THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
under the direction of Frederic Harrison and Richard Congreve, and in France principally under that of Pierre Laffitte in Paris. When the latter died in 1903, it was felt by many that " orthodox " Positivism was near its end; but although the section of Comte's followers which still preserves a certain type of religious feeling is yet in existence, it can not be said that they adhere closely to his prescriptions. Their formulas vary, in fact, between a weakly naturalistic deism and a radical atheism. The group of positivists which grew up around Francis Ellingwood Abbot in America about 1870 called themselves the professors of a " Free Religion," and their views, as expressed in Abbot's " Fifty Affirmations," were in many ways much more radical than Comte's. Of a similar nature are some manifestations of free thought in France and Belgium, as they appear in Eugene Semerie's periodical La Politique positive (Paris and Versailles), in Jean Francois Eugene Robinet's Le Radical, and in Edgar Monteil's Catechisme du libre-penseur (Antwerp, 1877), in which atheism is partially concealed by a few phrases which have a theistic ring, and a corresponding scheme of morality is taught which is in its essence mere Epicureanism. The German free-thinking sects founded by Eduard Lowenthal and Eduard Reich are really German products, with no closely demonstrable connection with Comte, though some things about them (such as the title of the latter, the Church of Humanity) are reminiscent of his teaching. For an English analogy to Comte's Positivism under the leadership of George Jacob Holyoake, Charles Bradlaugh, etc., see Secularism. (O. ZocKLERf.)
Bibliography: Besides the literature in and under the article on Comte (q.v.), where the sources are given in extenso, consult: C. de Blignieres, Exposition abregee de la philosophie et de la religion positive, Paris, 1857; idem, Le Doctrine Positive, ib. 1867; idem. Etudes de moral positive, ib. 1868; L. Pinel, Essai de philosophie positive, 2d ed., ib. 1857; 0. Pellarin, Essai critique sur la philosophie positive, ib. 1864; J. H. Bridges, Unity of Compte's Life and Doctrine, London, 1866; F. B. Barton, An Outline of the Positive Religion, ib. 1867; J. Ladevi-Roche, Le Positivisme au tribunal de la science, Paris, 1867; J. Douboul, Le Positivisme: sa methode ses antecedentes et ses consequences, Paris, 1867; L. Andre-Nuytz, Le Positivisme pour tous, Paris, 1868; A. Angiulli, La Filosofia e la Ricerca positiva, Naples, 1868; R. Ardigd, Opere filosofiche, 7 vols., Padua, 1869-94; A. d'Assier, Essai de philosophie positive au xix. siecle, Paris, 1870; T. H. Huxley, Lay Sermons, London, 1870; P. Alex, Du droit et du positivisme, Paris, 1876; L.Adrian, Essais sur quelques points de philosophie positive, ib. 1877; M. Chateauneuf, Le Positivisme et la materialisme devant la loi du progres, ib. 1877; E. Littre, Aug. Comte et la philosophie positive, 3d ed., ib. 1877; G. Barzellotti, La Morale delle Filosofie positive. New York, 1878; R. Flint, Anti- Theistic Theories, Edinburgh, 1879; idem, Philosophy of History, ib. 1874; idem, Agnosticism, ib. 1903; L. Liard, La Science positive et la metaphysique, Paris, 1879; E. Laas, Idealismus und Positivismus, 3 vols., Berlin, 1879- 1884; E. H. Beesly, Comte as a Moral Type, London, 1880; J. H. Bridges, Comte's General View of Positivism, ib. 1880; J. Kaines, Seven Lectures on the Doctrine of Positivism, ib. 1880; J. F. E. Robinet, Le Positivisme, Paris, 1881; P. de Broglie, Le Positivisme et la science experimentale, 2 vols., ib. 1882; G. Allievo, Del Positivismo, Turin, 1883; J. H. Bridges, Comte, the Successor of Aristotle, London, 1883; E. Caro, Littri et la positivisme, Paris, 1883; E. Caird, The Social Philosophy and Religion of Comte, Glasgow, 1885; P. Vallet, Le Kantisme et la positivisme, Paris, 1887; A. J. Balfour, Religion of Humanity, London, 1888; W. Bender, Das Wesen der Religion, Bonn, 1888; W. Cunningham, The Path towards Knowledge, pp. 147-163, London, 1891; H. D. Hutton, Comte, the
Man and Founder, London, 1891; E. de Roberty, La Philosophie du siecle: criticisme, positivisme, 4volutionisme, Paris, 1891; H. D. Hutton, Comte's Life and Work Exceptional, but finally Normal, London, 1892' E. de Roberty, Aug. Comte et H. Spencer, Paris, 1894; L. M. Billia, La Crisi del Positivismo, Parma, 1895; J. Halleux, Les Principes du positivisme, Paris, 1896; C. Hillemand, La Vie et V muvre d'Auguste Comte, ib. 1898; J. Watson, Comte, Mill and Spencer, 2d ed., London, 1898; C. Gilardoni, Le Positivisme, Vitry-le-Frangois, 1899; G. de Greef, Problemes de philosophie positive, Paris, 1900; L. Levy-Bruhl, La Philosophie d'Auguste Comte, ib. 1900; P. Batiffol, Htudes d'histoire el de theologie positive, ib. 1902; E. Rignano, La Sociologie dans le cours de la philosophie positive, ib. 1902; A. Baumann, La Religion positive, ib. 1903; E. Corra, La Philosophie positive, ib. 1904; P. Grimanelli, La Crise morale et le positivisme, ib. 1904; W. Schmidt, Der Kampf der Weltanschauungen, Berlin, 1904; J. H. Bridges, Illustrations of Positivism, London, 1907; F. Harrison, The Creed of a Layman: Apologia pro fide mea, London and New York, 1907; and cf. list of magazine literature in Richardson, Encyclopaedia, pp. 866-867.
POSSESSION, DEMONIACAL. See Demoniac.
POSSEVINO, pos"se-vi'no, ANTONIO: Italian Jesuit, diplomat, and scholar; b. at Mantua 1534; d. at Ferrara Feb. 26, 1611. He was a zealous opponent of Protestantism, first in the Waldensian valleys, and later in France, and especially at Avignon and Lyons. In 1577 Gregory XIII. commissioned him to labor in the cause of recovering the Swedish court and people to the Roman Catholic Church, and as an imperial envoy he made good use of the friendly ties that subsisted, through marriage, with the royal family of Poland. His enterprise failed, however, for the pope would have nothing to do with the ecclesiastical compromises introduced by King John III. Possevino then labored in Poland and Russia until he was recalled to Italy in 1586. Here he devoted himself to literary work, the results including Apparatus sacer ad scriptores Veteris et Novi Testamenti (3 vols., Venice, 1603-06); Moscovia (Wilna, 1586); and Bibliotheca selecta studiorum (2 vols., Rome, 1593).
K. Beneath.
Bibliography: J. d'Origny, La Vie du Pere A. Possevin, Paris, 1712; Lichtenberger, x. 697-699; KL, x. 235-238. An answer to his Apparatus was made by T. James, A Treatise of the Corruption of Scripture . together with a sufficient Answer unto A. Possevine, London, 1611.
POSSIDIUS, SAINT: Biographer of Augustine; d. after 437 Nothing is known of his life until 390 or 391, except that he was from northern Africa and was a pupil of Augustine and his intimate friend for forty years. In 397 he seems to have been consecrated bishop of Calama in Numidia, and he continually cooperated with Augustine in the struggle against paganism and in the war upon the heretics of the period, Arians, Manicheans, Donatists, Priscillianists, and Pelagians (see Augustine, Saint, op Hippo). The extirpation of the heretics, especially the Pelagians, was doubtless due to the synodal activity of Augustine and Possidius. Between 394 and 424 Augustine summoned twenty synods mostly at Carthage; and while the signature of the bishop of Calama can scarcely be proved, his energy at one of the Carthaginian synods against the Pelagians won the praise of Innocent I. in his Inter cceteras Romance of Jan. 27, 417 (MPL, xxxiii. 783). In 429 northern Africa