was born at Romorantin, in Low Blesois, in 1G2G. Be- longing to a family which had early and fervently em- braced ihe liefurnied theology, Claude Pajon was edu- cated with great care in order that he might prove faithful to the good cause, and when he decided to en- ter the work of the ministry he was sent to the theo- logical school at Saumur, where, under Amyraut, Pla- cjeus, and Capellus, he prepared for his life-work. In 1650 he was made pastor at Marchenoir, and he held that place until lUGG, when he was called to a professor- slilp in divinity at his alma mater, as successor of the much-distinguished Amyraut (q. v.). That good man held heterodox views on the Calvinistic doctrines of predestination and grace. Pajon in like manner stirred up considerable agitation by his peculiar views on these subjects. He denied the immediate concursus in provi- dence, and the direct influence of the Holy Spirit in conversion. The gracious influence of the Holy Spirit he held to be so intimately united with the eflicacy of the Word that there was no possibility of an immediate influence of the Spirit upon the heart; that its influence Avas principally upon the understanding, through the medium of the Scriptures and the whole course of a man's life. These views, which were proclaimed against by the extreme Calvinists as Pelagianism, brought him into disrepute, and he felt compelled to resign his pro- fessorship. In 1GG8 he accepted a call as pastor to the Protestant Church at Orleans; but, as he continued to advocate his heterodox teachings, he encountered the combined opposition of the leading theologians of the French Protestant Church, and was subjected to much annoyance and severe treatment. By the influence of Jurieu and others, several synods were held to consider his heretical dogmas, and, in spite of many friends who rallied to his defence and support, he was condemned by the synods, first in 1677, and at several synods following. The Academy of Sedan also condemned his doctrines, and that without a liearing; and when he desired to defend himself, the privilege was denied him on the ground that he only wished an opportunity to propa- gate his heresy. Pajon died Sept, 27, 1695, at Carre, near Orleans. His views found advocates, and Pajon- ism is not an extinct heresy in our daj'. The origin of the heresy, we think, is easily accounted for. The French Church had originally adopted the unmodi- fied Calvinistic predestination dogma. Many of the thinking minds of the French Protestant Church sought for a milder doctrine more in harmony with a common- sense interpretation of the Scriptures. Consequently there arose contentions and divisions in the French Church as far back as the opening of the 17th centurj-. John Cameron, the Scotch professor of divinity at Se- dan, and later at Saumur, advocated a moderated scheme of election, and it is therefore not particularly won- derful that the French theologians Amyraut, Placfeus, and Pajon should have tried their skilful hand in the pruning of a tree whose fruit the masses would not rel- ish as it first came to them. See Predestination. Among the ablest advocates of Pajonism were Isaac Pa- pin (q. v.), Lenfant, Alix, Du Tidal, and many others. Of the fifty works which Pajon composed, he published only tliree: Sermon on 2 Corinthians Hi, 17 (Saumur, 166(!), the doctrines of which were more clearly set forth by Isaac Pajiiu under the name of Pajonism : — A)i Ex- amination of the Lefjal Precedents {of P. Nicole) (q. v.) (Orleans, 1G73, 2 vols.); an excellent defence of the Protestant faith against the Romanists: — Remarks on ihe Pastoral Call (Amsterdam, 1685). The doctrinal views of Pajon were especially answered with ability from the Kcformed side by Claude and Jurieu, Trait e de la Xature et de la Grace, ou de Concours general de la Providence, et du Concours particulier de Grace efficace, contre les nouvelles Hypotheses de M. P. [a/om] et de ses Disciples (Utrecht, 1687); also by Lcydecker and Span- heim : from the Lutheran side hj' Val. Ernest Lcischer (Exercifatio Theol. de Claudii Pajonii ejusque Sectator- ibus quos Pajonistas vacant Doctrina et Falls [Lips.
1692]). On the relation between his individual opin- ion and the general dogmatic sj'stem of the Reformed Church, and on its significance in the Reformed the- ology, see Zeller's Theol. Jahi-b. 1852, 1853; Schweizer, Centrcddof/men, ii, 564 sq. ; Ebrard, Dogmatik, vol. i, § 43 ; Gass, Dof/menfjesch. ii, 359 sq. ; Dorner, Gesch. d. prot. Theol. p. 448 sq. ; Frank, Gesch, d. pi'ot. Theol. ii, 49 sq. See also Schrockh, Kirchengesch. s. d. Ref viii, 722 sq. ; De Chaufepie, Dictionnaire historique, s. v.; Herzog, Real-EncyUopddie, x, 775-778. (J. H.W.)
Pajon, Louis-Esaie, a member of the same fam- ily, was born May 21, 1725, at Paris, and died July 24, 1796, at Berlin. He served the French churches of Leipsic and of Berlin, and became a counsellor of the consistory. He edited Beausobre's Hist, of the Reforma- tion, and translated the Moral Lessons of Gellert (Leips. 1772, 2 vols.). See Hoefer, Kouv. Biog. Generule, s. v.
Pajonism. See Pajon, Claude.
Pak.ington, Dohothy, a learned English author- ess, who wrote much on practical religious topics, flour- ished near the middle of the 17th century. She was the daughter of lord Coventry and wife of Sir John Pakington. She died in 1G79. She was highly es- teemed b}' her contemporaries for her piety and virtues. She wrote. The Gentleman's Calling: — The Lady's Call- ing (Oxf. 1675, 8vo) : — The Government of the Tongue: — The Christian's Birthright : — The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety : — The Art of Contentment (edited by Pridden, 1841, fcp. 8vo). At the time of her death she was employed on a work entitled The Government of the Thoughts. This lady is one of the many to whom has been ascribed also the authorship of The Whole Duty of Man. Dr. Hicks, in the dedication of his Anglo- Saxon Grammar to Sir John Pakington, favors this impression, and Sir James jNIackintosb {Edinb. Rev. xliv, 4, n.) adopts this theory. The subject is treated at some length in the article '• Hawkins, W. B." in Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Ame?: Authors, ii, 803.