Prentiss, Thomas, D.D., a Congregational min- ister, was born Oct. 27, 1717. at Holliston, Mass. lie graduated al Harvard Colleg< in 1766, entered the min- istry in 1769, and was ordained < >ct. 30, 1770, pastor in Medfield, where he continued until his death. Feb. 28, 1*1 I. During the Revolutionary struggle he was for a time chaplain in the army. Be was also identified with
differenl reform rements, and was a leader in tem-
p iram e r< form. He established a public library in the place of Ins pastorate, and greatly benefited the com- munity in many ways. He published, A Sermon on tin /I"';/ of Offending and Offended Brethren (1773): Religion and Morality United in th, Duty of Man, two
Bern s (1802): Professed Christians Cautioned, and
Evil Speakers Admonished, a sermon (1804):
and Danger of Strengthening tin Uands of Evil-doers, a
sermon (1805) ; and several occasional Sermons. — Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, i, 678.
Preparation i irapaoicevf)) in Mark xv. 42; Luke wiii. 54; John \i.\. 42, and Matt, x.wii. 62, is doubt- less the day or evening before the commencement of the Sabbath, with which, at that time, according to the Synoptical Gospels, coincided the tirst day of the Pass- "■■ i i. | lint Schneckenburger [ Beibagt \n>- Einleit. ins \. '/'.}<. l sq.] supposes the "preparation" in Matthew io mean the feast-day of the Easter period, and which was viewed as a preparatory festival to the 1'assover.) This day was devoted to preparation for the holyday
■ spa ially preparing food for the Sabbath. Mark explains the word by "the day before the Sabbath"
1 7rpoffdj8j3arov ; comp. Judith viii, 6; Josephus, Ant. scvi, 6, 2). The Jewish expression for it is xr~"~" (see Buxtorf. Lex. Talm. col. 1660). So, too, the Peshito
renders in the places quoted above. Every feast, like the Sabbath, had a preparation -day before it. which is often mentioned by the Talmudists (Deyling, <>l>.<in-. i. Hi'.': with ibis may be compared irapaoKEvf) rov iraoya, John xix. 14: Preparation for Easter, the llih of Nisan; comp. Bleek, Beitragi -»/■ Evangelienkritik, p. 114 sq.).— Winer. See Passover.
Prepon, an early Marcionite, was a native of As- syria, and flourished at the close of the 2d century. The Marcionites were then divided into several fac- tious, some of which admitted two original principles. as Potitus and Basilicus; others three (Rhodon, in Eu- sebius, Hist. Eccles. v. 13). To the latter belonged Pre- pon, who held thai, besides W bat is good and i vil, there is what constitutes a third principle, viz. what is just This intermediate principle Hippolytus identifies with
the - MuSa,"or impartial Reason of I Smpedodes, a mull
to whom is attributed the restoration to the good power Unity of what is disturbed by the wicked power Dis- cord (Ilippol. fjcer. Refut. vii. 19). A letter from Pre- pon to the Armenian Bardesanes is mentioned (PhUos. Lviii, 253).
Prerogative Court of the archbishop is. in Ro- man Catholic countries where the Church is -ranted extraordinary privileges, a conn of thai ecclesiastic wherein all testaments are proved and all administra- tions granted, when a party dying within the province has bona notabilia in some other diocese than where be dies; and is so called from having a prerogative through- out his whole province for the said purposes.
Presanctified. See Prjesanctifk mo.
Presburg, Council of (Concilium Presomensi ), an ecclesiastical gathering which convened on Nov. 10, b'.n'.'. and was presided over by the papal legate cardi- nal (i en til, of Hungary. Nine canons of discipline were published, of which the eighth forbids Christian women to marry infidels, heretics, or schismatics. See Labbe*, ' 'oncU. i \. 2 lo-k
Presbyter (<ir. Tr/jfcrpc-fpoc') is the title of an of- fice or dignity in the Jewish synagogue Opt). It was introduced into the Christian Church, and designated an officer whose functions in the apostolic period arc dis- puted by differenl ecclesiastical bodies, in the Roman Catholic and in the English hierarchy, the title has been the occasion of a protracted controversy as to the respective claims of the bishop (q.v.) and the presby- ter. Those who maintain the presbyter as on equality with the episcopos argue as follows: With respeel to the successors of the apostles, they seem to have been placed on a footing of perfect equality, the Siaucovoi, or deacons, not being included among (be teachers. They were inferior officers, whose province ii originally was to care for the poor, ami to discharge those secular du- ties arising oul of the formation of Christian communi- ties which could not be discharged by the ministers without interfering with the much higher duties which they had to perform. These ministers are sometimes
PRESBYTER
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PRESBYTER