anxiety, during which all hope of being saved was abandoned; but they were sustained by the cheering courage of Paul, who had been promised in a vision that all should be saved.

On the fourteenth night, after drifting about 476 miles, the seamen, hearing probably the breakers on a low rocky point of Malta called Kara, suspected they were nearing land. They sounded, and finding the water shoaling, let go four anchors by the stern. Day was anxiously awaited, and when it broke they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea. They then ran her aground at a spot which has been reasonably identified with a neck of land projecting towards the island of Salmonetta, which shelters St. Paul's Bay on the north-west.

Malta. All escaped safe to land, and were treated with great kindness by the "barbarians"-i.e. by the people of non-Greek birth who lived on the island. Paul, whilst laying a bundle of sticks on the fire, was bitten by a viper, but was unhurt, and was therefore taken by the

people to be a god. He rewarded Publius the chief man's hospitality by healing his father of a fever, and cured all who had diseases. In Febru ary 60 A.D., after three months' stay, they sailed for Rome in a ship called The Turin Brothersi.e. the Castor and Pollux. The ship put into the lovely land-locked harbour of

Syracuse, and here they remained three days. Possibly Paul landed and preached, for tradition regards him as the founder of the Sicilian church. They then beat up to Rhegium, and, waiting one day for a south wind to carry them through the straits, ran before the wind to

Puteoli, on the northern shore of the bay of Naples. This place was an important trading city of the time, with a great harbour, extensive docks, and a long mole, of which there are still remains. Christianity had already established itself at this busy port, and Paul remained seven days with the brethren. They then travelled along the Appian Way, the "queen of roads," to the

Appius (Appii Forum). There, and at The Three Taverns further on, Paul was encouraged by meeting brethren who had come to welcome him from

Rome. The party entered the city by the Porta Capena, and the centurion at once handed his prisoners over to the stratopedarch, or "chief of the camp" of soldiers from abroad, who were encamped on the Coelian Hill. Paul was treated with great leniency, and was allowed to live in his own hired house, his wrist fastened by a light chain to that of the soldier who guarded him. Here he remained for two years, "preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all bold

ness;

and here, probably in the early part of 61 A.D., he wrote the Epistles to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians. Towards the close of 61 A.D. he was tried, and

(From a Photograph.)

there was some prospect of acquittal when he wrote to the Philippians (2. 24). Before Paul reached Rome, some of Cæsar's household had been converted; and it is supposed by Lightfoot that some of the slaves of Aristobulus (son of Herod the Great) and of Narcissus (Claudius favorite freedman) had passed into the imperial household, and were saluted by the apostle as Christians (Rom. 16. 10, 11).

During the early part of Nero's reign, Seneca, his old tutor, exercised great influence, and the liberal policy of the empire with regard to religion was probably largely due to his broad views. This policy possibly had some influence on the trial which ended in the acquittal of Paul He was found innocent in the eyes of the Roman imperial law, and his acquittal was equivalent to a formal decision by the supreme court of the empire that it was permissible to preach Christi anity.

After his liberation, Paul probably travelled through Macedonia to Philippi (Phil. 2. 24), and

(From a Photograph.)

Rome. The second trial followed, with all its gloomy surroundings. After the disgrace of Seneca, the spirit which animated the administration changed. Paul's confinement was more rigorous: he was treated as a malefactor (2 Tim. 2.9); his friends could visit him with difficulty (2 Tim. 1. 16); and at his first hearing "no man stood by" him, "but all forsook" him. Nevertheless he spoke with his usual boldness, and for the moment "was delivered out of the lion's mouth."

It has been plausibly conjectured that the first charge against which he successfully defended himself was complicity with the incendiaries who burned Rome in 64 A.D.; and the defection of his friends may have been due to the dismay caused by the barbarous persecution of the Christians that followed the conflagration. Paul was remanded to prison; but he has no hope of acquittal, and looks forward with calmness to the end. "I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come."

When he wrote his last pathetic Epistle to Timothy, Luke was the only one of his companions who remained with him. He did not expect the final sentence to be passed until the following winter (2 Tim. 4. 21); but we do not know whether Timothy was able to join him before his death, or what was the date of his martyrdom. According to tradition, he suffered in the reign of Nero, possibly in 68 A.D., and was beheaded with the sword, without the gate," on the road to Ostia, not far from the church which bears his name.

PEARLS [pearls), found in the pearl-oyster in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, are not mentioned in the Old Testament; for "pearls" in Job 28. 18 read "crystal" (R.V.). In the New Testament they are frequently referred to (Mat. 7. 6; 13. 45, etc.).

PENTATEUCH [pěn'tå-teuch] (Gr. "five books"), the five books of Moses in the Old Testament. The Jews named these, from their chief contents, Torah ("Law"); and the Greek translators gave each book its distinctive title; hence the names in our Bible: Genesis ("origin," i.e. of the world and of men); Exodus ("departure," i.e. of the Israelites from Egypt); Leviticus (the book of the law of the priests); Numbers (from the numberings of the people related in it); Deuteronomy ("second Law"). The authorship of the Pentateuch has been the subject of much controversy. Moses occupies so prominent a position in the history of these books, and it is so expressly mentioned in several places that he wrote the Law at the Divine command, that as the terms Law and Pentateuch came to be synonymous, the whole of these books came to be regarded as his composition, and to deny this was regarded as tantamount to a denial of his legislative work. It is, however, important to distinguish between the position of Moses in history and the literary process through which the Law-books may have come into their present form, and, in general, not to assume on this subject more than the books themselves state or warrant. It is nowhere stated in Scripture that Moses wrote the whole of the Pentateuch. The books, indeed, in many literary features resemble the succeeding historical books, which are composed of different materials. At the same time, the unique position of Moses at the head of the people, the distinct and reiterated statements that he was a writer as well as a leader, and the unvarying association of his name with the Law, are sufficient justification for calling the Pentateuch the books of Moses.

Many modern critics class the first six books of the Old Testament together, calling them the Hexateuch (Gr. "six books "), and hold that the

first four books and Joshua are divisible into two main parts:

I. A great book of law and history, including the whole framework of the Pentateuch, and the chief threads of its narrative. Such passages as Ex. 25-40; Lev. 1-16 (or 26); Num. 1-10, 28, etc., are supposed to belong to this writing, which uses the name Elohim for God, describes the tabernacle, the priesthood, sacrifices, and festivals, is supposed to have been written between the time of David and the Exile, and is commonly called the "Priestly Code."

II. The remaining part of the laws and narrative, consisting of several layers, mainly two, of which one is almost entirely narrative, uses the name Jehovah, and is therefore distinguished as the "Jehovist;" while the other uses the name Elohim (God), and its author is distinguished as the "Elohist." These are both supposed to belong to the period between Elijah and 800 B.C. Within both of these main parts (I. and II.) they find another document:

III. The "Book of the Covenant" (Ex. 20-23), including the ten commandments and the earliest laws annexed thereto, which, we are told, were written in a book by Moses. This is regarded as the original Law-book of Moses.

IV. Deuteronomy ("second Law") they consider to be a repetition of the earlier legislation with numerous additions, written, some think, long before, others shortly before, its discovery in the reign of Josiah.

Even in this view of the Pentateuch, Moses is regarded as not only the oral lawgiver of a great body of laws, but as the writer of its most important part.

PENTECOST [pěn'té-cost]. [See FEASTS.] PERGAMOS [per ga-mos] PERGAMMUM (Rev. 2. 12-17), a town of Asia Minor, in the valley of the Caicus. Near the top of its acropolis hill, 1,000 feet above the valley, are the ruins of the temple of Rome and Augustus, which Ramsay identifies with the "throne of Satan" (Rev. 2. 13).

PERIZZITES [per'iz-zītes] the " villagers" or agricultural population of Canaan, corresponding to the modern fellahîn.

PERSIANS [pēr'sians]. The Persians were originally a Median tribe which settled in Persia, on the eastern side of the Persian Gulf. They were Aryans, their language belonging to the eastern division of the Indo-European group. One of their chiefs, Teispes, conquered Elam in the time of the decay of the Assyrian Empire, and established himself in the district of Anzan. His descendants branched off into two lines — one line ruling in Anzan, while the other remained in Persia. Cyrus II., king of Anzan, finally united the divided power, conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, and carried his arms into the far East. His son, Cambyses, added Egypt to the empire, which, however, fell to pieces after his death. It was reconquered and thoroughly organized by Darius, son of Hystaspes, whose dominions extended from India to the Danube. Scripture mentions Cyrus, who released the captive Jews (Ezra 1. 1); Darius, who confirmed the decree of Cyrus (Ezra 6. 1); and Artaxerxes (Ezra 4. 7; 7. 1).

PESHITO [pe-shit'o]. The Syriac version of the Bible, otherwise called the Peshito (which means either simple or vulgate), belongs to the third century. The Old Testament part was made direct from the Hebrew, with occasional reference to the Septuagint, as early as the first century. It was very likely made in the first instance for Jewish proselytes.

There is another Syriac version made directly from the Septuagint as it stood in the Hexapla of Origen.

PETER [pe'ter], ST. (Gr. "rock"), surname of that Simon, son of John, and brother of Andrew, who, originally a fisherman near Capernaum, became the first apostle of Jesus. His character

vacillates between obstinate resolution and momentary cowardice, as is shown in the story of his denial of his Master. In St. Paul's letters he appears as a "pillar" of the primitive church and the "Apostle of the Circumcision" (Gal. 2, 8, 9, He was married (Mat. 8. 14; Mark 1.30; Luke 4.38), and was accompanied by his wife on his journeys (1 Cor. 9. 5). Papal claims of primacy for St. Peter have appealed for support to Mat. 16. 17-19; Luke 22. 32; and John 21. 15-17; but are set aside by such passages as Mat. 20. 20-28; Mark 9. 35; 10. 35-45; Luke 9. 48; 22. 26.

St. Peter is not mentioned in the Acts after the council at Jerusalem (50 A.D.), but Gal. 2. 11 refers to a subsequent visit by him to Antioch. His history after that incident has been overlaid with legends. It is impossible that he spent twenty-five years in Rome, though it is probable that his last years were passed there, and that he there suffered martyrdom. It is less probable that he and St. Paul were put to death at the same time. If "Babylon" (in 1 Pet. 5. 13) is not, as some suppose, a mystical name for Rome, Babylon was the scene of his labor at some period after the visit to Antioch.

The First Epistle of St. Peter was written either from Babylon or Rome, probably in 63 or 64 A.D. St. Mark was with him when he wrote it (5. 13).

To the Second Epistle of St. Peter two objections have been raised: (1) that ch. 2 closely resembles St. Jude. But dependence on St. Jude would not disprove that St. Peter wrote it. (3 That St. Paul's epistles are referred to (3. 15, 16 But this would not involve a date later than the apostolic age. This epistle was probably written just before the death of the apostle (1.13-15), about the same time as 2 Timothy (66 and 68 A.D.).

PETRA [pē'trå], the Roman name of the Nabathæan city, close to Mount Hor, called Sela in the Old Testament. It was colonized by the Romans in 23 A.D.; but the rock-cut tombs and theatre are probably later.

PHARAOH (pha'raōh]. [See EGYPT.]

PHARISEES [phar'i-sees] (Heb. "separatists"), the name given (like "Puritans ") by their opponents to the party that arose among the Jewish scribes after the victory of the Maccabees, and devoted themselves to the most scrupulous fulfilment of the Law as expounded by the scribes, They called themselves "neighbors" (i.e. fellowmembers of the true Israel; cf. Luke 10. 29, 38), distinguishing themselves not only from the nonJewish "people of the land," but even from "the multitude" of Israel (John 7. 49; Luke 3. 30-32; 7.39; cf. 10. 29 ff.). They were thus strictly a sect (Acts 15. 5; 26. 5), in Herod's time numbering over 6,000, affording a pattern to all thorough Jews and moulding their ideals through the synagogues (Matt. 23. 2-7). Seeking to make religion supreme in the entire life of the nation, they were confronted by the Sadducees, who excluded it from politics. But believing righteousness to be the correct performance of prescribed righteous acts (Mat. 6. 1, 2), chiefly in order to secure ritual purity, they lost sight of the real end through self-centred absorption in the traditional means, and fell (for the most part) into censoriousness and hypocrisy (Luke 121 Jesus pitied their blindness, except when wilful (Luke 16. 14 ff.; John 5. 39 ff.; 8. 39-41; 12. 42 f and still more the slavery of the people under the yoke of their traditions (Mat. 11. 28-30; Mark 7. 3-13). The greatness of the Pharisees was their confidence in God, and expectation from Him alone; and their weakness lay in their ignorance of His free grace, and expectation of reward as the payment of a debt. They kept alive in the na tion the hopes of the Messiah and of the resur rection, but were blinded by a carnal prejudice to the fulfilment of both in Jesus Christ.

PHILEMON [phi-le'mon], the receiver of the short epistle of St. Paul which bears his name, in which he is requested to receive again to his

favor his runaway slave Onesimus ("Profitable"). He lived at Colossæ (Col. 4. 9), where his house was the meeting-place of the Christian community (ver. 2). PHILIP [phil'ip] (Gr. "lover of horses").-(1) A son of Herod the Great by Cleopatra; was tetrarch of Batanæa, Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, and Ituræa, and the founder of Cæsarea Philippi. After his death his lands were united to the Roman province of Syria (Luke 3. 1). (2) A son of Herod the Great and Mariamne, whose wife Herodias became the wife of Herod Antipas (Mat. 14. 3; Mark 6. 17). (3) The apostle, born, like Andrew and Peter, at Bethsaida (Mat. 10. 3; Mark 3. 18; Luke 6. 14; Acts 1. 13), was early called by our Lord, and brought Nathanael to Him (John 1.

43 ff.). His little faith was manifested on the occasion of the miraculous feeding of the multitude (John 6. 5); the Greek Jews at the feast, who desired to see Jesus, applied to him (John 12. 20 ff.); he interrupted the farewell discourse of Jesus with the words, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us" (John 14. 8). Nothing else is known of him, except the tradition that he was a missionary in Phrygia and suffered death at Hierapolis. (4) One of the Seven (Acts 6.5), labored as an evangelist in Samaria (8. 5), instructed and baptized the Ethiopian treasurer (8. 26 ff.), and made the seaport town of Cæsarea the centre of his work (8. 40; 21. 8).

PHILIPPIANS [phl-lip'pi-ans], the Epistle to the, was written while St. Paul was in prison in

Rome (Phil. 1. 13-17; 4. 22). Philippi was an important town of Macedonia on the great highway from East to West. Philip II. of Macedonia had named it after himself. In St. Paul's time it was a Roman "colony" (Acts 16. 12)-i.e. a settlement of veteran soldiers (cf. Acts 16. 35, 36, 38). From Philippi, where he had been at first grievously maltreated (Acts 16. 22 ff.; cf. Phil. 1. 30 and 1 Thes. 2. 2), he once and again" received pecuniary aid (Phil. 4. 16). The epistle was written to acknowledge the receipt of such a gift. It is "the most epistolary of all the epistles;" in it the apostle pours out his heart to his friends, and entreats them to be "of one accord, one mind" (1. 27 to 2. 11; 4. 2, 3).

PHILISTINES [phi-lis'tines], the possessors of Philistia, the coast-land from Sharon to the Egyptian desert, with its five cities, Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath, which had belonged to Egypt up to the closing days of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Though not of the Semitic race, they adopted the Semitic language of Canaan. They came from Caphtor (Crete).

PHOENICIA [phe-nl'ci-à], a strip of the Mediter ranean coast, stretching northward from Mount Carmel for 120 miles, with an average breadth of 20 miles (Acts 21. 2). It has been called "the England of antiquity," because of its commercial greatness. Tyre and Sidon, Gebal and Arvad, were its chief cities. The Phoenicians founded many colonies, of which Carthage was the chief. PHYLACTERIES [phy-lae'ter-ies] (Gr. "armulets"), in Mat. 23. 5. [See FRONTLETS.]

(From a Photograph by Bonfils.) PILATE [pi'late], PONTIUS [pon'ti-us], was the fifth of the seven Roman procurators who from 6 to 41 A.D. ruled Judæa, with Samaria and Idumæa. He was procurator for ten years, from 26 to 36 A.D. The Jewish historian Philo quotes a letter of Agrippa I., which calls him a man of "unbending and recklessly hard character," and charges his administration with "corruptibility, violence, robberies, ill-treatment of the people, grievances, continuous executions without even the form of a trial, endless and intolerable cruelties." He often needlessly and intentionally wounded the religious feelings of the Jews. He made the garrison of Jerusalem enter the city by night with the figures of the emperor on their standards. These images, because they were objects of worship, were an abomination to the Jewish people, who in crowds proceeded to Cæsarea and demanded their removal. Finding violent means useless, Pilate yielded. The massacre referred to in Luke 13. 1 is another proof of his cruelty. Convinced of the innocence of Jesus, he lacked the moral strength to act according to his conscience, and was constrained by his fear of the people's fanaticism (Mark 15. 15; Luke 23. 24) and of the emperor's disfavor (John 19. 12) to deliver Him to be crucified. The unrest caused among the Jews by his arbitrary and violent rule led Vitellius, the governor of Syria, to send him to Rome to give an account of his actions to the Emperor Tiberius. He did not reach Rome till 37, after the death of Tiberius. According to

the historian Eusebius, Pilate died by his own hand.

PINE [pine] TREE occurs twice in Isaiah (41. 19; 60. 13) as the translation of tidhar. It is associated with the fir and the box. The revisers suggest "plane," and this is probably what is

meant.

POETRY [po'ět-ry] OF THE BIBLE.

I. Its form.-The most characteristic mark is the parallelism of the members of the several verses-i.e. while the lines are usually similar in length and structure, there is nearly always a formal unity of thought between them. Thus the verses of Lamech (Gen. 4. 23, 24) mark themselves off plainly from the prose narrative preceding.

Parallelism is of various kinds, which are, however, frequently interchanged. They are distinguished as

1. SYNONYMOUS (as in Ps. 21. 1, 2; Job 8. 5), where the parallel lines express ideas exactly the same or nearly similar.

2. PROGRESSIVE (as in Ps. 23. 1; Prov. 29. 22), where the succeeding line or lines develop the thought of the first.

3. ANTITHETIC (as in Ps. 1.6; Prov. 1. 7), where the thought first stated is illustrated by its antithesis.

4. SYNTHETIC OR CONSTRUCTIVE as in Ps. 25. 12; Prov. 26. 4), where an entirely new idea is introduced in the second or following lines.

5. CLIMACTIC (as in Ps. 121. 3, 4; 29. 8)—a modification of No. 2-where characteristic words are repeated in a second or third line, so as to complete or supplement the sense.

6. COMPARATIVE (as in Ps. 42. 1; Prov. 15. 16, and many other proverbs), where the form is intermediate between Nos. 1 and 3, or Nos. 1 and 2. While the parallel verses constitute, as a rule, the only stanza or strophe, there are examples of groups of verses in the same poem, each ending with a refrain. A perfect specimen is Ps. 42 and 43, which are one poem. Similar, though not so perfect, is Ps. 107. Ps. 119 is symmetrically divided into 22 parts of 8 verses each, all the verses of each group beginning with the same letter in the Hebrew. There are several other alphabetic or acrostic psalms, mostly late.

The individual verses are usually distichs. Tristichs are not uncommon in the Psalms (e.g. Ps. 22. 23, 24, 26, 29; 24. 4, 7 ff.), and in Job (e.g. ch. 21. 17, 33; 24. 5, 12, 18). Tetrastichs are rare, but Ps. 37 has them almost throughout. Pentastichs are also found in Ps. 37. 7, 8; 25. 2C.

The above examples are taken from the strictly poetical parts of the Old Testament. In the prophetic literature, which is largely poetical also, there is much more freedom and variety, and all the principal forms of parallelism may be found within the compass of a few verses, as in Isa. 25. 1-9. Nor is there any practical limit to the number of stichs in a single verse in the poetry of the prophets.

The New Testament also contains poetry of the Hebrew type, e.g. Mat. 8, 20. Mat. 25. 34-36 is influenced by the old poetic style.

II. Its matter.-1. The poetry of the Bible has throughout the stamp of religion- the religion of Jehovah. 2. It is simple and lucid. 3. It is universal. Its themes are of world-wide significance, and its intuitions are the voice of the universal human consciousness witnessing to the truth of God.

It embraces-1. LYRICAL POETRY, extending over at least a thousand years, and including, besides the Psalms, such lyrical poems as the blessing of Jacob (Gen. 49), Miriam's song (Ex. 15), the songs of Moses (Deut. 32, 33), the song of Deborah (Judg. 5), the "Song of the Bow (2 Sam. 1), and the hymn of Hezekiah (Isa. 38). 2. DIDACTIC POETRY: either gnomic (consisting of maxims), as in the greater part of the book of Proverbs, or reflective, as in ch. 1 to 9

and 31 of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and many Psalms, e.g. Ps. 14, 37, 49, 50, 78, 104-106, 139. 3. SEMI-DRAMATIC POETRY: the book of Job and the Song of Songs.

4. ELEGIAC POETRY: Lamentations, and sereral elegies in the prophetic writings.

POMEGRANATE [pome'grăn-ate), a favorite fruit of Egypt (Num. 20. 5) and Palestine (Deut. 8.8). It was imitated in ornaments on the high priest's robe (Ex. 28. 33, 34), and in Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 7. 18).

PRIESTS [priests] were ministers at the altar, descendants of Aaron, to whose family the priestly office was restricted by the Levitical legislation. In later times they traced their descent from the priestly family of Zadok, the contemporary of David. The priest was subject to special laws (Lev. 10. 8 ff.). His duties were mainly three: to minister at the Sanctuary, to teach the people, and to communicate the divine will. His dress, of white linen, consisted of (1) short breeches. (2) a coat without seam, reaching to the ankles; (3) a girdle; (4) a cap shaped like a cup. The priests were divided by David into twenty-four courses, each course usually officiating for a week at a time. The" second priest" of 2 Kings 25. 18 was probably the same as the "ruler of the house of God” (2 Chr. 31. 13; Neh. 11. 11) and the "captain of the temple" (Acts 4. 1; 5. 24). As teachers of the people the priests were superseded, first by the prophets, afterwards by the scribes. The "chief priests" of the New Tes tament were the acting high-priest, former high-priests still living, and members of these privileged families.

The HIGH-PRIEST was the spiritual chief of the nation. The head of the house of Aaron held this office. He was subject to special laws (Lev. 21). His special duties were to oversee the Sanctuary, its service, and its treasures; to perform the service of the day of atonement (q.v.), when he was required to enter the Holy of Holies; and to consult God by Urim and Thum mim (q.v.). It was after the Exile, and when Israel was under foreign domination, that the high-priest became also the political representative of the nation. His official garments, besides those common to the priests, were: 1. The ephod, or shoulder-dress of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen, interwoven with gold thread: 2 The breastplate, of the same material, which had, outside, twelve precious stones set in gold in four rows, each bearing the name of a tribe of Israel, and, inside, in a pocket, the Urim and Thummin; 3. The sleeveless robe of the ephod, of dark blue, with a fringe of pomegranates and bells; 4. The mitre, a turban, with a gold plate inscribed "Holy to Jehovah" (see Ex. 3; 3; Lev. 16).

PROPHETS [proph'ets]. The books which, in the Hebrew Bible, immediately follow the Pentateuch, are the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, which give a connected history of the nation from the death of Moses to the Babylonian Captivity, and all the books which we call prophetical, with the exception of Daniel. (See OLD TESTAMENT CANON.]

The "former prophets" are so called simply from their position.

Among the latter prophets, the "Twelve,” which are now usually termed minor prophets, have always gone together and been reckoned as one book, owing to their limited compass, which admitted of their being written on one roll.

The title "Prophets" is given to this whole addition, the historical books being written in a prophetic spirit, and presumably by prophetic men; but we have no precise notice of the citcumstances under which the addition was made. It must have been after the time of Malachi. The earliest available notices on the subject