it; as it was afterwards by the Romans called Palmyra, or rather Palmira, on the same account, from paima, “a palm-tree." PALMER-WORM, □12, Joel i. 4; Amos IV. 9. Bochart says that it is a kind of locust, furnished with very sharp teeth, with which it gnaws off grass, corn, leaves of trees, and even their bark. The Jews support this idea by deriving the word from 11 or 2, to cut, to shear, or mince. Notwithstanding the unanimous sentiments of the Jews that this is a locust, yet the LXX. read Káμm, and the Vulgate eruca,

66 a cater

pillar;" which rendering is supported by Fuller. Michaelis agrees with this opinion, and thinks that the sharp cutting teeth of the caterpillar, which, like a sickle, clear away all before them, might give name to this insect. Caterpillars also begin their ravages before the locust, which seems to coincide with the nature of the creature here intended.

PALSY. See DISEASES.

PAMPHYLIA, a province of Asia Minor which gives name to that part of the Mediterranean Sea which washes its coast, Acts xxvii. 5. To the south it is bounded by the Mediterranean, and to the north by Pisidia; having Lycia to the west, and Cilicia to the east. Paul and Barnabas preached at Perga, in Pamphylia, Acts xiii. 13; xiv. 24.

PANTHEISM, a doctrine into which some of the sages of antiquity fell by revolting at the monstrous absurdities of Polytheism. Not knowing the true God as an infinite and personal subsistence, a cause above and distinct from all effects, they believed that God was every thing, and every thing God. This monstrous, and in its effects immoral, notion, is still held by the Brahmins of India.

PAPER-REED, D, Exod. ii. 3; Job viii. 11; Isaiah xviii. 2; xxxv. 7. When the outer skin, or bark, is taken off, there are several films, or inner pellicles, one within another. These, when separated from the stalk, were laid on a table artfully matched and flatted together, and moistened with the water of the Nile, which, dissolving the glutinous juices of the plant, caused them to adhere closely together. They were afterwards pressed, and then dried in the sun, and thus were prepared sheets or leaves for writing upon in characters marked by a coloured liquid passing through a hollow reed. The best papyrus was called legarikh, or paper of the priests. On this the sacred documents of Egypt were written. Ancient books were written on papyrus, and those of the New Testament among the rest. In the fourth century however these sacred writings are found on skins. This was preferred for durability; and many decayed copies of the New Testament, belonging to libraries, were early transferred to parchment. Finally came paper, the name of which was taken from the Egyptian reed; but the materials of which it was fabricated were cotton and linen. Sce BULL-RUSH and Book.

PAPHOS, a celebrated city of Cyprus, lying on the western coast of the island, where Venus (who from hence took the name of Paphia) had her most ancient and most famous temple; and here the Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus, resided, whom St. Paul converted to Christianity, Acts xiii. 6.

PARABLE, παραβολή, formed from παρα. 6axxew, to oppose or compare, an alle. gorical instruction, founded on something real or apparent in nature or history, from which a moral is drawn, by comparing it with some other thing in which the people are Aristotle defines parable, a similitude drawn more immediately concerned. (See Allegory.) from form to form. Cicero calls it a collaF. de Colonia calls tion; others, a simile.

it a rational fable; but it may be founded on real occurrences, as many parables of our Saviour were. The Hebrews call it w, from a word which signifies either to predominate or to assimilate; the Proverbs

,משלים of Solomon are by them also called

parables, or proverbs.

Parable, according to the eminently learned Bishop Lowth, is that kind of allegory which consists of a continued narration of a fictitious or accommodated event, applied to the illustration of some important truth. The Greeks call these alvo, allegories, or apologues; the Latins, fabulæ, or 'fables ;" and the writings of the Phrygian sage, or those composed in imitation of him, have acquired the greatest celebrity. Nor has our Saviour himself disdained to adopt the same method of instruction; of whose parables it is doubtful whether they excel most in wisdom and utility, or in sweetness, elegance, and perspicuity. As the appellation of parable has been applied to his discourses of this kind, the term is now restricted from its former extensive signification to a more confined sense. But this species of composition occurs very frequently in the prophetic poetry, and particularly in that of Ezekiel. If to us they should sometimes appear obscure, we must remember, that, in those early times when the prophetical writings were indited, it was universally the mode throughout all the eastern nations to convey sacred truths under mysterious figures and representations. In order to our forming a more certain judgment upon this subject, Dr. Lowth has briefly explained some of the primary qualities of the poetic parables; so that, by considering the general nature of them, we may decide more accurately on the merits of particular examples.

It is the first excellence of a parable to turn upon an image well known and applicable to the subject, the meaning of which is clear and definite; for this circumstance will give it perspicuity, which is essential to every species of allegory. If the parables of the sacred prophets are examined by this rule, they will not be found deficient. They are in general founded upon such imagery as is frequently used, and similarly applied by way of metaphor and comparison in the

Hebrew poetry. Examples of this kind occur in the parable of the deceitful vineyard, Isaiah v. 1-7, and of the useless vine, Ézek. xv; xix. 10—14; for under this imagery the ungrateful people of God are more than once described; Ezek. xix. 1-9; xxxi., xvi., xxiii. Moreover, the image must not only be apt and familiar, but it must be also elegant and beautiful in itself; since it is the purpose of a poetic parable, not only to explain more perfectly some proposition, but frequently to give it some animation and splendour. As the imagery from natural objects is in this respect superior to all others, the parables of the sacred poets consist chiefly of this kind of imagery. It is also essential to the elegance of a parable, that the imagery should not only be apt and beautiful, but that all its parts and appendages should be perspicuous and pertinent. Of all these excellencies, there cannot be more perfect examples than the parables that have been just specified; to which we may add the well-known parable of Nathan, 2 Sam. xii. 1-4, although written in prose, as well as that of Jotham, Judges ix. 7-15, which appears to be the most ancient extant, and approaches somewhat nearer to the poetical form. It is also the criterion of a parable, that it be consistent throughout, and that the literal be never confounded with the figurative sense; and in this respect it materially differs from that species of allegory, called the continued metaphor, Isaiah v. 1-7. It should be considered, that the continued metaphor and the parable have a very different view. The sole intention of the former is to embellish a subject, to represent it more magnificently, or at the most to illustrate it, that, by describing it in more elevated language, it may strike the mind more forcibly; but the intent of the latter is to withdraw the truth for a moment from our sight, in order to conceal whatever it may contain ungrateful or reproving, and to enable it secretly to insinuate itself, and obtain an ascendancy as it were by stealth. There is, however, a species of parable, the intent of which is only to illustrate the subject; such is that remarkable one of the cedar of Lebanon, Ezek. xxxi.; than which, if we consider the imagery itself, none was ever more apt or more beautiful; or the description and colouring, none was ever more elegant or splendid; in which, however, the poet has occasionally allowed himself to blend the figurative with the literal description, verses 11, 14-17; whether he has done this because the peculiar nature of this kind of parable required it, or whether his own fervid imagination alone, which disdained the stricter rules of composition, was his guide, our learned author can scarcely presume to determine.

In the New Testament, the word parable is used variously in Luke iv. 23, for a proverb, or adage; in Matt. xv. 15, for a thing darkly and figuratively expressed; in Heb. ix. 9, &c., for a type; in Luke xiv. 7,

&c., for a special instruction; in Matt. xxiv. 32, for a similitude or comparison.

PARADISE, according to the original meaning of the term, whether it be of Hebrew, Chaldee, or Persian derivation, signifies, “a place enclosed for pleasure and delight.” The LXX., or Greek translators of the Old Testament, make use of the word paradise, when they speak of the garden of Eden, which Jehovah planted at the creation, and in which he placed our first parents. There are three places in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament where this word is found, namely, Neh. ii. 8; Cant. iv. 13; Eccles. ii 5. The term paradise is obviously used in the New Testament, as another word for heaven; by our Lord, Luke xxiii. 43; by the apostle Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 4; and in the Apocalypse, ii. 7. See EDEN.

PARAN, DESERT OF, a "great and terrible wilderness" which the children of Israel entered after leaving Mount Sinai, Num. I. 12; Deut. i. 19; and in which thirty-eight of their forty years of wandering were spent. It extended from Mount Sinai on the south, to the southern border of the land of Canaan on the north; having the desert of Shur, with its subdivisions, the deserts of Etham and Sin, on the west, and the eastern branch of the Red Sea, the desert of Zin and Mount Seir, on the east. Burckhardt represents this desert, which he entered from that of Zin, or valley of El Araba, about the parallel of Suez, as a dreary expanse of calcareous soil, covered with black flints.

PARTRIDGE. p, 1 Samuel xxvi. 20; Jer. xvii. 11; wépôt, Ecclus. xi. 30. In the first of these places David says, "The king of Israel is come out to hunt a partridge on the mountains;" and in the second, "The partridge sitteth," on eggs, "and produceth," or hatcheth," not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be contemptible." This passage does not necessarily imply that the partridge hatches the eggs of a stranger, but only that she often fails in her attempts to bring forth her young. To such disappointments she is greatly exposed from the position of her nest on the ground, where her eggs are often spoiled by the wet, or crushed by the foot. So he that broods over his ill-gotten gains will often find them unproductive; or, if he leaves them, as a bird occasionally driven from her nest, may be despoiled of ther possession. As to the hunting of the partridge, which, Dr. Shaw observes, is the greater, or red-legged kind, the traveller says, "The Arabs have another, though a more laborious, method of catching these birds: for, observing that they become languid and fatigued after they have been hastily put twice or thrice, they immediately run a upon them, and knock them down with their zerwattys, or bludgeons as we should call them." Precisely in this manner Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon

putting him up incessantly, in hopes that at length his strength and resources would fail, and he would become an easy prey to his pursuer. Forskal mentions a partridge whose name in Arabic is kurr; and Latham says, that, in the province of Andalusia in Spain, the name of the partridge is churr; both taken, no doubt, like the Hebrew, from its note.

PASSOVER, П, signifies leap, passage. The passover was a solemn festival of the Jews, instituted in commemoration of their coming out of Egypt; because the night before their departure the destroying angel that slew the first-born of the Egyptians passed over the houses of the Hebrews with out entering them, because they were marked with the blood of the lamb, which, for this reason, was called the paschal lamb. The following is what God ordained concerning the passover: The month of the coming out of Egypt was after this to be the first month of the sacred or ecclesiastical year; and the fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings, that is, between the sun's decline and its setting, or rather, according to our reckoning, between three o'clock in the afternoon and six in the evening, at the equinox, they were to kill the paschal lamb, and to abstain from leavened bread. The day following, being the fifteenth, reckoned from six o'clock of the preceding evening, was the grand feast of the passover, which continued seven days; but only the first and seventh days were peculiarly solemn. The slain lamb was to be without defect, a male, and of that year. If no lamb could be found, they might take a kid. They killed a lamb or a kid in each family; and if the number of the family was not sufficient to eat the lamb, they might associate two families together. With the blood of the lamb they sprinkled the door-posts and lintel of every house, that the destroying angel at the sight of the blood might pass over them. They were to eat the lamb the same night, roasted, with unleavened bread, and a sallad of wild lettuces, or bitter herbs. It was forbid to eat any part of it raw, or boiled; nor were they to break a bone; but it was to be eaten entire, even with the head, the feet, and the bowels. If anything remained to the day following, it was thrown into the fire, Exod. xii. 46; Num. ix. 12; John xix. 36. They who ate it were to be in the posture of travellers, having their reins girt, shoes on their feet, staves in their hands, and eating in a hurry. This last part of the ceremony was but little observed; at least, it was of no obligation after that night when they came out of Egypt. During the whole eight days of the passover no leavened bread was to be used. They kept the first and last day of the feast; yet it was allowed to dress victuals, which was forbidden on the sabbath-day. The obligation of keeping the passover was so strict, that whoever should neglect it was condemned to death, Num. ix. 13. But

those who had any lawful impediment, as a journey, sickness, or uncleanness, voluntary or involuntary, for example, those who had been present at a funeral, &c., were to defer the celebration of the passover till the second month of the ecclesiastical year, the fourteenth day of the month Jair, which answers to April and May. We see an example of this postponed passover under Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxx. 2, 3, &c.

The modern Jews observe in general the ceremonies practised by their ancestors in the celebration of the passover. Whilst the temple was in existence, the Jews brought their lambs thither, and there sacrificed them; and they offered their blood to the priest, who poured it out at the foot of the altar. The paschal lamb was an illustrious type of Christ, who became a sacrifice for the redemption of a lost world from sin and misery; but resemblances between the type and antitype have been strained by many writers into a great number of fanciful particulars. It is enough for us to be assured, that as Christ is called "our passover;" and the "Lamb of God," without " 'spot," by the "sprinkling of whose blood" we are delivered from guilt and punishment; and as faith in him is represented to us as eating the flesh of Christ," with evident allusion to the eating of the paschal sacrifice; so, in these leading particulars, the mystery of our redemption was set forth. The paschal lamb therefore prefigured the offering of the spotless Son of God, the appointed propitiation for the sins of the whole world; by virtue of which, when received by faith, we are delivered from the bondage of guilt and misery; and nourished with strength for our heavenly journey to that land of rest, of which Canaan, as early as the days of Abraham, became the divinely instituted figure.

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PATMOS, a small rocky island in the Egean Sea, about eighteen miles in circumference; which, on account of its dreary and desolate character, was used by the Roman emperors as a place of confinement for criminals. To this island St. John was banished by the emperor Domitian; and here he had his revelation, recorded in the Apocalypse.

PATRIARCHS. This name is given to the ancient fathers, chiefly those who lived before Moses, as Adam, Lamech, Noah, Shem, &c., Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the sons of Jacob, and heads of the tribes. The Hebrews call them princes of the tribes, or heads of the fathers. The name patriarch is derived from the Greek patriarcha, “head of a family."

PAUL was born at Tarsus, the principal city of Cilicia, and was by birth both a Jew and a citizen of Rome, Acts xxi. 39; xxii. 25. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, and of the sect of the pharisees, Philip. iii. 5. In his youth he appears to have been taught the art of tent-making, Acts xviii. 3; but we must remember that among the Jews of those days a liberal education was often

accompanied by instruction in some mechanical trade. It is probable that St. Paul laid the foundation of those literary attainments, for which he was so eminent in the future part of his life, at his native city of Tarsus; and he afterwards studied the law of Moses, and the traditions of the elders, at Jerusalem, under Gamaliel, a celebrated rabbi, Acts xxii. 4. St. Paul is not mentioned in the Gospels; nor is it known whether he ever heard our Saviour preach, or saw him perform any miracle. His name first occurs in the account given in the Acts of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, A. D. 34, to which he is said to have consented, Acts viii. 1 he is upon that occasion called a young man; but we are nowhere informed what was then his precise age. The death of St. Stephen was followed by a severe persecution of the church at Jerusalem, and St. Paul became distinguished among its enemies by his activity and violence, Acts viii. 3. Not contented with displaying his hatred to the gospel in Judea, he obtained authority from the High Priest to go to Damascus, and to bring back with him bound any Christians whom he might find in that city. As he was upon his journey thither, A.D. 35, his miraculous conversion took place, the circumstances of which are recorded in Acts ix., and are frequently alluded to in his epistles, 1 Cor. xv. 9; Gal. i. 13; 1 Tim. i. 12, 13.

Soon after St. Paul was baptized at Damascus, he went into Arabia; but we are not informed how long he remained there. He returned to Damascus; and being super.. naturally qualified to be a preacher of the gospel, he immediately entered upon his ministry in that city. The boldness and success with which he enforced the truths of Christianity so irritated the unbelieving Jews, that they resolved to put him to death, Acts ix. 23; but, this design being known, the disciples conveyed him privately out of Damascus, and he went to Jerusalem, A.D. 38. The Christians of Jerusalem, remembering St. Paul's former hostility to the gospel, and having no authentic account of any change in his sentiments or conduct, at first refused to receive him; but being assured by Barnabas of St. Paul's real conversion, and of his exertions at Damascus, they acknowledged him as a disciple, Acts ix. 27. He remained only fifteen days among them, Gal. i. 18; and he saw none of the apostles except St. Peter and St. James. It is probable that the other apostles were at this time absent from Jerusalem, exercising their ministry at different places. The zeal with which St. Paul preached at Jerusalem had the same effect as at Damascus : he became so obnoxious to the Hellenistic Jews, that they began to consider how they might kill him, Acts ix. 29; which when the brethren knew, they thought it right that he should leave the city. They accompanied him to Cæsarea, and thence he went into

the regions of Syria and Cilicia, where he preached the faith which once he destroyed, Gal. i. 21, 23.

Hitherto the preaching of St. Paul, as well as of the other apostles and teachers, had been confined to the Jews; but the conversion of Cornelius, the first gentile convert, A. D. 40, having convinced all the apostles that "to the gentiles, also, God had granted repentance unto life," St. Paul was soon after conducted by Barnabas from Tarsus, which had probably been the principal place of his residence since he left Jerusalem, and they both began to preach the gospel to the gen tiles at Antioch, A. D. 42, Acts xi. 25. Their preaching was attended with great success. The first gentile church was now established at Antioch; and in that city, and at this time, the disciples were first called Christians, Acts xi. 26. When these two apostles had been thus employed about a year, a prophet called Agabus predicted an approaching famine, which would affect the whole land of Judea. Upon the prospect of this calamity, the Christians of Antioch made a contribution for their brethren in Judea, and sent the money to the elders at Jerusalem by St. Paul and Barnabas, A. D. 44, Acts xi. 28, &c. This famine happened soon after, in the fourth or fifth year of the emperor Claudius. It is supposed that St. Paul had the vision, mentioned in Acts xxii. 17, while he was now at Jerusalem this second time after his conversion.

St. Paul and Barnabas, having executed their commission, returned to Antioch; and soon after their arrival in that city they were separated, by the express direction of the Holy Ghost, from the other Christian teachers and prophets, for the purpose of carrying the glad tidings of the gospel to the gen tiles of various countries, Acts xiii. 1. Thus divinely appointed to this important office, they set out from Antioch, A. D. 45, and preached the gospel successively at Salamis and Paphos, two cities of the Isle of Cyprus, at Perga in Pamphylia, Antioch in Pisidia, and at Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, three cities of Lycaonia. They returned to Antioch in Syria, A. D. 47, nearly by the same route. This first apostolical journey of St. Paul, in which he was accompanied and assisted by Barnabas, is supposed to have occupied about two years; and in the course of it many, both Jews and gentiles, were converted to the gospel.

Paul and Barnabas continued at Antioch a considerable time; and while they were there, a dispute arose between them and some Jewish Christians of Judea. These men asserted, that the gentile converts could not obtain salvation through the gospel, unless they were circumcised; Paul and Br nabas maintained the contrary opinion, Acts xv. 1, 2. This dispute was carried on for some time with great earnestness; and it being a question in which not only the present but all future gentile converts were con

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erned, it was thought right that St. Paul and Barnabas, with some others, should go up to Jerusalem to consult the apostles and elders concerning it. They passed through Phenicia and Samaria, and upon their arrival at Jerusalem, A. D. 49, à council was assembled for the purpose of discussing this important point, Gal. ii. 1. St. Peter and St. James the Less were present, and delivered their sentiments, which coincided with those of St. Paul and Barnabas; and after much deliberation it was agreed, that neither circumcision, nor conformity to any part of the ritual law of Moses, was necessary in gentile converts; but that it should be recommended to them to abstain from certain specified things prohibited by that law, lest their indulgence in them should give offence to their brethren of the circumcision, who were still very zealous for the observance of the ceremonial part of their ancient religion. This decision, which was declared to have the sanction of the Holy Ghost, was communicated to the gentile Christians of Syria and Cilicia by a letter written in the name of the apostles, elders, and whole church at Jerusalem, and conveyed by Judas and Silas, who accompanied St. Paul and Barnabas to Antioch for that purpose.

St. Paul, having preached a short time at Antioch, proposed to Barnabas that they should visit the churches which they had founded in different cities, Acts xv. 36. Barnabas readily consented; but while they were preparing for the journey, there arose a disagreement between them, which ended in their separation. In consequence of this dispute with Barnabas, St. Paul chose Silas for his companion, and they set out together from Antioch, A.D. 50. They travelled through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches, and then came to Derbe and Lystra, Acts xvi. Thence they went through Phrygia and Galatia; and, being desirous of going into Asia Propria, or the Proconsular Asia, they were forbidden by the Holy Ghost. They therefore went into Mysia; and, not being permitted by the Holy Ghost to go into Bithynia as they had intended, they went to Troas. While St. Paul was there, a vision appeared to him in the night: "There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us." St. Paul knew this vision to be a command from Heaven, and in obedience to it immediately sailed from Troas to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis, a city of Thrace; and thence he went to Philippi, the principal city of that part of Macedonia. St. Paul remained some time at Philippi, preaching the gospel; and several occurrences which took place in that city, are recorded in Acts xvii. Thence he went through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica, Acts xvii., where he preached in the synagogues of the Jews on three successive sabbath-days. Some of the Jews, and many of the gentiles of both sexes, embraced

At

the gospel; but the unbelieving Jews, moved with envy and indignation at the success of St. Paul's preaching, excited a great disturbance in the city, and irritated the populace so much against him, that the brethren, anxious for his safety, thought it prudent to send him to Berea, where he met with a better reception than he had experienced at Thessalonica. The Bereans heard his instructions with attention and candour, and having compared his doctrines with the ancient scriptures, and being satisfied that Jesus, whom he preached, was the promised Messiah, they embraced the gospel; but his enemies at Thessalonica, being informed of his success at Berea, came thither, and, by their endeavours to stir up the people against him, compelled him to leave that city also. He went thence to Athens, where he delivered that discourse recorded in Acts xvii. From Athens, Paul went to Corinth, Acts xviii., A. D. 51, and lived in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, two Jews, who, being compelled to leave Rome in consequence of Claudius's edict against the Jews, had lately settled at Corinth. St. Paul was induced to take up his residence with them, because, like himself, they were tent-makers. first he preached to the Jews in their synagogue; but upon their violently opposing his doctrine, he declared that from that time he would preach to the gentiles only; and, accordingly, he afterwards delivered his instructions in the house of one Justus, who lived near the synagogue. Among the few Jews who embraced the gospel, were Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, and his family; and many of the gentile Corinthians “hearing believed, and were baptized." St. Paul was encouraged in a vision to persevere in his exertions to convert the inhabitants of Corinth; and although he met with great opposition and disturbance from the unbelieving Jews, and was accused by them before Gallio, the Roman governor of Achaia, he continued there a year and six months, "teaching the word of God." During this time he supported himself by working at his trade of tent-making, that he might not be burdensome to the disciples. From Corinth St. Paul sailed into Syria, and thence he went to Ephesus: thence to Cæsarea; and is supposed to have arrived at Jerusalem just before the feast of pentecost. After the feast he went to Antioch, A. D. 53; and this was the conclusion of his second apostolical journey, in which he was accompanied by Silas; and in part of it, Luke and Timothy were also with him.

Having made a short stay at Antioch, St. Paul set out upon his third apostolical journey. He passed through Galatia and Phrygia, A. D. 54, confirming the Christians of those countries; and thence, according to his promise, he went to Ephesus, Acts xix. He found there some disciples, who had only been baptized with John's baptism: he directed that they should be baptized in the