THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
bingen, 1839; J. F. Simon, Etudes sur la theodicee de Platon et d'Aristote, Paris, 1840; C. B. Smyth, Christum Metaphysics, or Plato, Malebranche, and Gioberti Coinpared with the Modern Schools of Psychology, London, 1851; C. Morgan, An Investigation of the Trinity of Plato, Cambridge, 1853; D. Becker, Das philosophische System vlatons in seiner Beziehung zum christlichen Dogma, Leipsic, 1862; R. D. Hampton, The Fathers of Greek Philosophy, Edinburgh, 1862; G. Grote, Plato and the Other Companions of Socrates, London, 1865, 2d ed., 1867; B. F. Cocker, Christianity and Greek Philosophy, New York, 1870; A. E. Chaignet, La Vie et les ecrits de Platon, Paris, 1S71; J. AY Lake, Plato, Philo and Paid, Edinburgh, 1874; E. Zeller, Plato and the Old Academy, London, 1876; S. Y\~ Mendenhall, Plato and Paul, or Philosophy and Christianity, Cincinnati, 1886; E. W. Simson, Der Begriff der Seele bei Plato, Leipsic, 1889; J. Lipperheide, Thomas von Aquino und die platonische Ideenlehre, Munich, 1890; J. H. Stirling, Philosophy and Theology, Edinburgh, 1890; C. Benard, Platon: sa vie et sa philosophic, Paris, 1892; W Pater, Plato and Platonism, London and New York, 1893; J. W. G. van Oordt, Plato and the Times he Lived in, The Hague, 1895; H. Boeder, Platons philosophische Entwickelung, Leipsic, 1905; E. Reich, Plato as an Introduction to Modern Criticism of Life, London, 1906; C. Ritter, Platon, sein Leben, seine Schriften, seine Lehre, Munich, 1909; idem, Neue Untersuchungen uber Platon, ib., 1910; A. E. Taylor, Plato, New York, 1909. Much that is illustrative from a historical point of view will be found in the literature under Scholasticism.
PLEASURE: An agreeable and gratifying feeling or desire which awakens in the person experiencing it a wish for its continuance or renewal. Neither the feeling nor the impulse is necessarily sinful, for desire and its gratification are essential to a complete life. Just as the man who takes pleasure in nothing is unhealthy, so one who seeks and desires nothing is in danger of becoming both mentally and morally a nonentity. Ethically, pleasure, both as feeling and desire, is determined by its relation to the ego, by the free personality of man, and by its object. Where, as in the ethics of Democritus, Epicurus, Protagoras, and others, the ego exalts its own natural sensations and desires into a norm of life, pleasure decides what is good and what is bad. On the other hand, the personality that has submitted itself to the divine will determines for itself what shall be pleasure and pain. It is divine revelation that guides man here, so that the Psalmist can say, " Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart " (Ps. xxxvii. 4; cf. i. 2, lxxiii. 23-28, cxi. 2, cxii. 1, cxix.) ; and the New Testament makes communion with God the highest and most perfect pleasure of the Christian (cf. II Cor. v. 15; Gal. ii. 20; John xvii. 23). This pleasure, however, does not exclude the enjoyment of other pleasures. Pleasure in the true (science) and the beautiful (art), and even bodily pleasures in moderation, as in eating and in general comfort, are proper and consistent with the Christian life. Extreme asceticism is unchristian (I Tim. iv. 3-5; Col. ii. 16- 23) . Pleasure- becomes sin only when the accompanying desire becomes lust, overpowers the will, and enslaves the personality. As a guard against this the moderate asceticism of Paul may be recommended (I Cor. ix. 27; Phil. iv. 11-13).
While desire is an essential element of human nature, it requires a curb. According to Roman Catholic doctrine, this was a special gift of grace bestowed upon Adam, without which man would be completely given up to sensuality. Desire in
the first man was originally directed by God; but Adam renounced this guidance, and desire became concupiscence and lust, this depravity being transmitted by man's first parents to the entire human race. At times Paul uses " lust " as synonymous with " sin " (Rom. vii. 7); but in New-Testament usage the ethical character of desire, whether good or evil, depends upon the subject rather than upon the object (cf. John viii. 44; Rom. i. 24; Gal. v. 16; I John ii. 16). The duty of the Christian toward sinful natural impulses is set forth in Gal. v. 24 and Col. hi. 5.
The doctrinal difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism regarding original sin depends chiefly on their divergent interpretation of desire, the Council of Trent maintaining that, after the loss of the special gift of grace, man's nature was weakened, though neither the loss of his original righteousness nor the desire which remains even in the regenerate is necessarily sinful. Protestants ism, on the contrary, holds that desire is evil in itself. (Kakl Burgee.)
PLENARY (Liber plenarius): The term applied in the early Middle Ages to a missal containing all the liturgy appertaining to the mass, thus combining what was usually scattered through the sacramentary, gradual, and lectionary. Though such plenaries existed in the ninth century, the extant manuscript copies are not older than the eleventh. Later in the Middle Ages the plenaries were translated into German with various additions explanatory of the mass. The name was likewise applied to lectionaries containing the epistles and Gospels for Sundays and feasts, with glosses or postils on the Gospels; and the plenaries came to be called simply Gospel books or postils. With the Reformation the plenary vanished, none being known 'to have been issued after 1521. (P. Drews.)
Bibliography: J. Alzog, in Freiburger Diocesan- Archiv, viii (1874), 255 sqq.; M. F. A. G. Campbell, Annates dc la typographie neerlandaise au IB. siecle, The Hague, 1874 ; F. Falk, Die Druckkunst im Dienste der Kirche, pp. 29 sqq., Cologne, 1879; R. Cruel, Geschichte der deutschen Predigt im Mittelalter, pp. 533 sqq., Detmar, 1879.
PLITT, GUSTAV LEOPOLD: German Lutheran; b. at Genin, near Liibeck, Mar. 27, 1836; d. at Erlangen Sept. 10, 1880. He studied theology at the universities of Erlangen (1854-56, 1857-58) and Berlin (1856-57), and early in 1861 became privat-docent at the former institution, lecturing chiefly on church history and especially on the Reformation period and the life of Luther, and also on exegesis. At the same time he developed his literary activity, publishing Melanchtlions Loci communes in ihrer Urgestalt (Erlangen, 1864) and soon after his main work, Einleitung in die Augustana (2 vols., 1867-68). In 1867 Plitt was appointed associate professor. Besides continuing his work as an author, evidenced in his Aus Schetting's Leben, in Briefen (3 vols., Leipsic, 1869-70) and Kurze Geschichte der lutherischen Mission, in Vortrdgen (Erlangen, 1871), he took an active part as preacher at the university and in influencing practical church life.
In 1867 he became the head of the Bavarian