* *

_S. Augustine: And David went in and sat before the Lord[262]; and
Elias, casting himself down upon the earth, put his face between his
knees._[263] By examples such as these we are taught that there is no
prescribed position of the body in prayer provided the soul states its
intention in the presence of God. For we pray standing, as it is
written: _The Publican standing afar off_. We pray, too, on our knees,
as we read in the Acts of the Apostles;[264] and we pray sitting, as in
the case of David and Elias. And unless it were lawful to pray lying
down, it would not be said in the Psalms[265]: _Every night I will wash
my bed, I will water my couch with my tears_. When, then, a man desires
to pray, he settles himself in any position that serves at the time for
the stirring up of his soul. When, on the other hand, we have no
definite intention of praying, but the wish to pray suddenly occurs to
us--when, that is, there comes of a sudden into our mind something which
rouses the desire to pray "with unspeakable groanings"--then, in
whatsoever position such a feeling may find us, we are not to put off
our prayer; we are not to look about for some place whither we can
withdraw, for some place in which to stand or in which to make
prostration. For the very intention of the mind begets a solitude, and
we often forget to which quarter of the heavens we were looking, or in
what bodily position the occasion found us (_Of Divers Questions_, iv.).

"Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication; be
attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am
troubled at the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of
the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me, and in wrath
they were troublesome to me. My heart is troubled within me, and
the fear of death is fallen upon me. Fear and trembling are come
upon me, and darkness hath covered me. And I said: Who will give
me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?"[266]

FOOTNOTES:

[98] _Etymologies_, x., _sub litt._ O.

[99] Ps. xxxviii. 13.

[100] _Ethics_, I. xiii. 15.

[101] Rabanus Maurus, _De Universis_, vi. 14.

[102] _On the Orthodox Faith_, iii. 24.

[103] Ps. x. 17.

[104] Isa. lxv. 24.

[105] _Of the Divine Names_, vi. 1.

[106] Ps. xxvi. 4.

[107] Art. XV.

[108] Isa. lxiv. 8, 9.

[109] xviii. 1.

[110] Mal. iii. 14.

[111] _Dialogue_, i. 8.

[112] S. Matt. vi. 32.

[113] 1