of Prayer. In like manner they
censure on the count of novelty our Stations as being ...
/.../on fasting in opposition to the psychics/chapter x of stations and of.htm

The Conversion of Cornelius.
... One of the hours of prayer was the ninth hour, or three o'clock in the
afternoon, when the evening sacrifice was offered. At this ...
/.../dick/lectures on the acts of the apostles/lecture xiii the conversion of.htm

The Shadows of the Evening Hours
... THE HYMNAL. I. DAILY PRAYER: Morning Daily Prayer: Evening 22. The shadows of the
evening hours. CMD [87]St. Leonard (Giles): Henry Hiles, 1867. ...
/.../daily prayer evening 22 the.htm

What Sort of Prayer the Gnostic Employs, and How it is Heard by ...
... Now, if some assign definite hours for prayer"as, for example, the third, and
sixth, and ninth"yet the Gnostic prays throughout his whole life ...
/.../clement/the stromata or miscellanies/chapter vii what sort of prayer.htm

Of Prayer
... 50. Some circumstances to be observed. Of appointing special hours of prayer. What
to be aimed at, what avoided. The will of God, the rule of our prayers. 51. ...
/.../calvin/of prayer--a perpetual exercise of faith/of prayer.htm

How among the Egyptians they Apply Themselves all Day Long to ...
... How among the Egyptians they apply themselves all day long to prayer and Psalm
continually, with the addition of work, without distinction of hours. ...
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Of the Prayer of Recollection which God Generally Gives the Soul ...
... The Superior should prevent such a nun from spending more than a very few hours
in prayer, and should make her eat and sleep well until her usual strength is ...
/.../teresa/the interior castle or the mansions/chapter iii of the prayer.htm

The Power of Prayer in Relation to Outward Circumstances.
... No; with a light heart would I see all these forms and fixed hours of prayer disappear;
free as they may be from any superstitious intention, and what ever ...
/.../schleiermacher/selected sermons of schleiermacher/i the power of prayer.htm

Treatise iv. On the Lord's Prayer.
... 35. But for us, beloved brethren, besides the hours of prayer observed of old,
[3395] both the times and the sacraments have now increased in number. ...
/.../cyprian/the treatises of cyprian/treatise iv on the lords.htm

In God's Name I Beseech You Let Prayer Nourish Your Soul as Your ...
... Colonel Gardiner always spent hours in prayer in the morning before he went forth. ...
More solitude and earlier hours"prayer three times a day at least. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/bounds/purpose in prayer/chapter viii in gods name.htm