Prague tain liberty to frequent a port, to go ashore, to buy and Pratique, sell, &c. PRATT, CHARLES, earl of Camden, was the third son of Sir John Pratt, knight, chief-justice of the court of king's-bench under George I. by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of the Reverend Hugh Wilson canon of Bangor, and was born in 1713, the year before his father was called to the honour of the bench. He received the first rudiments of his education at Eton, and afterwards removed to King's college Cambridge. Of his early life at both places there is little known, other than that at college he was found to be remarkably diligent and studious, and particularly so in the history and constitution of this country. By some he was thought to be a little too tenacious of the rights and privileges of the college he belonged to; but perhaps it was to this early tendency that we are indebted for those noble struggles in defence of liberty, which, whether in or out of office, he displayed through the whole course of his political life. After remaining the usual time at college, and taking his master's degree, in 1739 he entered himself a student of the Inner Temple, and was in due time admitted by the honourable society as a barrister at law. And here a circumstance developes itself in the history of this great man, which shows how much chance governs in the affairs of this world, and that the most considerable talent and indisputable integrity will sometimes require the introduction of this mistress of the ceremonies, in order to obtain that which they ought to possess from their own intrinsic qualifications. ed mountain, called Ratschin or the White Mountain, and is very strong. From a window of this castle the Pratique. emperor's counsellors were thrown in 1618; but though they fell from a great height, yet they were not killed, nor indeed much hurt. On the same mountain stands also the archiepiscopal palace. In the New Town is an arsenal, and a religious foundation for ladies, called the Free Temporal English Foundation, over which an abbess presides. In the Lesser Side or Town, the counts Colloredo and Wallenstein have very magnificent palaces and gardens. The stables of the latter are very grand; the racks being of steel and the mangers of marble, and a marble pillar betwixt each horse; over each horse also is placed his picture as big as life. Though the inhabitants of Prague in general are poor, and their shops but meanly furnished, yet, it is said, there are few cities where the nobility and gentry are more wealthy, and live in greater state. Here is much gaming, masquerading, feasting, and very splendid public balls, with an Italian opera, and assemblies in the houses of the quality every night. On the White Mountain, near the town, was fought the battle in which the Protestants, with the elector Palatine Frederic their king, were defeated. The lustres and drinking-glasses made here of Bohemian crystal are much esteemed, and vended all over Europe. These crystals are also polished by the Jews, and set in rings, ear-pendants, and shirt-buttons. The chief tribunal consists of twelve stadtholders, at the head of whom is the great burgrave, governor of the kingdom and city, immediately under the emperor, and the chancery of Bohemia. Though the city of Prague is very ill built, it is pleasantly situated, and some of the prospects are beautiful, and the gardens and pleasure-houses are excellent. The people, Riesbeck informs us, enjoy sensual pleasures more than those of Vienna, because they know better how to connect mental enjoyments with them. The numerous garrison kept in the place (9000 men) contributes much to its gaiety and liveli ness. PRAM, or PRAME, a kind of lighter used in Holland and the ports of the Baltic sea, to carry the cargo of a merchant ship along side, in order to lade or to bring it to shore to be lodged in the storehouses after being discharged out of the vessel. PRAME, in military affairs, a kind of floating battery, being a flat-bottomed vessel, which draws little water, mounts several guns, and is very useful in covering the disembarkation of troops. They are generally made use of in transporting troops over the lakes in America. PRASIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the didynamia class, and in the natural method ranking under the 42d order, Verticillata. See BOTANY Index. PRATINAS, a Greek poet contemporary with Æschylus, born at Phlius. He was the first among the Greeks who composed satires, which were represented as farces. Of these 32 were acted, as also 18 of his tragedies, one of which only obtained the poetical prize. Some of his verses are extant, quoted by Athe Mr Pratt, after his being called to the bar, notwithstanding his family introduction, and his own personal character, was very near nine years in the profession, without ever getting in any degree forward. Whether this arose from a natural timidity of constitution, illluck, or perhaps a mixture of despondence growing out of the two circumstances, it is now difficult to tell; but the fact was so; and he was so dispirited by it, that he had some thoughts of relinquishing the profession of the law, and retiring to his college, where, in rotation, he might be sure of a church living, that would give him a small but honourable independence. With these melancholy ideas he went as usual the western circuit, to make one more experiment, and then to take his final determination. Mr Henley, afterwards Lord Northington and chancellor of England, was in the same circuit: he was Mr Pratt's most intimate friend; and he now availed himself of that friendship, and told him his situation, and his intentions of retiring to the university and going into the church. He opposed his intention with strong raillery, and got him engaged in a cause along with himself; and Mr Henley being ill, Mr. Pratt took the lead, and displayed a professional knowledge and elocution that excited the admiration of his brother barristers as much as that of the whole court. He gained his cause; and besides, he acquired the reputation of an eloquent, profound, and constitutional lawyer. It was this circumstance, together with the continued good offices of his friend Henley, which led to bis future greatness; for with all his abilities and all his knowledge, he might otherwise in all probability have passed his life in obscurity, unnoticed and unknown. He became now one of the most successful pleaders at the bar, and honours and emoluments flowed thick upon Kk him. Pratt. Pratt. him. He was chosen to represent the borough of Downton, Wilts, after the general election in 1759; recorder of Bath 1759; and the same year was appointed attorney-general; in January 1762 he was called to the degree of serjeant at law, appointed chief-justice of the common pleas, and knighted. His lordship presided in that court with a dignity, weight, and impartiality, never exceeded by any of his predecessors; and when John Wilkes, Esq. was seized and committed to the Tower on an illegal general warrant, his lordship, with the intrepidity of a British magistrate, and the becoming fortitude of an Englishman, granted him an habeas corpus; and on his being brought before the court of common pleas, discharged him from his confinement in the Tower, May 6. 1763, in a speech which did him honour. His wise and spirited behaviour on this remarkable occasion, so interesting to every true-born Briton, and in the consequent judicial proceedings between the printers of The North Briton and the messengers and others, was so acceptable to the nation, that the city of London presented him with the freedom of their corporation in a gold box, and desired his picture, which was put up in Guildhall, with this inscription : HANC ICONEM S. P. Q. L. IN CURIA MUNICIPALI PONI JVSSERVNT NONO KAL. MART. A. D. MDCCLXIV. GULIELMO BRIDGEN, AR. PRÆ. VRB. This portrait, painted by Reynolds, was engraved by Basire. The corporations of Dublin, Bath, Exeter, and Norwich, paid him the like compliment; and in a petition, entered in the journals of the city of Dublin, it was declared, that no man appeared to have acquitted himself in his high station with such becoming zeal for the honour and dignity of the crown, and the fulfilling his majesty's most gracious intentions for preserving the freedom and happiness of his subjects, and such invincible fortitude in administering justice and law, as the Right. Honourable Sir Charles Pratt, knight, the present lordchief-justice of his majesty's court of common pleas in England, has shown in some late judicial determinations, which must be remembered to his lordship's honour while and wherever British liberties are held sacred. Higher honours, however, than the breath of popular applause awaited Sir Charles Pratt. On the 16th of July 1765 he was created a peer of Great Britain, by the style and title of Lord Camden, Baron Camden, in the county of Kent; and, July 30. 1766, on the resignation of Robert earl of Northington, he was appointed lord high-chancellor of Great Britain; in which capacity he, in a speech of two hours, declared, upon the first decision of the suit against the messengers who arrested Mr Wilkes, that "it was the unanimous opinion of the whole court, that general warrants, except in cases of high treason, were illegal, oppressive, and unwarrantable. He conducted himself in this high office so as to obtain the love and esteem of all parties; but when the taxation of America was in agitation, he de clared himself against it, and strongly opposing it, was removed from his station in 1770. Pratt Upon the fall of Lord North he was again taken in Prayer, to the administration, and on the 27th of March 1782 appointed president of the council; an office which he resigned in March 1783. On the 13th of May 1786, he was created Viscount Bayham of Bayham Abbey, Kent, and Earl Camden. Whether we consider Earl Camden as a statesman, called to that high situation by his talents; as a lawyer, defending, supporting, and enlarging the constitution; or as a man, sustaining both by his firmness and unshaken integrity-in all he excites our general praise; and when we contemplate his high and exalted virtue, we must allow him to have been an honour to his country. He died on the 18th of April 1794 at his house in Hillstreet, Berkeley-square, being at that time president of his majesty's most honourable privy-council, a governor of the charter-house, recorder of the city of Bath, and F. R. S. He married Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Nicholas Jeffery, Esq. son and heir of Sir Jeffery Jefferys of Brecknock Priory, knight, who died in December 1779, and by whom he had issue John Jefferys Pratt (now Lord Camden), born 1759, and several daughters. His seat at Camden Place, Chiselhurst, was the residence of the great William Camden; on whose death it came by several intermediate owners to Weston, Spencer, and Pratt, and was much improved by his lordship. PRAXAGORAS, a native of Athens, at 19 years of age composed the History of the Kings of Athens, in two books; and at 22 the Life of Constantine the Great, in which, though a pagan, he speaks very advantageously of that prince. He also wrote the History of Alexander the Great. He lived under Constantius, about the year 345. PRAXITELES, a very famous Greek sculptor, who lived 330 years before Christ, at the time of the reign of Alexander the Great. All the ancient writers mention his statues with a high commendation, espe cially a Venus executed by him for the city of Cnidos, which was so admirable a piece, that King Nicomedes offered to release the inhabitants from their tribute as the purchase of it; but they refused to part with it. The inhabitants of the isle of Cos requested of Praxiteles a statue of Venus; and in consequence of this application the artist gave them their choice of two; one of which represented the goddess entirely naked, and the other covered with drapery. Both of these were of exquisite workmanship. Although the former was esteemed the most beautiful, nevertheless the inhabitants of Cos had the wisdom to give the preference to the latter, from a conviction that no motive whatever could justify their introducing into their city any indecent statues or paintings, which are so likely to inflame the passions of young people, and lead them to immorality and vice. What a reproach will this be to many Christians!-He was one of the gallants of Phryne the celebrated courtesan. PRAYER, a solemn address to God, which, when it is of any considerable length, consists of adoration, confession, supplication, intercession, and thanksgiving. By adoration we express our sense of God's infinite perfections, his power, wisdom, goodness, and mercy; and acknowledge that our constant dependence is upon Him Prayer. Him by whom the universe was created and has been hitherto preserved. By confession is meant our acknowledgment of our manifold transgressions of the divine laws, and our consequent unworthiness of all the good things which we enjoy at present or expect to be conferred upon us hereafter. In supplication we intreat our omnipotent Creator and merciful Judge, not to deal with us after our iniquities, but to pardon our transgressions, and by his grace to enable us to live henceforth righteously, soberly, and godly, in this present world; and by Christians this intreaty is always made in the name and through the mediation of Jesus Christ, because to them it is known that there is none other name under heaven given unto men whereby they may be saved. To these supplications for mercy we may likewise add our prayers for the necessaries of life; because if we seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, we are assured that such things shall be added unto us. Intercession signifies those petitions which we offer up for others, for friends, for enemies, for all men, especially for our lawful governors, whether supreme or subordinate. And thanksgiving is the expression of our gratitude to God, the giver of every good and perfect gift, for all the benefits enjoyed by us and others, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. Such are the component parts of a regular and solemn prayer, adapted either for the church or for the closet. But an ejaculation to God, conceived on any emergency, is likewise a prayer, whether it be uttered by the voice or suffered to remain a mere affection of the mind; because the being to whom it is addressed discerneth the thoughts of the heart. * Essay on Man. That prayer is a duty which all men ought to perform with humility and reverence, has been generally acknowledged as well by the untaught barbarian as by the enlightened Christian; and yet to this duty objections have been made by which the understanding has been bewildered in sophistry and affronted with jargon. "If God be independent, omnipotent, and possessed of every other perfection, what pleasure, it has been asked, can he take in our acknowledgment of these perfections? If he knows all things past, present, and future, where is the propriety of our confessing our sins unto him? If he is a benevolent and merciful Being, he will pardon our sins, and grant us what is needful for us without our supplications and intreaties; and if he be likewise possessed of infinite wisdom, it is certain that no importunities of ours will prevail upon him to grant us what is improper, or for our sakes to change the equal and steady laws by which the world is governed. or on a very corrupt heart. For if God certainly exists, and there is not a mathematical theorem capable of more rigid demonstration, it is obvious that no man can think of such a being without having his mind strongly impressed with the conviction of his own constant dependence upon him; nor can he "contemplate the hea vens, the work of God's hands, the moon and the stars which he has ordained," without forming the most sublime conceptions that he can of the Divine power, wisdom, and goodness, &c. But such conviction, and such conceptions, whether clothed in words or not, are to all intents and purposes what is meant by adoration; and are as well known to the Deity while they remain the silent affections of the heart, as after they are spoken in the beginning of a prayer. Our adoration, therefore, is not expressed for the purpose of giving information to God, who understandeth our thoughts afar off; but merely, when the prayer is private, because we cannot think any more than speak without words, and because the very sound of words that are well chosen affects the heart, and helps to fix our attention and as the Being who sees at once the past, present, and to come, and to whom a thousand years are but as one day, stands not in need of our information; so neither was it ever supposed by a man of rational piety, that he takes pleasure on his own account in hearing his perfections enumerated by creatures of yesterday; for being independent, he has no passions to be gratified, and being self-sufficient, he was as happy when existing alone as at that moment "when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Adoration is therefore proper only as it tends to preserve in our minds just notions of the Creator and Governor of the world, and of our own constant dependence upon him; and if such notions be useful to ourselves, who have a part to act in the scale of existence, upon which our happiness depends (a proposition which no theist will controvert), adoration must be acceptable to that benevolent God, who, when creating the world, could have no other end in view than to propagate happiness. See METAPHYSICS, N° 312. By the same mode of reasoning, it will be easy to show the duty of confession and supplication. We are not required to confess our sins unto God, because he is ignorant of them; for he is ignorant of nothing. If he were, no reason could be assigned for our divulging to our judge actions deserving of punishment. Neither are we required to cry for mercy, in order to move him in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. The Being that made the world, governs it by laws that are inflexible, because they are the best; and to suppose that he can be induced by prayers, oblations, or sacrifices, to vary this plan of government, is an impious thought, which degrades the Deity to a level with man. One of these inflexible laws is the connection established between certain dispositions of mind and human happiness. We are enjoined to pursue a particular course of conduct under the denomination of virtue, not because our virtuous actions can in any degree be of advantage to him by whom we are created, but because they necessarily generate in our own minds those dispo "Shall burning Etna, if a sage requires, 46 Forget to thunder, and recal her fires? "On air or sea new motions be imprest, "O blameless Bethel! to relieve thy breast? "When the loose mountain trembles from on high, "Shall gravitation cease, if you go by? "Or some old temple, nodding to its fall, "For Chartres' head reserve the hanging wall *?" Such are the most plausible objections which are usually made to the practice of prayer; and though they have been set off with all the art of the metaphysitions which are essential to our ultimate happiness. A sical wrangler, and embellished with all the graces of the poetry of Pope, they appear to us such gross sophisms as can operate only on a very unthinking head, man of a malignant, arrogant, or sensual disposition, would have no enjoyment in that heaven, where all are actuated by a spirit of love and purity; and it is doubtKk 2 less Praver. Prayer. less for this reason among others, that the Christian reli- poet has so finely illustrated, presents, it must be confes- Prayer. gion prohibits malice, arrogance, and sensuality, among sed, considerable difficulties; but none which to us ap her votaries, and requires the cultivation of the opposite pear insurmountable. If, indeed, we suppose that in the virtues. But a person who has deviated far from his original constitution of things, when the laws of nature duty cannot think of returning, unless he be previously were established, a determinate duration was given to convinced that he has gone astray. Such conviction, the top of the mountain and the nodding temple, withwhenever he obtains it, will necessarily impress upon his out any regard to foreseen consequences, it would unmind a sense of his own danger, and fill his heart with doubtedly be absurd and perhaps impious to expect the sorrow and remorse for having transgressed the laws esta- law of gravitation to be suspended by the prayers of a blished by the most benevolent of all Beings for the pro- good man, who should happen to be passing at the inpagation of universal felicity. This conviction of error, stant decreed for the fall of these objects. But of such this sense of danger, and this compunction for having a constitution there is so far from being evidence, that transgressed, are all perceived by the Deity as soon as it appears not to be consistent with the wisdom and they take place in the mind of the sinner; and he is re- goodness of the Author of nature. This world was quired to confess his sins, only because the act of confes- undoubtedly formed for the habitation of man and of sion tends to imprint more deeply on his mind his own other animals. If so, we must necessarily suppose, that unworthiness, and the necessity of returning immediate- in the establishing of the laws of nature, God adjusted ly into the paths of that virtue of which all the ways them in such a manner as he saw would best serve the are pleasantness and all the paths are peace. accommodation of those sentient beings for whose accommodation alone they were to be established. Let it then be admitted, that all the human beings who were ever to exist upon this globe, with all their thoughts, words, and actions, were at that important moment present to the divine intellect, and it will surely not be impossible to conceive that in consequence of the foreseen danger and prayers of a good man, the determinate duration of the mountain and the tower might be either lengthened or shortened to let him escape. This idea of providence, and of the efficacy of prayer, is thus illustrated by Mr Wollaston. "Suppose M (some man) certainly to foreknow, by some means or other, that, when he should of come to be upon his death-bed, I would petition for some particular legacy, in a manner so earnest and humble, and with such a good disposition, as would render it proper to grant his request: and upon this, M makes his last will, by which he devises to L that which was to be asked, and then locks up the will; and all this many years before the death of M, and whilst L had yet no expectation or thought of any such thing. When the time comes, the petition is made and granted; not by making any new will, but by the old one already made, and without alteration: which legacy had, notwithstanding that, never been left, had the petition never been preferred. The grant may be called the effect of a future act, and depends as much upon it as if it had been made after the act. So, if it had been foreseen, that I would not so much as ask, and he had been therefore left out of the will, this præterition would have been caused by his carriage, though much later than the date of the will. In all this nothing is hard to be admitted, if M be allowed to foreknow the case. And thus the prayers which good men offer to the all-knowing God, and the neglect of prayers by others, may find fitting effects already forecasted in the course of nature." In the objection, it is taken for granted, that if God be a benevolent and merciful Being, he will pardon our sins, and grant us what is needful for us, whether we supplicate him or not but this is a gross and palpable mistake, arising from the objector's ignorance of the end of virtue and the nature of man. Until a man be sensible of his sins and his danger, he is for the reason already assigned incapable of pardon, because his disposition is incompatible with the happiness of the blessed. But whenever he acquires this conviction, it is impossible for him not to form a mental wish that he may be pardoned; and this wish being perceptible to the allseeing eye of his Judge, forms the sum and substance of a supplication for mercy. If he clothe it in words, it is only for a reason similar to that which makes him adore his Creator and confess his sins in words, that just notions may be more deeply imprinted on his own mind. The same reasoning holds good with respect to those prayers which we put up for temporal blessings, for protection and support in our journey through life. We are told by high authority, that "the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth." This, however, is not because he is attracted or delighted by their prayers and intreaties, but because those prayers and intreaties fit such as offer them for receiving those benefits which he is at all times ready to pour upon all mankind. In his essence God is equally present with the righteous and with the wicked, with those who pray, and with those who pray not; for "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." But as the atmosphere equally surrounds every person upon this globe, and yet in its state of greatest purity does not affect the asthmatic as it affects those who are whole; so the Divine presence, though essentially the same everywhere, yet does not protect the impious as it protects the devout, because the impious are not in a state capable of the Divine protection. The end for which God requires the exercise of prayer as a duty, is not his benefit, but ours; because it is a mean to generate in the petitioner such a disposition of mind as must render him a special object of that love and that providential care which extend over the whole creation. That part of the objection which results from the consideration of the fixed laws of nature, and which the This solution of the difficulty presents indeed to the mind a prodigious scheme, in which all things to come are, as it were, comprehended under one view, and estimated and compared together. But when it is considered what a mass of wonders the universe is in other respects; what an incomprehensibly great and perfect being God is; that he cannot be ignorant of any thing, no not of the future wants and deportments of particular men; and that all things which derive their existence from him must be consistent with one another definested Prayer. it must surely be confessed that such an adjustment of physical causes to moral volitions is within the compass of infinite power and perfect wisdom. ley. To that part of a prayer which we have termed intercession, it has been objected, that "to intercede for others is to presume that we possess an interest with the Deity upon which their happiness and even the prosperity of whole communities depends." In answer to this objection, it has been observed by an ingenious and *Mr Pa useful writer, that "how unequal soever our knowledge of the divine economy may be to a complete solution of this difficulty, which may require a comprehension of the entire plan, and of all the ends of God's moral government, to explain it satisfactorily, we can yet understand one thing concerning it, that it is, after all, nothing more than the making of one man the instrument of happiness and misery to another; which is perfectly of a piece with the course and order that obtain, and which we must believe were intended to obtain, in human affairs. Why may we not be assisted by the prayers of other men, as well as we are beholden for our support to their labour? Why may not our happiness be made in some cases to depend upon the intercession as it certainly does in many upon the good offices of our neighbours? The happiness and misery of great numbers we see oftentimes at the disposal of one man's choice, or liable to be much affected by his conduct: what greater difficulty is there in supposing, that the prayers of an individual may avert a calamity from multitudes, or be ac-cepted to the benefit of whole communities." These observations may perhaps be sufficient to remove the force of the objection, but much more may be said for the practice of mutual intercession. If it be one man's duty to intercede for another, it is the duty of that other to intercede for him; and if we set aside the particular relations which arise from blood, and from particular stations in society, mutual intercession must be equally the duty of all mankind. But there is nothing (we speak from our own experience, and appeal to the experience of our readers) which has so powerful a tendency to generate in the heart of any person good-will towards another as the constant practice of praying to God for his happiness. Let a man regularly pray for his enemy with all that seriousness which devotion requires, and he will not long harbour resentment against him. Let him pray for his friend with that ardour which friendship naturally inspires, and he will perceive his attachment to grow daily and daily stronger. If, then, universal benevolence, or charity, be a disposition which we ought to cultivate in ourselves, mutual intercession is undeniably a duty, because nothing contributes so effectually to the acquisition of that spirit which an apostle terms the end of the commandment. When it is said, that by interceding for kings, and all in authority, we seem to consider the prosperity of communities as depending upon our interest with God, the objector mistakes the nature and end of these intercessions. In the prosperity of any community consists great part of the happiness of its individual members; but that prosperity depends much upon the conduct of its governors. When, therefore, individuals intercede for their governors, the ultimate object of their prayers must be conceived to be their own good. As it is equally the duty of all the members of the community to pray for their governors, such intercessions are the prayers of the whole community for itself, and of every individual for himself. So that in this view of the case, the most just, we apprehend, that can be taken of it, it is not true that supplications and intercessions for kings and all in authority are the prayers of one individual for another, but the prayers of many individuals for that body of which each of them knows himself to be a member. Having evinced the duty of adoration, confession, supplication, and intercession, we need not surely waste our readers time with a formal and laboured vindication of thanksgiving. Gratitude for benefits received is so universally acknowledged to be a virtue, and ingratitude is so detestable a vice, that no man who lays claim to a moral character will dare to affirm that we ought not to have a just sense of the goodness of God in preserving us from the numberless dangers to which we are exposed, and “in giving us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." But if we have this sense, whether we express it in words or not, we offer to God thanksgiving; because every movement of the heart is open and exposed to his all-seeing eye. In this article we have treated of prayer in general, and as the private duty of every individual; but there ought to be public as well as private prayer, which shall be considered afterwards. (See WORSHIP). We have likewise observed, that the prayers of every Christian ought to be offered in the name and through the medi ation of Jesus Christ, for which the reason will be seen in the article THEOLOGY. We shall conclude our reflections on the general duty, with observing, that nothing so forcibly restrains from ill as the remembrance. of a recent address to heaven for protection and assistance. After having petitioned for power to resist temptation, there is so great an incongruity in not continuing the struggle, that we blush at the thought, and persevere lest we lose all reverence for ourselves. After fervently devoting our souls to God, we start with horror at immediate apostasy: every act of deliberate wickedness is then complicated with hypocrisy and ingratitude: it is a mockery of the Father of Mercies, the forfeiture of that peace in which we closed our address, and a renunciation of the hope which that address inspired. But if prayer and immorality be thus incompatible, surely the former should not be neglected by those who contend that moral virtue is the summit of human perfection. PREACHING. See DECLAMATION, Art. I.-The word is derived from the Hebrew parasch, exposuit," he expounded.” PREADAMITE, a denomination given to the inhabitants of the earth, conceived, by some people, to have lived before Adam. Isaac de la Pereyra, in 1655, published a book to evince the reality of Preadamites, by which he gained a considerable number of proselytes to the opinion: but the answer of Demarets, professor of theology at Groningen, published the year following, put a stop to its progress; though Pereyra made a reply. His system was this: The Jews he calls Adamites, and supposes them to have issued from Adam; and gives the title Preadamites to the Gentiles, whom he supposes to have been a long time before Adam. But this being expressly contrary to the first words of Genesis, Pereyra Priver Preada mites. |