Pethahi'ah (Heb. Pethachyah', il^ltns, freed of Jehovah; Sept. <biSurt, Ezra x, 23; <Ptrrrri«c, Neh. ix, 5; (baSata, xi, 24; QtStiac, 1 Chron. xxiv, 16). The name of three men.
1. The head of the nineteenth course in David's di- vision of the priests (1 Chron. xxiv, 16). B.C. cir. 1020.
2. A Levite, who put away an idolatrous wife at the injunction of Ezra (Ezra x, 23), and joined in the hymn of praise and the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh. ix, 5). B.C. cir. 458.
3. A Hebrew, son of Meshezabeel, of the tribe of Ju- dah, who acted as counsellor of Artaxerxes in matters concerning the Jews (Neh. xi, 24). B.C. cir. 446.
Pe'tlicr (Heb. Pethor', -ilDS, opened,- Sept. $n- Bovpa ; but in Dent, xxiii, 6 Sept. omits), the name of a place in Mesopotamia, on the Euphrates, the native country of Balaam, to which Balak sent for him to come and curse Israel (Numb, xxii, 5; Deut. xxiii. 5). It is supposed to have been near Tiphsah, on the Eu- phrates, but this is altogether uncertain. See Balaam. The name occurs in the cuneiform inscriptions (q. v.).
Pethu'el (Heb. Pethuel', bxiirs, stamp or engrav- ing of God; but according to others, i. q. bx'T", Me- thuel', i. e.folk of God; Sept. BaSrovijX), the father of the prophet Joel (Joel i, 1). B.C. ante 800.
Petillianists, those who adhered to the party of PetiMian, the Donatist bishop of Carthage, in his con- troversy with St. Augustine.
Petit, Samuel, a celebrated French scholar, was born at Nismes in 1594. He studied at Geneva with such success that at the age of seventeen he was ad- mitted to the sacred ministry. Soon after he was raised to the professorship of theology, and of Greek
39 PETITOT
and Hebrew, in that city. He died in 1645. He was a man of vast and profound erudition. He published Varice kctiones in S. Scripturam ( in the Critici Sac. vol. viii). His other works are, Miscellaneorum libri ix:—Eclogce Chronological :— Diatribe de Jure, Princi- pvm Edictis, etc. : — Diatribe de Dissidwrum Causis, Effectis et Remediis.
Petit-Didier, Matthew, a learned French prel- ate of note, was born in Lorraine in 1659. He very early in life entered the Order of the Benedictines, and later became abbot of Seuones, and finally bishop of Macra {in partibus infidelium). He died in 1728. He is the author of several valuable works, among them, Traiti theologique sur Vauturit,' < t I'itfaUibilite des Papes (Avign. 1726, sm. 8vo). This work, asserting the infal- libility of the pope, has been attacked by various writ- ers, Komanist as well as Protestant, especially by Len- fant at the end of his Hist, of the Council of Constance. He also published several critical, historical, and chro- nological dissertations on the Scriptures (1689-1728). His brother, Jean Joseph, who was a Jesuit, flourished from 1664 to 1756. See Darling. Cyclop. Bibliogr. s. v.; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Auth. s. v. (J. H. W. )
Petition, according to Dr. Watts, is the fourth part of prayer, and includes a desire of deliverance from evil, and a request of good things to be bestowed. On both these accounts petitions are to be offered up to God, not only for ourselves, but for our fellow -creatures also. This part of prayer is frequently called intercession. See Peayeb.
Petitot, Jean, an eminent French painter in en- amel, is noted especially as a Huguenot who spurned all efforts for his conversion, and, notwithstanding the personal intercession for his recall to Romanism on the part of king Louis XIV, died as he lived, a pious Prot- estant. Petitot was the son of a sculptor and architect, and was born at Geneva in 1607. Being designed for the trade of a jeweller, he was placed under the direc- tion of Bordier, and in this occupation was engaged in the preparation of enamels for the jewelry business. He was so successful in the production of colors that he was advised by Bordier to attempt portraits. They conjointly made several trials, and though they still wanted many colors which they knew not how to pre- pare for the fire, their attempts had great success. After some time they went to Italy, where they consulted the most eminent chemists, and made considerable progress in their art, but it was in England, whither they re- moved after a few years, that they perfected it. In London they became acquainted with Sir Theodore Mayern, first physician to Charles I, and an intelligent chemist, who had by his experiments discovered the principal colors proper to be used in enamel, and the means of vitrifying them, so that they surpassed the boasted enamelling of Venice and Limoges. Petitot was introduced by Mayern to the king, who retained him in his service and gave him apartments in White- hall. He painted the portraits of Charles and the royal family several times, and copied many pictures, after Vandyck, which are considered his finest works. That painter greatly assisted him by his advice, and the king frequently went to see him paint. On the death of Charles, Petitot retired to France with the exiled family. He was greatly noticed by Charles II. who in- troduced him to Louis XIV. Louis appointed him his painter in enamel, and granted him a pension and apart- ments in the Louvre. He painted the French king many times, and, among a vast number of portraits, those of the queens Anne of Austria and Maria Theresa. He also occupied himself in making copies from the most celebrated pictures of Mignard and Lebrun. Pe- titot, dreading the effects of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, solicited leave, but for a long time in vain, to return to Geneva. Finally the king, determined to save his painter, employed Bossuet to endeavor t c . con- vert him to Romanism ; in this effort, however, that elo-