.... C.J.)
Primitive Wesleyan Methodisi Churi h oi [belaud. This body was formed in 1816, and was the result of a division in the Wesleyan Methodist Connec- tion in Inland. In that year the Irish Conference, by a majority of thirty-six in a house of eighty-eight, rc- solved to authorize the preachers of the Connection to administer the sacraments. As a result of this decision, most of the minority separated from the parent body, and. being followed by a large section of the lay mem- bers, organized tin- Primitive Wesleyan Methodist Con- nection. Until a few years ago they did not assume to be a Church, but merely a society composed of mem- bers of the Established Church of Ireland. The great changes produced by the disendowment and disestab- lish in of this Church in 1K70, together with an in- creasing desire in the society for the administration of the sacraments at the hands of their own preachers, led to a complete change in the constitution of the body, and the members have now the option of partaking of t he ordinances from their own ministers in their churches. The statistics printed in the < '(inference minutes of 1876 are, 58 effective ministers. 13 superannuates, ill churches, and 7518 members of society. An annual missionary income of $15,000 in gold is devoted to the
Support of the ministers on the | rcr circuits. Over
$75,000 in gold is invested as a fund for the support of superannuated ministers. Negotiations are at present in progress to effect a union with the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Ireland, the constitution of the two churches hein^ now almost identical. (G. C.J.)
Primogeniture (denoted in Heb. by rl*1!!:2; Sept. irpiDToruKia, Gen. xxv, 31, 04; xxvii, 26; Deut. xxi, 17; 1 Chron. v, 1; in the New Test, only in Heb. xii, 16; A. V. "birthright"). UpwrvroKor, always rendered " first-bom" in the English version, is found in the Sept. in Gen. iv, 1; Deut. xxi, 17, and several other passages of the « >ld Test., as the representative of the Hebrew 1133, signifying "one who openeth the womb," whether an only child, or whether other chil- dren follow. " Primogenitus est, non post quern alii, sed ante quern nullus alius genitus" (Pareus). Tlputro-
70K0J is found nine times in the New 'lest. viz. .Matt.
i. 25 (if the passage be genuine, and not introduced from the parallel passage in Luke); Luke ii. 7; Rom. viii, 29; CoL i. 15, 18; Heb. i, 6; xi. 28; xii. 23; Rev. i. •"'• Except in the Gospels, and Heb. xi. 28, the word always hears a metaphorical sens,, in the New Test., being generally synonymous with heir »r lord,
and having, in Heb. i. 6, an especial reference I c
Lord's Messianic dignity. In Heb. xii. 23, "the as- sembly of the first-born," it Beems to be synonymous with "elect," or "dearly beloved," in which sense it is also used on one occasion in the < >ld Test. (Jer. xxxi. 9).
In the lib century, Helvidius among the Latins. nnu Eunomius among the Greeks, wished to attach a sig- nification to TrpwroTOKog, in Matt, i and Luke ii, differ- ent from the Old-Test, usage, maintaining, in order to support their hypothesis viz. that Joseph and Mary had children after the birth of our Lord— that the word —pwTuTOKoc. by reason of its etymology, could not be applied to an only child. Jerome replied to the former by appealing to the usage of the word in the Old Test. {Adv. Heloid. in Matt, i, 9). The assertion of Eunomius was equally refuted by the Greek fathers Basil (Horn, in \nt.\ Theophylact (tn Luc. ii), and Damascenua (De Fid. Orthod. 1. iv). In reference to this controversy. 1 )rn>iu- (Ad difficiliora loca Num. c. in observes: "Sic sane Christus vocatur npur&ro- koc, licet mater ejus nullos alios postea liberos habu- erit. Motet hoc juvenilis propter Helvidium, qui ex ea voce inferebat Mariana ex Josepho post Christum natum plures filios Buscepisse." -Those entitled to the prerogative" (viz. of birthright), observes Campbell (On the Gospels), "were invariably denominated the first-born, whether the parents had issue afterwards or not." Eunomius further maintains, from Col. i. 15, that our Lord was "a creature-.'' but his arguments were re- plied to by Basil and Theophylact, Some of the fa- thers referred this passage to Christ's pre -existence, others to his baptism. In La. xiv. 30, the "lirst-born
of the poor" signifies the | rest of all; and in Job
xviii, 13, the "tirst-born of death" means the mosl ter- rible of deaths.— Kitto. It is noteworthy that in our Lord's genealogy the line is frequently carried through a younger sun (Seth, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ju- dah. David, Solomon, Nathan, etc.). See First-born.
Frimum Mobile, the primitive movable i lement, is, in its proper signification, the original matter of the world (prima materia). The ancients understood by it the exterior hollow sphere which was supposed to in- clude and put in motion the remainder of the universe i fixed stars and planets) : a quite arbitrary supposition. Primal mover would be the principle of all motion, or the first moving cause. According to Aristotle, this cause is Cod. who. while motionless himself, puts all the rest in motion, and is therefore called by the philoso- pher rd irpHrov kivovv. See Aristotle. Phys. viii, •'>; Degenerat. et corrupt, i. 7: ii. 7.