PHILADELPHIAN SOCIETY, the followers of Jane Lead, who, towards the conclusion of the seventeenth century, by her visions, predictions, and doctrines, gained a considerable number of disciples, among whom were some persons of learning. This woman 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 and discipline which distinguish particular communions, would all join in committing their souls to the care of this internal guide, to be instructed, governed, and formed, by his divine impulse and suggestions. She went still further; and declared in the name of the Lord that this desirable event would happen; and that she had a divine commission to proclaim the approach of this glorious communion of saints, who were to be gathered together 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 also maintained the final restoration of all intelligent beings to perfection and happiness.* PHOTINIANS, a denomination in the fourth century; so called from Photinus, bishop of Sirmium, in Pannonia. He taught that Jesus Christ was born of the holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary-that a certain divine emanation, or ray, (which he called the Word) descended upon this extraordinary man--that, on account of the union of the divine Word with his human nature, Jesus was called the Son of God; nay, God himself—and that the holy Ghost was not a distinct person, but a celestial virtue proceeding from the Deity.† PICARDS. See Adamites. PIETISTS, a denomination in the seventeenth century which owed its origin to the pious and learned Spener, who formed private societies at Frankfort, in order to promote vital religion. His followers laid it down as an essential maxim, that none should be admitted into the ministry but such as had received a proper education, were distinguished by their wisdom and * Mosheim, vol, v. pp. 66, 67. + Mosheim, vol. i. p, 346. Broughton, vol. ii, p. 441. PRE-ADAMITES. This denomination began about the middle of the sixteenth century. Their principal tenet is, that there must have been men before Adam. One proof of this they bring from Rom. v. 12-14. The apostle says, Sin was in the world till the law; meaning the law given to Adam. But sin, it is evident, was not imputed, though it might have been committed, till the time of the pretended first man; for sin is not imputed where there is no law.— The election of the jews is a consequence of the same system: it began at Adam, who sanctity of manners, and had hearts filled with divine love. Hence they proposed an alteration of the schools of divinity, which consisted in the following points (1.) That the systematical theology which reigned in the academies, and was composed of intricate and disputable doctrines, and obscure and unusual forms of expressions, should be totally abolished.—(2.) That polemical divinity, which comprehended the controversies subsisting between christians of different communions, should be less eagerly studied, and less frequently treated, though not entirely neglected.-(3.) is called their father, or founThat all mixture of philosophy and human learning with divine wisdom, was to be most carefully avoided.--(4.) That, on the contrary, all those who were designed for the ministry should be accustomed from their early youth to the perusal and study of the holy scriptures, and be taught a plain system of theology, drawn from these unerring sources of truth. 5.) That the whole course of their education was to be so directed as to render them useful in life, by the practical power of their doctrine, and the commanding influence of their example.* der. God is also their Father, having espoused the judaical church. The gentiles are only adopted children, as being Præ-Adamites. Men,†or gentiles, are said to be made by the word of God. (Gen. i. 26, 27.) Adam, the founder of the jewish nation, whose history alone Moses wrote, is introduced in the second chapter as the workmanship of God's own hands, and as created apart from other men.—Cain, having killed his brother Abel, was afraid of being killed himself! By whom? He married! Yet Adam had then no daughter. What wife could he get ?. *Mosheim, vol. iv. pp. 454–460. † Observe, the plural number is here used, in contradistinction to the founder of the jewish nation, who is called Adam, him, and only in the singular number, k k He built a town! What architects, masons, carpenters, and workmen, did he employ? The answer to all these questions is in one word, PræAdamites. The deluge only overflowed the country inhabited by Adam's posterity, to punish them for joining in marriage with the Pre-Adamites, and following their ill courses. -The progress and improve ments in arts, sciences, &c., could not make such advances towards perfection, as is represented they did between Adam and Moses, unless they had been cultivated before.Lastly the histories of the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Chinese, circumstantially related, and whose chronology is founded on astronomical calculations, are the clearest demonstration of the existence of men before Adam.* : PREDESTINARIANS, a name given to those in the ninth century who followed the doctrines of Godescalcus, a German monk, whose sentiments were as follow:-(1.) That the Deity predestinated a certain number to salvation, and others to destruction, before the world was formed.(2.) That God predestinated the wicked to eternal punishment in consequence of their sins, which were freely committed, and eternally foreseen. -(3.) That Christ came not to save all men, and that none shall perish for whom he shed his blood.-(4.) That since. the fall, mankind cannot exercise free-will, only to do that which is evil.+ PRE-EXISTENTS, a name which may perhaps not improperly be applied to those who hold the doctrine of Christ's pre-existence. This name comprehends two classes: the Arians, who defend Christ's pre-existence, but deny that he is a divine person; and others on the Calvinistic side, who assert both his divinity, and that his intelligent, created soul, was produced into being, and united by an ineffable union to the second person of the Trinity before the heavens and the earth were created.‡ Under the article Arians, The opinion, that there were men before Adam, is common among the Orientals. Peyzeras says that Moses had no design to trace the original of mankind in general, but only of the Hebrews, from whence he derived his birth; and speaks of other nations but only as they have some relation to jewish affairs. Herbelot's Bibleoth. Orient. p. 36. Peyzerus, in his book, entitled, Men before Adam. Picart's Religious Ceremonies, Asiatic Miscellany. Blount's Oracles of Reason. Basnage's History of the Jews, Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 159. Eccles. Hist. of France, p. 63, the reader has been presented with a view of the system of Arius and his immediate followers. The sentiments of the celebrated Dr. Richard Price are brought to view under the article Unitarians. And perhaps some may be gratified with a short sketch of the plan which was maintained by Dr. Samuel Clarke. This learned man held, that there is one supreme Cause and Original of all things; one simple, uncompounded, undivided, intelligent Agent, or Person;* and that from the beginning there existed with the first and supreme Cause, or Father, a second Person, called the Word, or Son. This Son is our Lord Jesus Christ. He derived his being, his attributes, and his powers, from the Father. He is therefore called the Son of God, and the Only-Begotten:† for generation, when applied to God, is only a figurative word, signifying immediate derivation of being and life from him. This production, or derivation of the Son, is incomprehensible, and took place before the world began.` To prove that Jesus Christ was generated, or produced into being, before the world was created, the doctor adduces the following considerations: The Father made the world by the operation of the Son. (Johni. 3-10. 1 Cor. viii. 6. Eph. iii. 9, &c.) The action of the Son, both in making the world and in all his other operations, is only the exercise of the Father's power, communicated to him after a manner to us unknown. That all Christ's authority, power, knowledge, and glory, are the Father's, communicated to him, Dr. Clarke endeavours to prove by a variety of scripture passages. The Son, before his incarnation with God, was in the form of God, and had glory with the Father. (John i. 4. xvii. 5. Phil. ii. 5.) The Son, before his incarnation, made visible appearances, and spake and acted in the name and authority of the invisible Father. Dr. Clarke calls Christ a divine person solely on account of the power and knowledge which were communicated to him by the Father. He indeed owns that Christ is an object *This learned divine considers this doctrine as the foundation of piety, and the first principle of natural religion. He supposes that all the texts which speak of the one God, the only God, the Father, the Most High, are to be considered as establishing the personal unity of one only Supreme Being. + Dr. Clarke waves calling Christ a creature, as the ancient Arians did; and principally on that foundation disclaims the charge of Arianism, of religious worship; but then he confines it to a limited sense. The worship paid to Christ terminates not in him, but in the supreme God and Lord of all.* The doctrine of the preexistence of Christ's human soul has been held by several divines; as, Mr. Fleming, Dr. Goodwin, &c. These gentlemen all profess to maintain the divinity of Christ. As their sentiments are nearly similar, the brevity of this work will not admit of particularly noticing them. The following sketch of the plan of the late pious and ingenious Dr. Watts is selected from the rest. He maintained one supreme God, dwelling in the human nature of Christ, which he supposed to have existed the first of all creatures; and speaks of the divine logos as the wisdom of God, and the holy Spirit as the divine power, or the influence and effect of it, which, he says, is a scriptural person; i. e. spoken of figuratively in scripture, under personal characters.+ In order to prove that Christ's human soul existed previous to his incarnation, the following arguments are adduced: or 1. Christ is represented as his Father's messenger, angel, being distinct from his Father, sent by his Father, long before his incarnation, to perform actions which seem to be too low for the dignity of pure Godhead. The appearances of Christ to the patriarchs are described like the appearances of an angel, or man, really distinct from God; yet such a one, in whom God, or Jehovah, had a peculiar indwelling, or with whom the divine nature had a personal union. 2. Christ, when he came into the world, is said, in several passages of scripture, to have divested himself of some glory which he had before his incarnation. Now if there had existed before this time nothing but his divine nature, this divine nature could not properly divest itself of any glory. I have glorified thee on earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, oh Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee The compiler is short on this plan, because of its similarity to the Arian system, which is particularly described. Clarke's Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity. Doddridge's Lectures. + Dr. Watts says, in his preface to the Glory of Christ, that true and proper Deity is ascribed to the Father, Son, and holy Spirit. The expression, Son of God, he supposes, is a title appropriated exclusively to the humanity of Christ. |