Princess (STliO, saraK) occurs but seldom in the Scriptures (1 Kings si, 3; Lain. i. I; elsewhere ••lady." See also Sarah); but the persons to whom it alludes. the daughters of kings, are frequently mentioned, and often with some reference to the splendor of their ap- parel. Thus we read of Tamar's ••garment of divers colors" i •_* Sam. xiii. 18), and the dress of the Egyptian i lie wife of Solomon, is described as -raiment of needlework," and -clothing of wrought gold" (I'sa. xlv. 13, 1 1 1. See Embroidery.
Princeton Theology. See Presbyterianism ; Theology.
Principalities and Powers. See Power.
Pringle, Francis, a minister of the Associate Presbyterian Church, was a native of Ireland, and was bom about the year 1750. He came to this country some time near the close of the last century, and died in N'ew Fork Citj in 1833. He preached a Sermon on tin Qualifications and Duties of the Ministers of Christ before the Associate Synod of Ireland (1796), which was published in Ireland and America; and a sermon of his on /'/"//< rfor ih< Prospi rify ofZion appeared in the Religious Monitor after his death. See Sprague, Annals of th Amer. Pulpit, ix. 64 sq.
Pringle, Sir John, a Scotch philosopher and phy- sieian. was born in Roxburghshire in 1707. He settled in Edinburgh about 1734, and alter 17 is resided in London, where he distinguished himself greatly, and became president of the Royal Society in 177:i. He was for a time professor of pneumatology and ethical philosophy in Edinburgh University. He died in 1782. lie divided pneumatics into the following parts: ]. A physical inquiry into the nature of such subtle and ma- terial Bubstances as are imperceptible to the senses, and known only from their operations. 2. The nature of
immaterial Bubstances coi cted with matter, in which
i- dei istrated, by natural evidence, the immortality
of the human bouI. 3. The nature of immaterial cre- ings tiol connected with matter. I. Natural
theology, or the existence and attributes of God de i-
strated from the lighl of nature. Kthics. nr moral phi- losophy, he divided into the theoretical and practical parts, in treating of which the authors he chiefly uses art ' ero, Marcus Antonius, Puffendorf, and lord Ma- con. Carlyle describes him as "an agreeable lecturer, though no master ol the science he taught." "His lectures were chiefly a compilation from lord Bacon's
works; and had it not I n for Puffendorf 8 small I k,
which he made his text, we should not have been in- structed in the rudiments of the BCience." Neverthe- less, we see that he discussed topics which must issue, seiner or later, in a scientific jurisprudence and politi- cal economy. See M'Cosb, Scottish Philosophy, p. 109.
Pringle, William, a Presbyterian minister, was born in Perth, Scotland, in 1790. His parents paid unat attention to his early culture, and. alter a success- ful study at the best bc! Is and at the Academy in
Perth, he finished his collegiate studies at the Univer- sity of Edinburgh. He then studied medicine, and, as soon as admitted to practice, emigrated to < lanada; but,
C tluding not to practice, be returned to Scotland,
studied theology in Glasgow under the Rev. John Dick, I>.1>.. was licensed April 15, 1823, and entered upon bis labors as a probationer, and as such preached for some time in Scotland, when he again left his native land, and came to the United States in the year 1827, and soon after joined the Associate Presbytery ot I lambridge. In June, 1830, he was ordained and installed pastor of i he Associate Congregation of Ryegate, \'t. He labored
faithfully in behalf ol this hi- only charge, and when
In- health failed him he resigned, June 21, 1852, after a ministry of twenty-two year-. He died Dec. 11. 1858. Mr. Pringle was a good writer, and some of hi- sermons bear marks of scholarly attainments. He was engaged during the last few years of hi- life upon a work called iln Cosmography of Scripture. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, I860, p. 159. (J. I.. S.)
Prior, Prioress, arc. according to the constitution of -e\ eral ecclesiastical orders, the heads of their mori-
[ asteries and nunneries. The prior is either tic first or sole authority in the monastery, or he is subordinated, as second leader, to a higher officer of the same monas- tery, the abbot (q. v.l. The latter case happens when the abbot makes use of his right to appoint in his place an assistant, a temporary \ i.ar (q. v.), who i- trusted with part of the prelate's attributes. Sometimes thi' statutes of the order prescribe that the prior shall lie. as the second head of the monastery, elected by the members, they assigning him a power of bis own. more or less independent ( De Stat. Monast. iii. 35). In other orders, as in that of the Benedictines, and even in some regular congregations, we find only one. or a
i few. principal monasteries— the mother abbeys, to which the others owe their origin, or whose subsequent reform
they have adopted subject to the direeli I abbots
or prelates, i.e. local superiors of the lir-t rank, while the inferior monasteries are administered by priors: the latter exercise the regular jurisdiction over the monk-. and are bound only in important matter- to obtain the consent of the prelate of the mother abbey. The same distinction subsists in the nunneries. Wetzer u. Welte, Kirc/u a- 1. 1 .r. s. v.