Chapter XC: Part 90

Soon after our Lord’s ascension, in a numerous assembly of the Apostles and brethren, St. Peter gave it as his opinion, that one should be chosen to be an Apostle in the room of Judas. To this they all agreed; and, by lot, chose Matthias, whom on that occasion they numbered with the eleven Apostles. On the day of pentecost following, when the Holy Spirit fell on the Apostles and disciples, St. Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice; that is, St. Peter, rising up, spake with a loud voice, in the name of the Apostles, as he had done on various occasions in his Master’s lifetime, and gave the multitude an account of that great miracle, Acts ii, 14. St. Peter now began to experience the fulfilment of Christ’s promise to make him a fisher of men, and also that he would give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. His sermon on this occasion produced an abundant harvest of converts to Christ. Three thousand of his audience were pricked to the heart, and cried out, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” St. Peter proclaimed to them the riches of pardoning mercy through the divine blood of the Son of God; and they that gladly received his doctrine were baptized and added to the church, Acts ii, 37–43. The effects produced on the mind of this great Apostle of the circumcision by the resurrection of his divine Master, and the consequent effusion of the Holy Spirit, were evidently of the most extraordinary kind, and such as it is impossible to account for upon natural principles. He was raised superior to all considerations of personal danger and the fear of man. And though all the Apostles could now say, God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind;” yet an attentive reader of the Acts of the Apostles cannot fail to perceive that upon almost every occasion of difficulty St. Peter is exhibited to our view as standing foremost in the rank of Apostles. When St. Peter and John were brought before the council to be examined concerning the miracle wrought on the impotent man, St. Peter spake. It was St. Peter who questioned Ananias and Sapphira about the price of their lands; and, for their lying in that matter, punished them miraculously with death. It is remarkable, also, that although by the hands of the Apostles many signs and wonders were wrought, it was by St. Peter’s shadow alone that the sick, who were laid in the streets of Jerusalem, were healed as he passed by. Lastly: It was St. Peter who replied to the council in the name of the Apostles, not obeying their command to preach no more in the name of Jesus.

St. Peter’s fame was now become so great, that the brethren of Joppa, hearing of his being in Lydda, and of his having cured Eneas miraculously of a palsy, sent, desiring him to come and restore a disciple to life, named Tabitha, which he did. During his abode in Joppa, the Roman centurion, Cornelius, directed by an angel, sent for him to come and preach to him. On that occasion the Holy Ghost fell on Cornelius and his company, while St. Peter spake. St. Peter, by his zeal and success in preaching the Gospel, having attracted the notice of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Herod Agrippa, who, to please the Jews, had killed St. James, the brother of St. John, still farther to gratify them, cast St. Peter into prison. But an angel brought him out; after which he concealed himself in the city, or in some neighbouring town, till Herod’s death, which happened about the end of the year. Some learned men think St. Peter at that time went to Antioch or to Rome. But if he had gone to any celebrated city, St. Luke, as L’Enfant observes, would probably have mentioned it. Beside, we find him in the council of Jerusalem, which met not long after this to determine the famous question concerning the circumcision of the Gentiles. The council being ended, St. Peter went to Antioch, where he gave great offence, by refusing to eat with the converted Gentiles. But St. Paul withstood him to the face, rebuking him before the whole church for his pusillanimity and hypocrisy, Gal. ii, 11–21.

In the Acts of the Apostles, no mention is made of St. Peter after the council of Jerusalem. But from Gal. ii, 11, it appears that after that council he was with St. Paul at Antioch. He is likewise mentioned by St. Paul, 1 Cor. i, 12; iii, 22. It is generally supposed that after St. Peter was at Antioch with St. Paul, he returned to Jerusalem. What happened to him after that is not told in the Scriptures. But Eusebius informs us that Origen wrote to this purpose: St. Peter is supposed to have preached to the Jews of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia; and at length, coming to Rome, was crucified with his head downward.

We are indebted to this Apostle for two epistles, which constitute a valuable part of the inspired writings. The first epistle of St. Peter has always been considered as canonical; and in proof of its genuineness we may observe that it is referred to by Clement of Rome, Hermas, and Polycarp; that, we are assured by Eusebius, that it was quoted by Papias; and that it is expressly mentioned by Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, and most of the later fathers. The authority of the second epistle of St. Peter was for some time disputed, as we learn from Origen, Eusebius, and Jerom; but since the fourth century it has been universally received, except by the Syriac Christians. It is addressed to the same persons as the former epistle, and the design of it was to encourage them to adhere to the genuine faith and practice of the Gospel.

PETHOR, a city of Mesopotamia, of which the Prophet Balaam was a native. The Hebrews call this city Pethura. Ptolemy calls it Pachora; and Eusebius, Pathara. He places it in the Upper Mesopotamia.

PHARAOH, a common name of the kings of Egypt. We meet with it as early as Gen. xii, 15. Josephus says, that all the kings of Egypt, from Minæus, the founder of Memphis, who lived several ages before Abraham, always had the name of Pharaoh, down to the time of Solomon, for more than three thousand three hundred years. He adds, that, in the Egyptian language, the word Pharaoh means _king_, and that these princes did not assume the name until they ascended the throne, at which time they quitted their former name.

PHARISEES, a sect of the Jews. The earliest mention of them is by Josephus, who tells us that they were a sect of considerable weight when John Hyrcanus was high priest, B. C. 108. They were the most numerous, distinguished, and popular sect among the Jews. The time when they first appeared is not known, but it is supposed to have been not long after the institution of the Sadducees, if, indeed the two sects did not gradually spring up together. They derived their name from the Hebrew word _pharash_, which signifies separated,” or set apart;” because they separated themselves from the rest of the Jews to superior strictness in religious observances. They boasted that, from their accurate knowledge of religion, they were the favourites of Heaven; and thus, trusting in themselves that they were righteous, despised others, Luke xi, 52; xviii, 9, 11. Among the tenets inculcated by this sect, we may enumerate the following: namely, they ascribed all things to fate or providence; yet not so absolutely as to take away the free will of man; for fate does not coöperate in every action, Acts v, 38, 39. They also believed in the existence of angels and spirits, and in the resurrection of the dead; Acts xxiii, 8. Lastly: the Pharisees contended that God stood engaged to bless the Jews, to make them all partakers of the terrestrial kingdom of the Messiah, to justify them, and make them eternally happy. The cause of their justification they derived from the merits of Abraham, from their knowledge of God, from their practising the rite of circumcision, and from the sacrifices they offered. And as they conceived works to be meritorious, they had invented a great number of supererogatory ones, to which they attached greater merit than to the observance of the law itself. To this notion St. Paul has some allusions in those parts of his Epistle to the Romans, in which be combats the erroneous suppositions of the Jews, Rom. i-xi.

The Pharisees were the strictest of the three principal sects that divided the Jewish nation, Acts xxvi, 5, and affected a singular probity of manners according to their system; which, however, was, for the most part, both lax and corrupt. Thus many things which Moses had tolerated in civil life, in order to avoid a greater evil, the Pharisees determined to be morally right: for instance, the law of divorce from a wife for any cause, Matt. v, 31, &c; xix, 3–12. (See _Divorce_.) Farther: they interpreted certain of the Mosaic laws most literally, and distorted their meaning so as to favour their own selfish system. Thus, the law of loving their neighbour, they expounded solely of the love of their friends, that is, of the whole Jewish race; all other persons being considered by them as natural enemies, whom they were in no respect bound to assist, Matt. v, 43; Luke x, 31–33. They also trifled with oaths. Dr. Lightfoot has cited a striking illustration of this from Maimonides. An oath, in which the name of God was not distinctly specified, they taught was not binding, Matt. v, 33; maintaining that a man might even swear with his lips, and at the same time annul it in his heart! And yet so rigorously did they understand the command of observing the Sabbath day, that they accounted it unlawful to pluck ears of corn, and heal the sick, &c, Matt. xii; Luke vi, 6, &c; xiv. Many moral rules they accounted inferior to the ceremonial laws, to the total neglect of mercy and fidelity, Matt. v, 19; xv, 4; xxiii, 23. Hence they accounted causeless anger and impure desires as trifles of no moment, Matt. v, 21, 22, 27–30; they compassed sea and land to make proselytes to the Jewish religion from among the Gentiles, that they might rule over their consciences and wealth; and these proselytes, through the influence of their own scandalous examples and characters, they soon rendered more profligate and abandoned than ever they were before their conversion, Matt. xxiii, 15. Esteeming temporal happiness and riches as the highest good, they scrupled not to accumulate wealth by every means, legal or illegal, Matt. v, 1–12; xxiii, 5; Luke xvi, 14; James ii, 1–8; vain and ambitious of popular applause, they offered up long prayers in public places, but not without self-complacency in their own holiness, Matt. vi, 2–5; Luke xviii, 11; under a sanctimonious appearance of respect for the memories of the prophets whom their ancestors had slain, they repaired and beautified their sepulchres, Matt. xxiii, 29; and such was their idea of their own sanctity, that they thought themselves defiled if they but touched or conversed with sinners, that is, with publicans or tax-gatherers, and persons of loose and irregular lives, Luke vii, 39; xv, 1.

But, above all their other tenets, the Pharisees were conspicuous for their reverential observance of the traditions or decrees of the elders: these traditions, they pretended, had been handed down from Moses through every generation, but were not committed to writing; and they were not merely considered as of equal authority with the divine law, but even preferable to it. The words of the scribes,” said they, are lovely above the words of the law; for the words of the law are weighty and light, but the words of the scribes are _all_ weighty.” Among the traditions thus sanctimoniously observed by the Pharisees, we may briefly notice the following: the washing of hands up to the wrist before and after meat, Matthew xv, 2; Mark vii, 3; which they accounted not merely a religious duty, but considered its omission as a crime equal to fornication, and punishable by excommunication: the purification of the cups, vessels, and couches used at their meals by ablutions or washings, Mark vii, 4; for which purpose the six large water pots mentioned by St. John, ii, 6, were destined: their fasting twice a week with great appearance of austerity, Luke xviii, 12; Matt. vi, 16; thus converting that exercise into religion which is only a help toward the performance of its hallowed duties: their punctilious payment of tithes, (temple-offerings,) even of the most trifling things, Luke xviii, 12; Matt. xxiii, 23. And their wearing broader phylacteries and larger fringes to their garments than the rest of the Jews, Matt. xxiii, 5. See PHYLACTERIES.

With all their pretensions to piety, the Pharisees entertained the most sovereign contempt for the people; whom, being ignorant of the law, they pronounced to be accursed, John vii, 49. Yet such was the esteem and veneration in which they were held by the populace, that they may almost be said to have given what direction they pleased to public affairs; and hence the great men dreaded their power and authority. It is unquestionable, as Mosheim has well remarked, that the religion of the Pharisees was, for the most part, founded in consummate hypocrisy; and that, at the bottom, they were generally the slaves of every vicious appetite, proud, arrogant, and avaricious, consulting only the gratification of their lusts, even at the very moment when they professed themselves to be engaged in the service of their Maker. These odious features in the character of the Pharisees caused them to be reprehended by our Saviour with the utmost severity, even more so than the Sadducees; who, although they had departed widely from the genuine principles of religion, yet did not impose on mankind by a pretended sanctity, or devote themselves with insatiate greediness to the acquisition of honours and riches. A few, and a few only of the sect of the Pharisees in those times, might be of better character,--men who, though self-righteous and deluded and bigoted, were not like the rest, hypocritical. Of this number was Saul of Tarsus; but as a body their attachment to traditions; their passionate expectation of deliverance from the Roman yoke by the Messiah, and the splendour of his civil reign, their pride, and above all their vices, sufficiently account for that unconquerable unbelief which had possessed their minds as to the claims of Christ, and their resistance to the evidence of his miracles. The sect of the Pharisees was not extinguished by the ruin of the Jewish commonwealth. The greater part of the Jews are still Pharisees, being as much devoted to traditions, or the oral law, as their ancestors were.

PHARPAR. See ABANA.

PHEBE, a deaconess of the port of Corinth, called Cenchrea. St. Paul had a particular esteem for this holy woman; and Theodoret thinks the Apostle lodged at her house for some time, while he continued in or near Corinth. It is thought she carried the epistle to Rome, which he wrote to the church of that city, in which she is so highly commended, Rom. xvi, 1, 2. It is thought that, in quality of deaconess, she was employed by the church in some ministrations suitable to her sex and condition; as to visit and instruct the Christian women, and attend them in their sickness, and distribute alms to them in their necessities.

PHENICIA, a province of Syria, the limits of which have been differently represented. Sometimes it has been defined as extending from north to south, from Orthosia as far as Pelusium. At other times its southern limit is said to have been Mount Carmel and Ptolemais. It is certain that, from the conquest of Palestine by the Hebrews, its limits were narrow, containing no part of the country of the Philistines, which occupied all the coast from Mount Carmel along the Mediterranean, as far as the borders of Egypt. It had also very little extent on the land side, because the Israelites, who possessed all Galilee, confined it to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The chief cities of Phenicia were Sidon, Tyre, Ptolemais, Ecdippe, Sarepta, Berythe, Biblos, Tripoli, Orthosia, Simira, Aradus. They formerly had possession of some cities in Libanus: and sometimes the Greek authors comprehend all Judea under the name of Phenicia. Phenicia may be considered as the birthplace of commerce, if not also of letters and the arts. It was a Phenician who introduced into Greece the knowledge and the use of letters. Phenician workmen built the temple of Solomon; Phenician sailors navigated his ships; Phenician pilots directed them; and before other nations had ventured to lose sight of their own shores, colonies of Phenicians were established in the most distant parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. These early advantages were owing, doubtless, in part to their own enterprising character, and in part also to their central situation, which enabled them to draw into their own narrow territory all the commerce between the east and the west. Bochart has laboured to show that they sent colonies to almost all the isles and coasts of the Mediterranean Sea; but the most famous of all their colonies was that of Carthage.

PHILADELPHIA, a city of Lydia, in Asia Minor, and one of the seven churches of Asia. It derived its name from Attalus Philadelphus, its founder; and was seated on a branch of Mount Tmolus, about twenty-five miles south-east of Sardis, and seventy, in nearly the same direction, from Smyrna. It suffered greatly, in common with all this part of Asia, in the terrible earthquake during the reign of Tiberius, and in the seventeenth year of the Christian era. It has, however, retained a better fate than most of its neighbours; for under the name of Alahsher, or the city of God, it is still a place of some repute, chiefly supported by trade, it being in the route of the caravans to Smyrna. Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia,” says Gibbon, Philadelphia is still erect, a column in a scene of ruins.” Although this city is now in the possession of the Turks, it has about a thousand Christian inhabitants, chiefly Greeks; who have five churches with a resident bishop, and inferior clergy.

PHILEMON was an inhabitant of Colosse; and from the manner in which he is addressed by St. Paul in his epistle to him, it is probable that he was a person of some consideration in that city. St. Paul seems to have been the means of converting him to the belief of the Gospel, Philemon 19. He calls him his fellow-labourer; and from that expression some have thought that he was bishop or deacon of the church at Colosse; but others have been of opinion, that he was only a private Christian, who had shown a zealous and active disposition in the cause of Christianity, without holding any ecclesiastical office. We learn from this epistle itself, that it was written when St. Paul was a prisoner, and when he had hope of soon recovering his liberty, Philemon 1, 22; and thence we conclude that it was written toward the end of his first confinement at Rome. This epistle has always been deservedly admired for the delicacy and address with which it is written; and it places St. Paul’s character in a very amiable point of view. He had converted a fugitive slave to the Christian faith; and he here intercedes with his master in the most earnest and affectionate manner for his pardon; he speaks of Onesimus in terms calculated to soften Philemon’s resentment, engages to make full compensation for any injury which he might have sustained from him, and conjures him to reconciliation and forgiveness by the now endearing connection of Christian brotherhood. See ONESIMUS.

PHILIP, the Apostle, was a native of Bethsaida in Galilee. Jesus Christ having seen him, said to him, Follow me,” John i, 43, 44. Philip followed him; he was present at the marriage of Cana in Galilee. Philip was called at the beginning of our Saviour’s mission. He is mentioned, Luke vi, 13; Matt. x, 3; John vi, 5–7. Some Gentiles having a curiosity to see Jesus, a little before his passion, addressed themselves to Philip, John xii, 21, 22, who mentioned it to Andrew, and these two to Christ. At the last supper Philip desired the Saviour to show them the Father, John xiv, 8–10. This is all that we find concerning Philip in the Gospel.

2. PHILIP, the second of the seven deacons, Acts vi, 5, was, some say, of Cæsarea in Palestine. It is certain his daughters lived in that city, Acts xxi, 8, 9. After the death of Stephen all the Christians, except the Apostles, having left Jerusalem, and being dispersed in several places, Philip went to preach at Sebaste or Samaria, where he performed several miracles, and converted many persons, Acts viii, 1–3, &c. He baptized them; but informed the Apostles at Jerusalem that Samaria had received the word of God, that they might come and communicate the Holy Ghost to them. Peter and John came thither for that purpose. Philip was, probably, at Samaria, when an angel commanded him to go on the road that leads from Jerusalem to old Gaza. Philip obeyed, and there met with an Ethiopian eunuch, belonging to Candace, queen of Ethiopia, whom he converted and baptized, Acts viii, 26. Being come out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more.

PHILIPPI, one of the chief cities of Macedonia, lying on the north-west of Neapolis, and formerly called Datum or Datos, but afterward taking its name from Philip, the celebrated king of Macedon, by whom it was repaired and beautified. In process of time, it became a Roman colony. It was the first place at which St. Paul preached the Gospel upon the continent of Europe, A. D. 51. He made many converts there, who soon afterward gave strong proofs of their attachment to him, Phil. iv, 15. He was at Philippi a second time, but nothing which then occurred is recorded. The Philippian Christians having heard of St. Paul’s imprisonment at Rome, with their accustomed zeal, sent Epaphroditus to assure him of the continuance of their regard, and to offer him a supply of money. His epistle was written in consequence of that act of kindness; and it is remarkable for its strong expressions of affection. As the Apostle tells the Philippians that he hoped to see them shortly, Phil. ii, 24, and there are plain intimations in this epistle of his having been some time at Rome, Phil. i, 12; ii, 26, it is probable that it was written A. D. 62, toward the end of his confinement.

It is a strong proof,” says Chrysostom, of the virtuous conduct of the Philippians, that they did not afford the Apostle a single subject of complaint; for, in the whole epistle which he wrote to them, there is nothing but exhortation and encouragement, without the mixture of any censure whatever.”

PHILISTIM, or PHILISTINES, a people who are commonly said to have descended from Casluhim, the son of Mizraim or Mizr, who peopled Egypt. The Philistines, it is probable, continued with their progenitors in Egypt until they were sufficiently numerous and powerful to stretch themselves along the coast of Canaan; doubtless by driving out that portion of the family of Ham. It is certain that, in the time of Abraham, the Canaanites were in possession of the rest of the land, to which they gave their name: but the extreme south of Philistia, or Palestine, was even then possessed by the Philistines, whose king, Abimelech, reigned at Gerar. After this, in the time of Joshua, we find their country divided into five lordships or principalities; namely, Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron; giving sometimes also, as it appears, the title of king to their respective rulers; Achish being termed king of Gath, I Sam. xxi, 10. The time of their coming to Palestine is unknown; but they had been long in Canaan when Abraham came thither, in the year of the world 2083. The name Philistine is not Hebrew. The Septuagint generally translate it Ἀλλόφυλοι, _strangers_. The Pelethites and Cherethites were also Philistines; and the Septuagint sometimes translate _Cherethim_, Κρῆται, _Cretes_. They were not of the cursed seed of Canaan. However, Joshua did not forbear to give their land to the Hebrews, and to attack them by command from the Lord, because they possessed a country promised to Israel. But these conquests of Joshua must have been ill maintained, since, under the Judges, under Saul, and at the beginning of the reign of King David, the Philistines had their kings, and their lords, whom they called Sazenim; since their state was divided into five little kingdoms, or satrapies; and since they oppressed the Israelites during the government of the high priest Eli, and of Samuel, and during the reign of Saul, for about a hundred and twenty years, from A. M. 2848 to A. M. 2960. True it is, that Shamgar, Samson, Samuel, and Saul, opposed them, and killed some of their people, but did not reduce their power. They continued independent till the time of David, who subdued them, 2 Sam. v, 17; viii, 1, 2, &c.

They continued in subjection to the kings of Judah down to the reign of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, about two hundred and forty-six years, when they revolted from Jehoram, 2 Chron. xxi, 16. Jehoram made war against them, and probably reduced them to his obedience again; because it is observed in Scripture, that they revolted again from Uzziah, who kept them to their duty during his whole reign, 2 Chron. xxvi, 6, 7. Uzziah began to reign A. M. 3194. During the unfortunate reign of Ahaz, the Philistines made great havoc in the territory of Judah; but his son and successor Hezekiah subdued them again, 2 Chron. xxviii, 18; 2 Kings xviii, 8. Lastly, they regained their full liberty under the later kings of Judah; and we may see, by the menaces made against them by the Prophets Isaiah, Amos, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, that they brought a thousand hardships and calamities on the children of Israel, for which God threatened to punish them with great misfortunes.

Esar-haddon, successor to Sennacherib, besieged Ashdod, or Azoth, and took it by the arms of his general, Thasthan, or Tartan. Psammetichus, king of Egypt, took the same city after a siege of twenty-nine years, according to Herodotus. During the siege of Tyre, which held out thirteen years, Nebuchadnezzar used part of his army to subdue the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and other nations bordering on the Jews. There is great probability that the Philistines could not withstand him, but were reduced to his obedience, as well as the other people of Syria, Phenicia, and Palestine. Afterward they fell under the dominion of the Persians; then under that of Alexander the Great, who destroyed the city of Gaza, the only city of the Phenicians that dared to oppose him. After the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Asmoneans took by degrees several cities from the country of the Philistines, which they subjected. Tryphon, regent of the kingdom of Syria, gave to Jonathan, the Asmonean, the government of the whole coast of the Mediterranean, from Tyre to Egypt; consequently, all the country of the Philistines.

The land of the Philistines bordered on the west and south-west of Judea, and lies on the south-east point of the Mediterranean Sea. The country to the north of Gaza is very fertile; and, long after the Christian era, it possessed a very numerous population, and strongly fortified cities. No human probability, says Keith, could have existed, in the time of the prophets, or at a much more recent date, of its eventual desolation. But it has belied, for many ages, every promise which the fertility of its soil, and the excellence both of its climate and situation, gave for many preceding centuries of its permanency as a rich and well cultivated region. And the voice of prophecy, which was not silent respecting it, proclaimed the fate that awaited it, in terms as contradictory, at the time, to every natural suggestion, as they are descriptive of what Philistia now actually is. I will stretch out my hand upon the Philistines, and destroy the remnant of the sea coasts,” Ezek. xxv, 16. Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley,” Jer. xlvii, 5. Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof. I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof. And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God,” Amos i, 6, 7, 8. For Ashkelon shall be a desolation;” it shall be cut off with the remnant of the valley; and Ekron shall be rooted up.--O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant; and the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks,” Zeph. ii, 4, 5, 6. The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited,” Zech. ix, 5.

The land of the Philistines was to be destroyed. It partakes of the general desolation common to it with Judea and other neighbouring states. While ruins are to be found in all Syria, they are particularly abundant along the sea coast, which formed, on the south, the realm of the Philistines. But its aspect presents some existing peculiarities, which travellers fail not to particularize, and which, in reference both to the state of the country and the fate of its different cities, the prophets failed not to discriminate as justly as if their description had been drawn both with all the accuracy which ocular observation, and all the certainty which authenticated history, could give. Volney, (though, like one who in ancient times was instrumental to the fulfilment of a special prediction, he meant not so, neither did his heart think so,”) from the manner in which he generalizes his observations, and marks the peculiar features of the different districts of Syria, with greater acuteness and perspicuity than any other traveller whatever, is the ever ready purveyor of evidence in all the cases which came within the range of his topographical description of the wide field of prophecy: while, at the same time, from his known, open, and zealous hostility to the Christian cause, his testimony is alike decisive and unquestionable: and the vindication of the truth of the following predictions may safely be committed to this redoubted champion of infidelity. In the plain between Ramla and Gaza,” the very plain of the Philistines along the sea coast, we met with a number of villages badly built, of dried mud, and which, like the inhabitants, exhibit every mark of poverty and wretchedness. The houses, on a nearer view, are only so many huts, (cottages,) sometimes detached, at others ranged in the form of cells, around a court yard, enclosed by a mud wall. In winter, they and their cattle may be said to live together; the part of the dwelling allotted to themselves being only raised two feet above that in which they lodge their beasts:”--“dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.”--“Except the environs of these villages, all the rest of the country is a desert, and abandoned to the Bedouin Arabs, who feed their flocks on it.”--Thus accomplishing the words of prophecy, The remnant shall perish; the land of the Philistines shall be destroyed, that there shall be no inhabitant; and the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.” “The ruins of white marble, sometimes found at Gaza, prove that it was formerly the abode of luxury and opulence. It has shared in the general destruction; and, notwithstanding its proud title of the capital of Palestine, it is now no more than a defenceless village,” (baldness has come upon it,) peopled by, at most, only two thousand inhabitants.”--“It is forsaken,” says the prophet, and bereaved of its king.” “The sea coast, by which it was formerly washed, is every day removing farther from the deserted ruins of Ashkelon.” Amidst the various successive ruins, those of Edzoud,” Ashdod, so powerful under the Philistines, are now remarkable for their scorpions.”--Here again we are reminded of the words of inspiration: The inhabitants shall be cut off from Ashdod.”

Thus Volney becomes an unconscious commentator upon prophecy. But let us hear a Christian traveller. Ashkelon,” says Richardson, “was one of the proudest satrapies of the lords of the Philistines: now there is not an inhabitant within its walls; and the prophecy of Zechariah is fulfilled: ‘The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.’ When the prophecy was uttered, both cities were in an equally flourishing condition; and nothing but the prescience of Heaven could pronounce on which of the two, and in what manner, the vial of its wrath should be poured out. Gaza is truly without a king. The lofty towers of Ashkelon lie scattered on the ground, and the ruins within its walls do not shelter a human being. How is the wrath of man made to praise his Creator! Hath he not said, and shall he not do it? The oracle was delivered by the mouth of the prophet more than five hundred years before the Christian era, and we beheld its accomplishment eighteen hundred years after that event.” There is yet another city which was noted by the prophets, the very want of any information respecting which, and the absence of its name from several modern maps of Palestine, while the sites of other ruined cities are marked, are really the best confirmation of the truth of the prophecy that could possibly be given. Ekron shall be rooted up.” It is rooted up. It was one of the chief cities of the Philistines; but, though Gaza still subsists, and while Ashkelon and Ashdod retain their names in their ruins, the very name of Ekron is missing.

PHILOSOPHY, in general, is defined, the knowledge and study of nature and morality, founded on reason and experience.” Philosophy owes its name to the modesty of Pythagoras, who refused the high title of σοφός, _wise_, given to his predecessors, Thales, Pherecydes, &c, as too assuming; and contented himself with the simple appellation of φιλόσοφος, _quasi_ φίλος τῆς σοφίας, _a friend_ or _lover of wisdom_: but Chauvin rather chooses to derive the name from φιλία, _desire to study_, and σοφία, _studium sapientiæ_; and says that Pythagoras, conceiving that the application of the human mind ought rather to be called study than science, set aside the appellation of wise, and, in lieu thereof, took that of philosopher.

A knowledge of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, or the science of natural history, was always an object of interest. We are informed that Solomon himself had given a description of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, 1 Kings iv, 33. Traces of philosophy, strictly so called, that is, the system of prevailing moral opinions, may be found in the book of Job, in the thirty-seventh, thirty-ninth, and seventy-third Psalms; also in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but chiefly in the apocryphal book of Wisdom, and the writings of the son of Sirach. During the captivity, the Jews acquired many new notions, particularly from the Mahestani, and appropriated them, as occasion offered, to their own purposes. They at length became acquainted with the philosophy of the Greeks, which makes its appearance abundantly in the book of Wisdom. After the captivity, the language in which the sacred books were written was no longer vernacular. Hence arose the need of an interpreter on the sabbatic year, a time when the whole law was read, and also on the Sabbath in the synagogues, which some think had been recently erected, in order to make the people understand what was read. These interpreters learned the Hebrew language at the schools. The teachers of these schools, who, for the two generations preceding the time of Christ, had maintained some acquaintance with the Greek philosophy, were not satisfied with a simple interpretation of the Hebrew idiom, as it stood, but shaped the interpretation so as to render it conformable to their philosophy. Thus arose contentions, which gave occasion for the various sects of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. In the time of our Saviour, divisions had arisen among the Pharisees themselves. No less than eighteen nice questions, if we may believe the Jewish rabbins, were contested at that period between the schools of Hillel and Shammai; one of which questions was an inquiry, what cause was sufficient for a bill of divorce. If the Shammai and Hillel of the Talmud are the same with the learned men mentioned in Josephus, namely, Sameas and Pollio, who flourished thirty-four years before Christ, then Shammai or Sameas is undoubtedly the same with the Simeon who is mentioned, Luke ii, 25–35; and his son Gamaliel, so celebrated in the Talmud, is the same with the Gamaliel mentioned, Acts v, 34; xxii, 3.

Anciently, learned men were denominated among the Hebrews חכמים, as among the Greeks they were called σοφοὶ, _wise men_. In the time of Christ, the common appellative for men of that description was γραμματεὺς, in the Hebrew סופר, _a scribe_. They were addressed by the honorary title of _rabbi_, רבי, great,” or master.” The Jews, in imitation of the Greeks, had their seven wise men, who were called _rabboni_. Gamaliel was one of the number. They called themselves the children of wisdom; expressions which correspond very nearly to the Greek φιλόσοφος, Matthew xi, 19; Luke vii, 35. The heads of sects were called fathers;” the disciples were denominated sons,” or children,” Matt. xii, 27; xxiii, 1–9. The Jewish teachers, at least some of them, had private lecture rooms; but they also taught and disputed in synagogues, in temples, and, in fact, wherever they could find an audience. The method of these teachers was the same with that which prevailed among the Greeks. Any disciple who chose might propose questions, upon which it was the duty of the teachers to remark and give their opinions, Luke ii, 46. The teachers were not invested with their functions by any formal act of the church, or of the civil authority: they were self-constituted. They received no other salary than some voluntary present from the disciples, which was called an honorary,” τιμὴ, _honorarium_, 1 Tim. v, 17. They acquired a subsistence, in the main, by the exercise of some art or handicraft. That they took a higher seat than their auditors, although it was probably the case, does not follow, as is sometimes supposed, from Luke ii, 46. According to the Talmudists, they were bound to hold no conversation with women, and to refuse to sit at table with the lower class of people, Matt. ix, 11; John iv, 27. The subjects on which they taught were numerous, commonly intricate, and of no great consequence; of which there are abundant examples in the Talmud.

St. Paul bids the Colossians beware lest any man should spoil them through philosophy and vain deceit;” that is, a vain and deceitful philosophy, such as was popular in that day, and had been compounded out of all preceding systems, Grecian and oriental. An explanation of this philosophy is given under GNOSTICS, and CABBALA.

On these ancient systems of pretended wisdom, Dr. Burton justly remarks: “Philosophy is indeed the noblest stretch of intellect which God has vouchsafed to man; and it is only when man forgets that he received his reasoning powers from God, that he is in danger of losing himself in darkness when he sought for light. To measure that which is infinite, is as impossible in metaphysics as in physics. If it had not been for revelation, we should have known no more of the Deity than the Heathen philosophers knew before: and to what did their knowledge amount? They felt the necessity of a First Cause, and they saw that that Cause must be intrinsically good; but when they came to systems, they never went farther than the point from which they first set out, that evil is not good, and good is not evil. The Gnostics thought to secure the triumph of their scheme by veiling its weaker points in mystery, and by borrowing a part from almost every system. But popular, and even successful, as this attempt may have been, we may say with truth, that the scheme which flattered the vanity of human wisdom, and which strove to conciliate all opinions, has died away, and is forgotten; while the Gospel, the unpresuming, the uncompromising doctrine of the Gospel, aided by no human wisdom, and addressing itself not merely to the head, but to the heart, has triumphed over all systems and all philosophers; and still leads its followers to that true knowledge which some have endeavoured to teach ‘after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.’”

PHINEHAS, son of Eleazar, and grandson of Aaron, third high priest of the Jews, A. M. 2571 to about A. M. 2590, B. C. 1414. He is particularly commended in Scripture for zeal in vindicating the glory of God, when the Midianites had sent their daughters into the camp of Israel, to tempt the Hebrews to fornication and idolatry, Num. xxv, 7. On this account the Lord promised the priesthood to Phinehas by perpetual covenant; evidently including this tacit condition, that his children should continue faithful and obedient: for we know the priesthood passed out of the family of Eleazar and Phinehas to that of Ithamar, and that it returned not to the posterity of Eleazar until after about a hundred and fifty years.

PHUT or PUT, the posterity of Phut, the son of Ham, Gen. x, 6. Calmet is of opinion that Phut, the third son of Ham, peopled either the canton of Phtemphu, Phtemphti, Phtembuti, of Pliny and Ptolemy, whose capital was Thara, in Lower Egypt, inclining toward Libya; or the canton called Phtenotes, of which Buthas was the capital. The prophets often speak of Phut. In the time of Jeremiah, xlvi, 9, Phut was under the obedience of Necho, king of Egypt. Nahum, iii, 9, reckons this people in the number of those who ought to come to the assistance of No-Ammon, or Diospolis.

PHYLACTERIES, called by the Jews תפלין, are little scrolls of parchment, in which are written certain sentences of the law, enclosed in leather cases, and bound with thongs on the forehead and on the left arm. They are called in Greek φυλακτήρια, from φυλάττω, _custodio_, either because they were supposed to preserve the law in memory, or rather because they were looked upon as a kind of amulets or charms to keep them from danger. The making and wearing these phylacteries, as the Jews still do in their private devotions, is owing to a misinterpretation of those texts, on which they ground the practice, namely, God’s commanding them to bind the law for a sign on their hands, and to let it be as frontlets between their eyes,” &c, Deut. vi, 8. The command ought doubtless to be understood metaphorically, as a charge to remember it, to meditate upon it, to have it as it were continually before their eyes, and to conduct their lives by it; as when Solomon says, concerning the commandments of God in general, Bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thy heart,” Prov. iii, 1, 3; vi, 21. However, the Jews understanding the precept literally, wrote out the several passages wherever it occurs, and to which it seems to refer, and bound them upon their foreheads and upon their arms. It seems the Pharisees used to make broad their phylacteries.” This some understand of the knots of the thongs by which they were fastened, which were tied very artificially in the form of Hebrew letters; and that the pride of the Pharisees induced them to have these knots larger than ordinary, as a peculiar ornament. The Pharisees are farther said to enlarge the borders of their garments,” τὰ κράσπεδα τῶν ἱματίων, Matt. xxiii, 5. These κράσπεδα were the ציצית, the fringes which the Jews are commanded to wear upon the borders of their garments, Num. xv, 38, 39. The Targum of Onkelos calls them כרספדין, which has so near an affinity with the Greek word κράσπεδον, that there is no doubt but it signifies the same thing; which is, therefore, an evidence that the κράσπεδα were the ציצית. These were worn by our Saviour, as appears from the following passage: Behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment,” κράσπεδον του ἱματιου, Matt. ix, 20. Again: the inhabitants of Gennesaret are said to have brought unto him their diseased, and to have besought him, that they might only touch the hem of his garment,” κρασπεδον τοῦ ἱματίου, Matt. xiv, 36. Κράσπεδον τοῦ ἱματίου is, in both these passages, very improperly translated the hem of his garment.” It should have been rendered the fringe.” The Pharisees are censured by our Saviour for enlarging these fringes of their garments, which we may suppose they did partly from pride, and partly from hypocrisy, as pretending thereby an extraordinary regard for the precepts of the law. It is reported by Jerom, as quoted by Godwin, that they used to have fringes extravagantly long; sticking thorns in them, that, by pricking their legs as they walked, they might put them in mind of the law. See FRONTLETS.

PIETISTS, PROTESTANT, a denomination in the seventeenth century, which owed its origin to the pious and learned Spener,” as Dr. Mosheim calls him, who formed private devotional societies at Frankfort, in order to cultivate vital and practical religion; and published a book entitled Pious Desires,” which greatly promoted this object. His followers laid it down as an essential maxim, that none should be admitted into the ministry but those who not only had received a proper education, but were also distinguished by their wisdom and sanctity of manners, and had hearts filled with divine love. Hence they proposed an alteration in the schools of divinity, which embraced the following points: 1. That the scholastic theology, which reigned in the academies, and was composed of intricate and disputable doctrines, and obscure and unusual forms of expression, 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. That all mixture of philosophy and human science with divine wisdom, was to be most carefully avoided; that is, that Pagan philosophy and classical learning should be kept distinct from, and by no means supersede, Biblical theology. But, 4. That, on the contrary, all those students, 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. Such, in substance, is Mosheim’s account of the meditated reforms in the public schools. But it was not intended to confine these reforms to students and the clergy. Religious persons of every class and rank were encouraged to meet in what were called Biblical colleges, or colleges of piety, (we might call them prayer meetings,) where some exercised in reading the Scriptures, singing, and prayer, and others engaged in the exposition of the Scriptures; not in a dry and critical way, but in a strain of practical and experimental piety, by which they mutually edified each other. This practice, which always more or less obtains where religion flourishes, as, for instance, at the Reformation, raised the same sort of outcry as at the rise of Methodism; and those who entered not into the spirit of the design, were eager to catch at every instance of weakness or imprudence, to bring disgrace on that which, in fact, brought disgrace upon themselves, as lukewarm and formal Christians. In so saying, Master, thou reproachest us also.” This work began about 1670. In 1691 Dr. Spener removed from Dresden to Berlin, where he propagated the same principles, which widely spread, and were well supported in many parts of Germany by the excellent Professor Francke and others, until the general decline of religion which has unhappily prevailed in Germany for the last half century. See NEOLOGY.

PI-HAHIROTH. The Hebrew _pi_ answers to the modern Arabic word _fum_, signifying mouth;” and is generally applied to the passes in the mountains. In the English and Septuagint versions, Hahiroth is taken as a proper name; and the whole word would imply the mouth or pass of Hahiroth or Hiroth, whatever particular origin or signification may belong to that word. The name, however, sufficiently explains the situation of the children of Israel; who were hemmed in at this place, between the sea in front, and a narrow mountain pass behind; which no doubt encouraged Pharaoh to make his attack upon them in so disadvantageous a position; thinking that they must inevitably fall an easy prey into his hands, or be cut to pieces: when their deliverance, and his own destruction, were unexpectedly wrought by the parting of the waters of the sea. The place where this miracle is supposed to have happened, is still called Bahral-Kolsum, or the Sea of Destruction; and just opposite to the situation which answers to the opening called Pi-hahiroth, is a bay, where the north cape is called Ras Musa, or the Cape of Moses. That part of the western or Heroopolitan branch of the Red Sea where, from these coincidences, the passage most probably took place, is described by Bruce as about three leagues over, with fourteen fathoms of water in the channel, nine at the sides, and good anchorage every where. The farther side is also represented as a low sandy coast, and an easy landing place. See RED SEA.