THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Clifton College (1862-78), president of Trinity College, Oxford (1878-87); and headmaster of Rugby School (1887-95); examining chaplain to the bishop of Exeter (1869-82), and to the bishop of London (1884-86); prebendary of Exeter (1871- 18S2); canon of Bristol (1882-87); select preacher at Oxford in 1882 and 1888. In 1895 he was consecrated bishop of Hereford.
PEREIRA DE FIGUEIREDO, ANTONIO: B. at
Macao (85 m. n.e. of Lisbon) Feb. 14, 1725; d. at Lisbon Aug. 14, 1797. He was educated by the Jesuits at Villa- Vicosa, and entered the society of the Fathers of the Oratory; he devoted himself to art and literature, and attracted much attention by his Exercicios da lingua Lalina e Portugueza (Lisbon, 1751-52) and his Novo methodo da grammatica Latina (1752-53). In the contest between Don Joze I. and the ultramontanist party, he threw himself with violence on the royal side; wrote Doctrina veteris ecclesice (1765), Tentativa theologica (1766; French transl., Lyons, 1772; Eng. transl., Episcopal Rights and Ultramontane Usurpations, London, 1847). He was a protagonist of Pombal in his contention for the supremacy of the State over ecclesiastical persons and property; was appointed a member of the board of censors, 1768; counselor of foreign affairs and war, 1769; retired from his order in the same year; became minister of public instruction, 1772; and soon after a member of the Portuguese Academy of Science, and dean in 1792. The list of his works numbers 169. He translated the entire Bible into Portuguese with introduction and notes (23 vols., Lisbon, 1778-90). The translation is circulated by the British and Foreign Bible Society (London, 1819, 1821) and the American Bible Society (New York, 1857).
Bibliography: J. C. F. Hoefer, Nouvelle biographie generate, xxxix. 572, 46 vols., Paris, 1852-66; KL, ix. 1805-07; Lichtenberger, ESR, x. 455-456.
PERFECTION: In the widest sense of the term, realization of the ideal harmony of the phenomenon v :th its ideal expression. Within the sphere of religion and morality it is that purity and potency of divine fellowship and human activity which evokes the full approbation of the religious and moral conscience. At the same time, genuine perfection must be distinguished from the lower grade of subjection to the law, such as was possessed by Paul while still a Pharisee (Gal. i. 14; Phil. iffl. 6). In Greek philosophy the Stoic system, followed here by Cicero, distinguished between the morality of the virtuous sage, who had attained perfection through the suppression of all passion, and the average morality practised by the masses. Rabbinical literature made a threefold ethical division into perfect, ordinary, and deficient morality, the criterion being the degree in which each individual concerned fulfilled the law. Jewish concepts such as those just noted were carried over into the early Church, and a twofold standard of perfection arose, as is shown not only by the Didache, but also by the De opere et eleemosynis of Cyprian and the De officiis clericorum of Ambrose. The process was aided by the rise of monasticism, which came to be regarded as the type of perfection, with its exaltation of celibacy and asceticism. Augustine, on the other hand,
maintained that grace is necessary to perfection, and that, since sinlessness is impossible on earth perfection can be realized only in the life to come.
The typical medieval doctrine of perfection was developed by Thomas Aquinas (Summa, II., ii., qumstio 184). He accepted the distinction between " beginners, progressing, and perfect," and he delimited earthly perfection as compared both with the perfection of God and that of those made perfect. The highest perfection attainable by the " beginners " and those " progressing " is that which excludes both the mortal sins which oppose love of God, and also all that hinders the soul from turning entirely to God. Thus the condition of perfection was found in monasticism, although Thomas held that ascetic practises were only a means to an end. But while the laity can, and must, reach a certain stage of perfection, the highest is attained through a " spiritual augment." For the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church see Perfectionism.
Protestantism, proceeding from the theory that ethical conduct is evidenced in love of one's neighbor, denied all* value to asceticism and rejected the distinction between clerical and lay perfection, maintaining that it was equally possible of attainment by all (cf. Augsburg Confession, xxvii.). At the same time, Protestant dogmatic theologians emphasized the imperfection of the utmost holiness possible on earth, though with the rise of pietism was involved a marked tendency to seek absolute perfection.
From the time of the primitive Church perfection and sinlessness have been identified (I John i. 9). The Gnostics, influenced by Platonic and Stoic philosophy, ascribed perfection to the Pneumatics (q.v.), and Anabaptists likewise claimed to be able to attain perfection. Similar views are held by many Methodists. While, however, the concept of perfection is essential to Christian ethics (cf. Matt. v. 48; Col. iii. 14), perfection and sinlessness are not to be equated (cf. I John iii. 6, 9 with i. 10). John, in the passages just noted, implies simply that sinful activity as such is not included in the regenerated personality, even though the fleshly nature may still sin in defiance of the vital impulses of the child of God. Adherents of the teaching of perfection are apt to take a superficial view which passively measures perfection by the absence of faults, and neglects the active discharge of virtuous obligations, these evils being intensified by a failure to recognize personal faults since such recognition would stultify the claims made to perfection.
Perfection is not a universal Christian predicate, as is shown by Paul's distinction between children and perfect, between carnal and spiritual (I Cor. ii. 6, iii. 1, xiv. 20; Eph. iv. 13-14). Discipleship and its moral authentication are clearly differentiated by Christ himself (Matt. vii. 21 sqq., xxv. 34 sqq.; John xv. 2 sqq.), who also represents the life of faith as a process of development (Luke xix. 12 sqq.; John viii. 31, etc.). The same position is held in apostolic teaching (Eph. iv. 13-14; Col. i. 28; II Tim. iii. 17). Paul sees Christian perfection in love (I Cor. xiii.; Col. iii. 12-14); and the same position is maintained in the Gospels, where per-