Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible / by the late Mr. Charles Taylor, with the fragments incorporated. The whole condensed and arranged in alphabetical order; with numerous additions.

Antoine Augustin Calmet

Date:: 1833

Credit: Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible / by the late Mr. Charles Taylor, with the fragments incorporated. The whole condensed and arranged in alphabetical order; with numerous additions. Source: Wellcome Collection.

755/996 page 733

$This, however, is a very difficult subject. We may certainly conclude, that when God proposes an end, he also proposes the means; when he appoints an effect, he also appoints the causes. Now, where is the essential difference, if we say, God foresaw the elect would be holy, therefore chose them; or, God chose the elect, to make them holy P because, since their holiness is not from themselves, but from him, he must determine to bestow on them that which they have not of themselves. The difference therefore is in the order only, that is, whether God determined to elect A. B., purposing' his holiness, or determined to make A. B. holy, purposing' his election. But observe, that God’s determination to render A. B. holy is, in fact, an election of him ; an election which implies salvation ; and since this principle places an election of the party previous to its effects, it seems to be much more reasonable than contingency in any shape. Espe- cially, considering that all things are known to God, from the beginning to the end, so that he has no need to stay till a certain event has taken place before he can adjust the following event, but in his divine, infi- nite, and intimate foreknowledge of things, that which is to follow is equally present with him, as that which is to precede. And, doubtless, we had better on this subject not only think and speak with the most pro- found reverence, feeling our ignorance, and our scanty powers; but endeavour to persuade ourselves thoroughly of the infinite goodness, wisdom, and love of God, and bind ourselves to submit heartily to these attributes, and their operations, rather than to perplex ourselves, and to render ourselves unhappy, about appointments w hose concatenation, and universal influence, are in- finitely beyond our ken. If we see one single link in the chain of the Divine government, considered as compounded of cause and effect, what proportion does this bear to that infinitely prolonged combination of things, of which the Divine mind only is capable of surveying at once both the extremes, and together with the extremes every connecting link, every acting cause, and every produced effect; from the most trivial, as w e call it, to the most considerable, in our estimation. W e say, in our estimation; because there is no lesser and greater in the sight of God ; but, eacli being ap- pointed bv him, is of equal consequence in his appoint- ment, and is equally valued by las infinite wisdom. PRESS. This word is often used in Scripture not only for the machine by which grapes are squeezed, but also for the vessel, or vat, into which the wine runs from the press; that in which it is received and pre- served. Whence proceed these expressions : he diyyed a wine-press in his vineyard;—your presses shall run over with wine; thy presses shall hurst out with new wine ; to draw out of the press ; Zeeh they slew at the wine-press of Zeeh. It was a kind of subterraneous cistern, in which the wine was received and kept, till it was put into jars or vessels, of earth or wood. M e read in several titles of the Psalms, as viii. lxxx. lxxxiii. 1. “for the presses,” [on Gittith, Eng. Tr.] which is differently explained. Some think that these Psalms are songs of rejoicing for the vintage, and were chiefly sung at the feast of tabernacles, after the har- vest and the vintage. Others think that gittith sig- nifies an instrument of music. The fathers explain this in a spiritual sense, of the church of Christ, the mystical \ me, in which the press is built, according to the description of our Saviour in the Gospel. Calmet thinks the Hebrew may be translated, “ a psalm ad- dressed to the master of music, who presided over the band of Gittites.” In the temple were several bands of singers, of which some might be of the city Gath— Gathites. PRiETORIUM, a name given in the Gospels to the house in which dwelt the Roman governor of Jerusa- lem, Matt, xxvii. 27. Mark xv. 16. John xviii. 28, 33. Here he sat in his judicial capacity, and here Jesus was brought before him. Paul speaks also of the prae- torium (or palace) at Rome, in which he gave testimony to Christ, Phil. i. 13. Some think, that by this he means the palace of the emperor Nero ; and others, that he means the place where the Roman praetor sat to administer justice, that is, his tribunal. It is cer- tain that the emperor’s palace did not bear the name of tribunal; but Paul, being accustomed to call by this name the governor’s palace at Jerusalem, might give it to the emperor’s at Rome. Others have maintained, that under the name of the praetorium at Rome, Paul would express the camp of the praetorian soldiers, whither he might have been carried by the soldier that always accompanied him, and who was fastened to him by a chain, as the manner was among the Romans. PRIDE is a sin very odious to God and man, and Scripture condemns it in a multitude of places. What, indeed, is displayed in the whole sacred history but the pride, presumption, and vanity of men, overthrown? What else, but the humility, the meekness, the acknow- ledgment of human weakness, exalted, supported, and recompensed. “ God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. A man’s pride shall bring him low; but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. Pride goetli before destruction ; and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better is it to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” “ Pride” is also put for the hardness and insolence of a sinner, in opposition to sins of infirmity or ignorance : “ But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people,” Numb. xv. 30. And Deut. xvii. 12. “ And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest, or unto the judge, even that man shall die.” The Lord treated the Egyp- tians with rigour, because they acted with pride and insolence toward the Hebrews, Exod. xviii. 11. Job and the Psalmist have distinguished Pharaoh by the name of the proud, (Job xxvi. 12. Psal. lxxxix. 10.) and Isaiah (li. 9.) uses the same expression, to mark his destruction. Ezekiel says (xxxii. 12.) the Chal- deans shall destroy the pride, the insolence, the cruelty of Egypt. See Neb. ix. 16, 29. Scripture reproaches the Moabites with their pride ; and points them out under the name of children of haughtiness, or pride; for so we translate Numb, xxiv. 17. “ He shall destroy all the children of pride,” or haughtiness; which is confirmed by Jer. xlviii. 29. “ We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud,) his loftiness and his arrogancy, and his pride and the haughtiness of his heart.” Comp. Numb. xxi. 28. with Jer. xlviii. 45. Heb. Also Isa. xvi. 6. The pride of Jordan, expresses the inundations of that river, Jer. xii. 5; xiii. 9; xlix. 19. Zeeh. xi. 3. See Jordan. The pride and the proud often represent Babylon and the Babylonians, Isa. xiii. 19. “And Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha.” Jeremiah, (1. 31, 32.) speaking of the king of Babylon, says, “ Behold, I am against thee, 0 thou most proud, saith the Lord of hosts; for$