itensium prim tpum Bibliotheca Prse-
isertationibus, ac notis uberrimia illustratum"
;.. fol. |. It is full of choice erudition,
but unfortunately lii- death cut it short, and it lacks
other services, Petavins de-
■ i be acknowledged as the first theologian
who brought into proper relations history and dog-
M ■ ri regards him as the restorer of dog-
ology. In the opinion of Gassendus (Vit.
P ■ ivius was the most consummate Bcholar
the Jesuits ever had; and indeed we cannot suppose
him tn have been inferior to the first Bcholai
order, -\% 1 1 i I. - we consider him waging war. a- he did
frequently with unsl Scaliger, Salmasius,
and other like chiefs in the republic of letters. His
judgment, as m ly easily be c leived, was inferior to
his learning; and his controversial writings are full of that Boumess and Bpleen which appears bo manifest in all the print- of li i- countenance. Bayle has ob- served that Petavius did the Socinians great service, though unawares and against his intentions. The original design, in the second volume of liis - to represent ingenuously the of the iir-t three centuries. Having no par- Btem i" defend, he • I i « I not carefully state the i. pinion- of the fathers, but only gave a general account of them. By tlii- means he unawares Led the public to rtaii : I ilse and absurd no- tions concerning the mystery of the Three Persons; insl lii- int. -mi. .)!-. furnished arguments and authorities t.i the Antitrinitarians. When made aware of this, and being willing to prevent the evil conse- whicfa he had not foreseen, he wrote his Pref- ace, in which he labored Bolely to assert tl rthodoxy
of the fathers, and thus was forced to contradict what idvanced in the Dogmata. (Comp. Bull, On ner, Gesch. a\ r apol ;/ I m. lit. vol. iv; idem, Gesch. der lcaihol. Th.nl. (Munich, 1866); Dupin, Nouvt '. . I »-
. \. : Simon, Hist, crit, des / 1 . Alzog, Kirchengesch. ii, 435 ; Christian I -'.. (J.H.W.)
Pe'tci t the Aram. N"i i •
Inally 8i . the leader amon : I
■onal disciples of Christ, and afterwards thi
11 treat tliis important
finite information from
nt and early < Ihnrch historians (using
in this portion largely the article in Smith'- Diction-
i subse- quent hi Winer, ii,
'■ i ., / l/e. The
& riptnn w, but not nnim-
ible ii- to form le estimate of the
circumstances under which the apostle's i haracter was i.d how he was prepared for his great work, man named Jon .- M itt. ta i. 17; John i, 48; xxl, 16), and was brought up in his fa- il, a fisherman on the w a of I I tn humble one, hut not.
mod, mean or servile, or Lncompatil le
PETER
with some degr< f mental culture. His family -were
probably in easy circumstances (see below). He and his brother Andrew wen- partners of .John and James, the sons of Zebedee, who had hired servants : and from carious indications in the sacred narrative we are led to the conclusion that their social position brought them into contact with men of education. In fact the trade of fishermen, supplying some of the important ■ ities on the coasts of that inland lake, may have bei □
tolerably remi rative, w hile all the necessaries of life
were cheap and abundant in the singularly rich and fertile district where the apostle resided. He did not live, as a mere laboring man, in a hut by the sea-side, but first at Bethsaida, and afterwards in a house ;.t
< lapernaum belonging to himself or his mother-in-law, « hich must have been ratlin- a large one. since be re-
< lived in it not only our Lord and his fellow-disciples, but multitudes who were attracted by the miracles and preaching of Jesus. It i> certain that when he left all to follow Christ, he made what he regarded, and what seems to have been admitted by his .Master, as being a considerable sacrifice (Matt, xix, 27). I he habits of -mil a life were by no mean- unfavorable to the development of a vigorous, earnest, and practical character, such as he displayed in after-years. The labors, t lie privations, and the perils of an existence passed in great part upon the waters of that beautiful but stormy lake, the long and anxious watching through the nights, were calculated to test and increase his natural powers, his fortitude, energy, and persever- ance. In tin- city he mii-t have been brought into contact with men engaged in traffic, with Boldiers and foreigners, and may have thus acquired somewhat of the flexibility and geniality of temperament all but in- dispensable to the attainment of such personal influ- ence as lie exercised in after-life. It is not probable that he and his brother were wholly uneducated. The .lews regarded instruction as a necessity, and legal en- actments enforced the attendance of youths in .-.lion];. maintained by the community. See Education. The statement in Acts iv. 13, that "the council perceived they (i. e. Peter and John) were unlearned and igno- rant men." is not incompatible with this assumption. The translation of the passage in the A. V. is rather exaggerated, the word rendered " unlearned" | iiiwrai) being nearly equivalent to •■laymen." i. e. men of or- dinary education, as contrasted with those who were specially trained in the schools of the rabbins. A man might be thoroughly conversant with the Scriptures, and yet be considered ignorant and unlearned by the rabbins, among whom the opinion was already preva- lent that ''the letter of Scripture was the mere shell, an earthen vessel containing heavenly treasures, which could only be discovered by those who had been taught t search for the hidden cabalistic meaning." Peter and his kin-men were probably taught to read the Scripture- in childhood. The history of their country, especially of the great event- of early days, must have been familiar to them as attendants at the synagogue, and their attention was there directed to tho-e portions of Holy Writ from which the Jews derived their an- ticipation- of the Messiah.