PERSUASION, the act of influencing the judgment and passions by arguments or motives. It is different from conviction. Conviction affects the under. standing only; persuasion the will and the 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.

proved, exhorted, and made use of 93: Watt's Works, vol. v. p. 48, 258; ineans. See EXHORTATION, MEANS.- Gill's Body of Divinity, vol. i. p. 205, 5. Lastly, it is objected that this doc-8vo. Edward's History of Redemp trine gives great encouragement to car- tion, p. 51, note; Hora Sol. vol. ii. p. nal security and presumptuous sin. To 20. which it is answered, that this doctrine, like many others, may be abused, by hypocrites, but cannot be so by those who are truly serious, it being the very nature of grace to lead to righteousness, Tit. ii. 10, 12. Their knowledge leads to veneration; their love animates to duty; their faith purifies the heart; their gratitude excites to obedience; yea, all their principles have a tendency to set before them the evil of sin, and the beauty of holiness. See Whitby and Gill on the Five Points; Cole on the Sovereignty of God; Doddridge's Lectures, lec. 179; Turretini Comp Theologie; loc. 14. p. 156; Economia Witsi, lib. iii. cap. 13; Toplady's Works, p. 476, vol. v; Ridgley's Body of Div. qu. 79.

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 to the pope, partly as alms, and partly in recompense of a house erected in Rome for English pilgrims, It continued to be paid generally until the time of king Henry VIII. when it was enacted, that henceforth no persons shall pay any pensions, peter-pence, or other impositions, to the use of the bishop and see of Rome.

PETITION, according to Dr. Watts,

PERSON, an individual substance of a rational intelligent nature. Some have been offended at the term persons as applied to the Trinity, as unwarrantable. the term person, when applied to Deity, is certainly used in a sense somewhat different from that in which 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, ap-is the fourth part of prayer, and includes plied to the Father and Son, Heb. i. 3. a desire of deliverance from evil, and a 2 Cor. iv. 6. and that no single term, at request of good things to be bestowed, least, can be found more suitable, it can || On both these accounts petitions are to hardly be condemned as unscriptural be offered up to God, not only for and improper. There have been warm ourselves, but for our fellow creatures debates between the Greek and Latin also. This part of prayer is frequently churches about the words hypostasis called intercession See PRAYER. and persona; the Latin concluding that PETROBRUSSIANS, a sect founded the word hypostasis signified substance about the year 1110 in Languedoc and or essence, thought that to assert that Provence, by Peter de Bruys, who made there were three divine hypostases was the most laudable attempts to reform to say that there were three gods On the abuses and to remove the superstithe other hand, the Greek church tions that disfigured the beautiful sim. thought that the word person did not plicity of the Gospel; though not with sufficiently guard against the Sabellian, out a mixture of fanaticism. The folnotion of the same individual Being sus-lowing tenets were held by him and his taining three relations; whereupon disciples: 1. That no persons whatever each part of the church was ready to were to be baptized before they were brand the other with heresy, till by a come to the full use of their reason-2. free and mutual conference in a synod That it was an idle superstition to build at Alexandria, A. D. 362, they made it churches for the service of God, who appear that it was but a mere conten- will accept of a sincere worship wheretion about the grammatical sense of a ever it is offered; and that, therefore, word; and then it was allowed by men such churches as had already been of temper on both sides, that either of erected, were to be palled down and the two words might be indifferently destroyed.-3. That the crucifixes, as used. See Marci Medulla, 1. 5. § 3; instruments of superstition, deserved Ridgley's Divinity, qu 11: Hurrion on the same fate.-4. That the real body the Spirit, p 140; Doddridge's Lec- and blood of Christ were not exhibited tures lec. 159; Gill on the Trinity, pin the eucharist, but were merely re

presented in that ordinance.-4. 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.

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 PETROJOANNITES were follow-were notoriously wicked, being of opi.

ers 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.

PHARISEES, a famous sect of the Jews who distinguished themselves by their zeal for the traditions of the elders, which they derived from the same fountain with the written word itself; pretending 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 pharis, which signifies "to separate," they had the name of Pharisees, or Separatists.

nion 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 uncor ruptible 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, The extraordinary pretences of the very shrewdly urged the difficulty of Pharisees to righteousness, drew after disposing of the woman who had in this them the common people, who held world been the wife of seven husbands, them in the highest esteem and vene-Had the resurrection of Christianity ration. Our Saviour frequently, how-been the Pharisaical resurrection, this ever, charges them with hypocrisy, and making the law of God of no effect through their traditions, Matt. ix. 12. Matt. v. 1, 6. Matt. xxiii. 13, 33. Luke, xi. 39, 52. Several of these traditions are particulasly 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 cbserved.

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 pute in the time of our Saviour, and most probably had its original at the same time with the traditions.

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,,, as this affection subsists only between a that he was born blind?" And when few individuals, whilst philanthropy the disciples told Christ that some said comprehends the whole human species. he was Elias, Jeremias, or one of the It is a calm sentiment, which perhaps prophets, Matt. xvi. 14. the meaning hardly ever rises to the warmth of afcan only be, that they thought he was fection, and certainly not to the heat of come into the world with the soul of passion. 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 Leadley. She embraced, it is said, the same views and the same kind of religion as Madame Bourignon (See BOURIGNONISTS. She was of opinion that ail 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 desira ble 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 qixos, and avôgames, which signify the love of mankind. It differs from benevo lence 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,

PHILIPISTS, 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 stili hotter after his death, the university of Wittenburg, 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 menwere 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 Frederic 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 probably 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 Frederic disapproved of his impious projects, as soon as he perceived their issue, he determined to oppose 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 controversy.

He now set himself, with D'Alem-,, " comes barbarous and cruel on the day bert and Diderot, to excite universal" they cease to love one another.”discontent with the established order of These extracts from the secret corresthings. For this purpose they formed pondence and the public writings of secret societies, assumed new names, these men, will suffice to show us the and employed an enigmatical language. nature and tendency of the dreadful Thus Frederic was called Luc; D'Al-system they had formed. embert, Protagoras, and sometimes The philosophists were diligently emBertrand; Voltaire, Raton; and Di-ployed in attempting to propagate their derot, Platon, or its anagram Tonpla; sentiments. Their grand Encyclopædia while the general term for the conspi was converted into an engine to serve rators was Cacoucc. In their secret this purpose. Voltaire proposed to esmeetings they professed to celebrate tablish a colony of philosophists at the mysteries of Mythra; and their Cleves, who, protected by the king of great object, as they professed to one Prussia, might publish their opinions another, was to confound the wretch, without dread or danger; and Frederic meaning Jesus Christ. Hence their se- was disposed to take them under his cret watch-word was Ecrasez l'Infame, protection, till he discovered that their "Crush Christ." If we look into some opinions were anarchical as well as imof the books expressly written for ge- pious, when he threw them off, and even neral circulation, we shall there find wrote against them. They contrived, the following doctrines; some of them however, to engage the ministers of the standing alone in all their naked hor- court of France in their favour, by prerors, others surrounded by sophistry tending to have nothing in view but the and meretricious ornaments, to entice enlargement of science, in works which the mind into their net before it per- spoke indeed respectfully of revelaceives their nature, "The Universal tion, while every discovery which they "Cause, that god of the philosophers, brought forward was meant to under"of the Jews, and of the Christians is mine its very foundation. When the "but a chimera and a phantom. The throne was to be attacked, and even "phenomena of nature only prove the when barefaced atheism was to be pro"existence of God to a few prepossessed mulgated, a number of impious and li"men: so far from bespeaking a God, centious pamphlets were dispersed (for "they are but the necessary effects of some time none knew how) from a se"matter prodigiously diversified. It is cret society formed at the Hotel d'Hol"more reasonable to admit, with Manes, bach, at Paris, of which Voltaire was "of a two-fold God, than of the God of elected honorary and perpetual presi "Christianity. We cannot know whe- dent. To conceal their real design, "ther a God really exists, or whether which was the diffusion of their infidel "there is the smallest difference be- sentiments, they called themselves Eco"tween good and evil, or vice and vir- nomists. See ECONOMISTS. The books, "tue. Nothing can be more absurd however, that were issued from this "than to believe the soul a spiritual be- club were calculated to impair and "ing. The immortality of the soul, so overturn religion, morals, and govern"far from stimulating man to the prac- ment; and which indeed, spreading over "tice of virtue, is nothing but a barba- all Europe,imperceptibly took possession "rous, desperate, fatal tenet, and con- of public opinion. As soon as the sale trary to all legislation. All ideas of was sufficient to pay the expenses, infe "justice and injustice, of virtue and rior editions were printed, and given "vice, of glory and infamy, are purely away or sold at a very low price; circu"arbitrary, and dependent on custom. lating libraries of them formed, and "Conscience and remorse are nothing reading societies instituted. While they "but the foresight of those physical pe- constantly denied these productions to "nalties to which crimes expose us. the world, they contrived to give them "The man who is above the law can a false celebrity through their confiden"commit, without remorse, the disho-tial agents, and correspondents, who "nest act that may serve his purpose. were not themselves always trusted "The fear of God, so far from being with the entire secret. By degrees they "the beginning of wisdom, should be got possession nearly of all the reviews "the beginning of folly. The command and periodical publications, established "to love one's parents is more the work a general intercourse by means of hawk"of education than of nature. Modestyers and pedlars with the distant prois only an invention of refined volup"tuousness. The law which condemns "married people to live together, be

vinces, 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 education 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 dangerously 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 ones and coq.) 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 latterare explained in their places

in this work.

PHYLACTERY, in the 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 particularlydenoted 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 at 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 enclosed the relics of their dead. Phylacteries are often mentioned in the New Testament, and appear to have been very common among the Pharisees in our Lord's time.

PICARDS, a sect which arose in Bohemia, in the fifteenth century. Picard, the author of this sect, from whom it derived its name, drew after him, as has been generally said, a number of men and women, pretending he would restore them to the primitive state of innocence wherein man was created; and accordingly he assumed the title of New Adam. With this pretence, he taught, to give themselves up to all impurity, saying,that therein consisted the liberty of the sons of God, and all those not of their sect were in bondage. He first published his notions in Germany and the Low Countries, and persuaded PHOTINIANS, a sect of heretics, in many people to go naked, and gave the fourth century, who denied the di. them the name of Adamites. After vinity of our Lord. They derive their this, he seized on an island in the river name from Photinius, their founder, who Lausnecz, some leagues from Thabor, was bishop of Sermium, and a disciple the head-quarters of Zisca, where he of Marcellus. Photinus published in the fixed himself and his followers. His wear 343, his notions respecting the || women were common, but none were Deity, which were repugnant both to allowed to enjoy them without his perthe orthodox and Arian systems. He mission; so that when any man desired asserted that Jesus Christ was born of a particular woman, he carried her to the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary; Picard, who gave him leave in these that a certain divine emanation, which words: Go, increase, multiply, and fill he called the Word, descended upon the earth. At length however, Zisca, him; and that, because of the union of general of the Hussites (famous for his the Divine Word with his human na- victories over the emperor Sigismond.) ture, he was called the Son of God, and hurt at their abominations, marched even God himself; and that the Holy against them, made himself master of Ghost was not a person, but merely a ce- their island, and put them all to death lestial virtue proceeding from the Deity. except two, whom he spared, that he PHRYGIANS,or CATAPHRYGIANS, might learn their doctrine. a sect in the second century ; so called, Such is the account which various as being of the country of Phrygia. They writers, relying on the authorities of were orth dox in every thing, setting Eneas, Sylvius, and Varillas, have given aside this, that they took Montanus for of the Picards. Some, however, doubt a prophet, and Priscilla and Maximilla whether a sect of this denomination, for true prrphetesses, to be consulted | chargeable with such wild principles in every thing relating to religion; as and such licentious conduct, ever existsupposing the Holy Spirit had abandon- || ed. It appears probable that the reed the church, See MoNTANISTS. #proachful representations of the writers