we apply it to one another; but when it is considered that the Greek words Υπόστασις and Προσωπον, to which it answers, are, in the New Testament, applied to the Father and Son, Heb. i. 3; 2 Cor. iv. 6; and that no single term, at least, can be found more suitable, it can hardly be condemned as unscriptural and improper. There have been warm debates between the Greek and Latin Churches about the words hypostasis and persona: the Latin, concluding that the word hypostasis signified substance or essence, thought that to assert that there were three divine hypostases, was to say that there were three gods. On the other hand, the Greek Church thought that the word person did not sufliciently guard against the Sabellian notion of the same individual Being sustaining three relations; whereupon each part of the church was ready to brand the other with heresy, till, by a free and mutual conference in a synod at Alexandria, A.D. 362, they made it appear that it was but a mere contention about the grammatical sense of a word; and then it was allowed by men of temper on both sides, that either of the two words might be indifferently used. See Marci Medulla, 1, 5, § 3; Ridgley's Divinity, qu. 11; Hurrion on the Spirit, p. 140; Doddridge's Lectures, lec. 159; Gill on the Trinity, p. 93; Watts's Works, vol. v. p. 48, 208; Gill's Body of Divinity, vol. i. p. 205, 8vo.; Edwards's History of Redemption, p. 51, note; Hora Sol. vol ii. p. 20.

PERSUASION, the act of influencing the judgment and passions by arguments or motives. It is different from conviction. Conviction affects the understanding only; persuasion the will and practice. It may be considered as an assent to a proposition not sufficiently proved. It is more extensively used than conviction, which last is founded on demonstration natural or supernatural. But all things of which we may be persuaded are not capable of demonstration, See Blair's Rhetoric, vol. ii. p. 174.

PETER-PENCE was an annual tribute of one penny, paid at Rome, out of every family at the feast of St. Peter. This, Ina, the Saxon king, when he went in pilgrimage to Rome, about the year 740, gave it to the pope, partly as alms, and partly in recompense of a house erected in Rome for English pilgrims. It continued to be paid gene

rally until the time of King Henry VIII., when it was enacted, that henceforth no persons shall pay any pensions, Peterpence, or other impositions, to the use of the bishop and see of Rome.

PETEROBRUSSIANS, a sect founded about the year 1110 in Languedoc and Provence, by Peter de Bruys, who made the most laudable attempts to reform the abuses and to remove the superstitions that disfigured the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel; though not without a mixture of fanaticism. The following tenets were held by him and his disciples:-1. That no persons whatever were to be baptized before they were come to the full use of their reason. 2. That it was an idle superstition to build churches for the service of God, who will accept of a sincere worship wherever it is offered; and that, therefore, such churches as had already been erected, were to be pulled down and destroyed. 3. That the crucifixes, as instruments of superstition, deserved the same fate. 4. That the real body and blood of Christ were not exhibited in the eucharist, but were merely represented in that ordinance. 5. That the oblations, prayers, and good works of the living, could be in no respect advantageous to the dead. The founder of this sect, after a laborious ministry of twenty years, was burnt in the year 1130, by an enraged populace set on by the clergy, whose traffic was in danger from the enterprising spirit of this new reformer.

PETITION, according to Dr. Watts, is the fourth part of prayer, and includes a desire of deliverance from evil, and a request of good things to be bestowed. On both these accounts petitions are to be offered up to God, not only for ourselves, but for our fellow-creatures also. This part of prayer is frequently called intercession. See PRAYER.

PETROJOANNITES were followers of Peter John, or Peter Joannis-that is, Peter the son of John, who flourished in the twelfth century. His doctrine was not known till after his death, when his body was taken out of his grave, and burnt. His opinions were, that he alone had the knowledge of the true sense wherein the apostles preached the Gospel; that the reasonable soul is not the form of man; that there is no grace infused by baptism; and that Jesus Christ was pierced with a lance on the cross before he expired.

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PHARISEES, a famous sect of the Jews, who distinguished themselves by their zeal for the tradition of the elders, which they derived from the same fountain with the written word itself; pre tending that both were delivered to Moses from Mount Sinai, and were, therefore, both of equal authority. From their rigorous observance of these traditions, they looked upon themselves as more holy than other men, and therefore separated themselves from those whom they thought sinners or profane, so as not to eat or drink with them; and hence, from the Hebrew word wp pharas, which signifies "to separate, they had the name of Pharisees, or Separatists.

This sect was one of the most ancient and most considerable among the Jews, but its original is not very well known; however, it was in great repute in the time of our Saviour, and most probably had its original at the same time with the traditions.

The extraordinary pretences of the Pharisees to righteousness, drew after them the common people, who held them in the highest esteem and veneration. Our Saviour frequently, however, charges them with hypocrisy, and making the law of God of no effect through their traditions, Matt. ix. 12; xv. 1, 6; xxiii. 13, 33; Luke xi. 39, 52. Several of these traditions are particularly mentioned in the Gospel; but they had a vast number more, which may be seen in the Talmud, the whole subject whereof is to dictate and explain those traditions which this sect imposed to be believed and observed.

The Pharisees, contrary to the opinion of the Sadducees, held a resurrection from the dead, and the existence of angels and spirits, Acts xxiii. 8. But, according to Josephus, this resurrection of theirs was no more than a Pythagorean resurrection-that is, of the soul only, by its transmigration into another body, and being born anew with it. From this resurrection they excluded all who were notoriously wicked, being of opinion that the souls of such persons were transmitted into a state of everlasting woe. As to lesser crimes, they held they were punished in the bodies which the souls of those who committed them were next sent into.

Josephus, however, either mistook the faith of his countrymen, or, which is more probable, wilfully misrepresented it,

to render their opinions more respected by the Roman philosophers, whom he appears to have, on every occasion, been desirous to please. The Pharisees had many Pagan notions respecting the soul; but Bishop Bull, in his Harmonia Apostolica, has clearly proved that they held a resurrection of the body, and that they supposed a certain bone to remain uncorrupted, to furnish the matter of which the resurrection body was to be formed. They did not, however, believe that all mankind were to be raised from the dead. A resurrection was the privilege of the children of Abraham alone, who were all to rise on Mount Zion; their uncorruptible bones, wherever they might be buried, being carried to that mountain below the surface of the earth. The state of future felicity in which the Pharisees believed was very gross: they imagined that men in the next world, as well as in the present, were to eat and drink, and enjoy the pleasures of love, each being re-united to his former wife. Hence the Sadducees, who believed in no resurrection, and supposed our Saviour to teach it as a Pharisee, very shrewdly urged the difficulty of disposing of the woman who had in this world been the wife of seven husbands. Had the resurrection of Christianity been the Pharisaical resurrection, this difficulty would have been insurmountable; and accordingly we find the people, and even some of the Pharisees themselves, struck with the manner in which our Saviour removed it.

This sect seems to have had some confused notions probably derived from the Chaldeans and Persians, respecting the pre-existence of souls; and hence it was that Christ's disciples asked him concerning the blind man, John ix. 2. "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" And when the disciples told Christ that some said he was Elias, Jeremias, or one of the prophets, Matt. xvi. 14, the meaning can only be, that they thought he was come into the world with the soul of Elias, Jeremias, or some other of the old prophets transmigrated into him. With the Essenes they held absolute predestination, and with the Sadducees free will; but how they reconciled these seemingly incompatible doctrines is no where sufficiently explained. The sect of the Pharisees was not extinguished by the ruin of the Jewish commonwealth. The greatest part of the modern Jews

are still of this sect, being as much de voted to traditions, or the oral law, as their ancestors were.

PHILADELPHIAN SOCIETY, a sect or society of the seventeenth century; so called from an English female, whose name was Jane Leadly. She embraced, it is said, the same views and the same kind of religion as Madame Bourignon (see BOURIGNONISTS). She was of opinion that all dissensions among Christians would cease, and the kingdom of the Redeemer become, even here below, a glorious scene of charity, concord, and felicity, if those who bear the name of Jesus, without regarding the forms of doctrine or discipline that distinguish particular communions, would all join in committing their souls to the care of the internal guide, to be instructed, governed, and formed by his divine impulse and suggestions. Nay, she went still farther, and declared, in the name of the Lord, that this desirable event would actually come to pass, and that she had a divine commission to proclaim the approach of this glorious communion of saints, who were to be gathered in one visible universal church or kingdom before the dissolution of this earthly globe. This prediction she delivered with a peculiar degree of confidence, from a notion that her Philadelphian society was the true kingdom of Christ, in which alone the Divine Spirit resided and reigned. She believed, it is said, the doctrine of the final restoration of all intelligent beings to perfection and happiness.

PHILANTHROPY, compounded of pinos and avopuros, which signify the love of mankind. It differs from benevolence only in this--that benevolence extends to every being that has life and sense, and is of course susceptible of pain and pleasure; whereas philanthropy cannot comprehend more than the human race. It differs from friendship, as this affection subsists only between a few individuals, whilst philanthropy comprehends the whole human species. It is a calm sentiment, which perhaps hardly ever rises to the warmth of affection, and certainly not to the heat of passion. PHILIPÍSTS, a sect or party among the Lutherans, the followers of Philip Melancthon. He had strenuously opposed the Ubiquists, who arose in his time; and the dispute growing still hotter after his death, the university of Wittenberg, who espoused Melancthon's

opinion, were called by the Flaccians, who attacked it, Philipists.

PHILOSOPHISTS, a name given to several persons in France who entered into a combination to overturn the religion of Jesus, and eradicate from the human heart every religious sentiment. The man more particularly to whom this idea first occurred, was Voltaire, who, being weary (as he said himself,) of hearing people repeat that twelve men were sufficient to establish Christianity, resolved to prove that one might be sufficient to overturn it. Full of this project, he swore, before the year 1730, to dedicate his life to its accomplishment; and, for some time, he flattered himself that he should enjoy alone the glory of destroying the Christian religion. He found, however, that associates would be necessary; and from the numerous tribe of his admirers and disciples, he chose D'Alembert and Diderot as the most proper persons to co-operate with him in his designs. But Voltaire was not satisfied with their aid alone. He contrived to embark in the same cause Frederick II., king of Prussia, who wished to be thought a philosopher, and who, of course, deemed it expedient to talk and write against a religion which he had never studied, and into the evidence of which he had pro bably never deigned to inquire. This royal adept was one of the most zealous of Voltaire's coadjutors, till he discovered that the philosophists were waging war with the throne as well as with the altar. This, indeed, was not originally Voltaire's intention. He was vain; he loved to be caressed by the great; and, in one word, he was, from natural disposition, an aristocrat, and an admirer of royalty. But when he found that almost every sovereign but Frederick disapproved of his impious projects, as soon as he perceived their issue, he determined to op pose all the governments on earth rather than forfeit the glory, with which he had flattered himself, of vanquishing Christ and his apostles in the field of contro versy.

He now set himself, with D'Alembert and Diderot, to excite universal discontent with the established order of things. For this purpose they formed secret societies, assumed new names, and employed an enigmatical language. Thus Frederic was called Luc; D'Alembert, Protagoras, and sometimes Bertrand; Voltaire, Raton; and Diderot, Platon, or its anagram Tonpla; while the gene

ral term for the conspirators was Cacouce. In their secret meetings they professed to celebrate the mysteries of Mythra; and their great object, as they professed to one another, was to confound the wretch, meaning Jesus Christ. Hence their secret watch-word was Ecrasez l Infâme, “Crush Christ." If we look into some of the books expressly written for general circulation, we shall there find the following doctrines; some of them standing alone in all their naked horrors, others surrounded by sophistry and meretricious ornaments, to entice the mind into their net before it perceives their nature. “The_Universal Cause, that god of the philosophers, of the Jews, and of the Christians, is but a chimera and a phantom. The phenomena of nature only prove the existence of God to a few prepossessed men: so far from bespeaking a God, they are but the necessary effects of matter prodigiously diversified. It is more reasonable to admit, with Manes, of a twofold God, than of the God of Christianity. We cannot know whether a God really exists, or whether there is the smallest difference between good and evil, or vice and virtue. Nothing can be more absurd than to believe the soul a spiritual being. The immortality of the soul, so far from stimulating man to the practice of virtue, is nothing but a barbarous, desperate, fatal tenet, and contrary to all legislation. All ideas of justice and injustice, of virtue and vice, of glory and infamy, are purely arbitrary, and dependent on custom. Conscience and remorse are nothing but the foresight of those physical penalties to which crimes expose us. The man who is above the law, can commit, without remorse, the dishonest act that may serve his purpose. The fear of God, so far from being the beginning of wisdom, should be the beginning of folly. The command to love one's parents is more the work of education than of nature. Modesty is only an invention of refined voluptuousness. The law which condemns married people to live together, becomes barbarous and cruel on the day they cease to love one another." These extracts from the secret correspondence and the public writings of these men, will suffice to show us the nature and tendency of the dreadful system they had formed.

The philosophists were diligently employed in attempting to propagate their sentiments. Their grand Encyclopædia

was converted into an engine to serve this purpose. Voltaire proposed to establish a colony of philosophists at Cleves, who, protected by the king of Prussia, might publish their opinions without dread or danger; and Frederick was disposed to take them under his protection, till he discovered that their opinions were anarchical as well as impious, when he threw them off, and even wrote against them. They contrived, however, to engage the ministers of the court of France in their favour, by pretending to have nothing in view but the enlargement of science, in works which spoke indeed respectfully of revelation, while every discovery which they brought forward was meant to undermine its very foundation. When the throne was to be attacked, and even when barefaced atheism was to be promulgated, a number of impious and licentious pamphlets were dispersed (for some time none knew how) from a secret society formed at the Hotel d'Holbach, at Paris, of which Voltaire was elected honorary and perpetual president. To conceal their design, which was the diffusion of their infidel sentiments, they called themselves Economists. See EcONOMISTS.

The books, however, that were issued from this club, were calculated to impair and overturn religion, morals, and government; and which, indeed, spreading over all Europe, imperceptibly took possession of public opinion. As soon as the sale was sufficient to pay the expenses, inferior editions were printed and given away, or sold at a very low price; circulating libraries of them formed, and reading societies instituted. While they constantly denied these productions to the world, they contrived to give them a false celebrity through their confidential agents and correspondents, who were not themselves always trusted with the entire secret. By degrees they got possession nearly of all the reviews and periodical publications; established a general intercourse, by means of hawkers and pedlars, with the distant provinces; and instituted an office to supply all schools with teachers: and thus did they acquire unprecedented dominion over every species of literature, over the minds of all ranks of people, and over the edu cation of youth, without giving any alarm to the world. The lovers of wit and polite literature were caught by Voltaire; the men of science were perverted, and children corrupted in the first rudiments

of learning, by D'Alembert and Diderot; stronger appetites were fed by the secret club of Baron Holbach; the imaginations of the higher orders were set dan gerously afloat by Montesquieu; and the multitude of all ranks was surprised, confounded, and hurried away by Rousseau. Thus was the public mind in France completely corrupted, and which, no doubt, greatly accelerated those dreadful events which have since transpired in that country.

PHILOSOPHY properly denotes love, or desire of wisdom (from gos and Gupta). Pythagoras was the first who devised this name, because he thought no man was wise, but God only; and that learned men ought rather to be considered as lovers of wisdom, than really wise. 1. Natural philosophy is that art or science which leads us to contemplate the nature, causes, and effects of the material works of God.-2. Moral philosophy is the science of manners, the knowledge of our duty and felicity. The various articles included in the latter are explained in their places in this work.-3. Mental philosophy is the science of mind, or of the different mental powers, affections, and associations.

PHOTINIANS, a sect of heretics in the fourth century, who denied the divinity of our Lord. They derive their name from Photinus, their founder, who was bishop of Sermium, and a disciple of Marcellus. Photinus published, in the year 343, his notions respecting the Deity, which were repugnant both_to the orthodox and Arian systems. He asserted that Jesus Christ was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary; that a certain divine emanation, which he called the word, descended upon him; and that, because of the union of the Divine word with his human nature, he was called the Son of God, and even God himself; and that the Holy Ghost was not a person, but merely a celestial virtue proceeding from the Deity.

PHRYGIANS, OR CATAPHRYGIANS, a sect in the second century, so called, as being of the country of Phrygia. They were orthodox in every thing, setting aside this, that they took Montanus for a prophet, and Priscilla and Maximilla for true prophetesses, to be consulted in everything relating to religion; as supposing the Holy Spirit had abandoned the church. See MON

TANISTS.

PHYLACTERY, in general, was a

name given by the ancients to all kinds of charms, spells, or characters which they wore about them, as amulets, to preserve them from dangers or diseases.

Phylactery particularly denoted a slip of parchment, wherein was written some text of Holy Scripture, particularly of the decalogue, which the more devout people among the Jews wore on the forehead, the breast, or the neck, as a mark of their religion.

The primitive Christians also gave the name Phylacteries to the cases wherein they inclosed the relics of their dead. Phylacteries are mentioned in the New Testament, and appear to have been very common among the Pharisees in our Lord's time.

The Phylacteries used by the modern Jews are of three kinds; of each of which there is a specimen in the library of the Duke of Sussex. They are used for the head, the arm, and attached to the doorpost. They consist of portions of Scripture, taken from the Pentateuch, selected according to the situation for which they are destined, written upon very fine vellum, in a very small square character, and with a particular kind of ink.

1. For the Head.-The portions of the Pentateuch for the Phylact of the head consist of Exod. xiii. 2-10, 11-16; Deut. vi. 4-9; xi. 13-21. These four portions contain thirty verses, which are written upon four slips of vellum, separately rolled up, and placed in four compartments, and joined together in one small square piece of skin or leather. Upon this is written the letter shin. From the case proceed two thongs of leather, which are so arranged as to guard the head, leaving the square case containing the passages of Scripture in the centre of the forehead. The thongs make a knot at the back of the head in the form of the letter daleth, and then come round again to the breast. The Phylacteries for the head are called frontlets, and the use of them appears chiefly to rest upon two passages of Scripture, Exod. xiii. 9, and 16. These Phylacteries are also called tephillin shel rosh, or the tephila of the head.

2. For the Arm.-This Phylactery consists of a roll of vellum, containing the same passages of Scripture as those for the head, and written in the same square character, and with the same ink, but arranged in four columns. It is rolled up to a point, and inclosed in a sort of case of the skin of a clean beast.