190 
PIN 
the Jews themfelves, and thofe of others that underftood 
thejewi(h cuftoms, and have written concerning them, 
that it was the cuftom of the Jews before our Saviour’s 
time, (and, as they affirm, from the beginning of their 
law,) to baptife as well as circumcife any profelyte that 
joined them from other nations, and with him, at his de- 
iire, his infant children likewife. Moreover, the advo¬ 
cates for infant-baptifm urge more diredtly the argument 
from circumciiion after this manner: The covenant made 
■with Abraham was a covenant of grace, by which fpiri- 
tual and eternal bleffings were promifed to him ; (fee 
Matt. xxii. 31,32. Heb. xi. 6. Rom. iv. 11-17. Gal.iii. 
6-18,29.) and, as fuch, comprehended both Jews and 
Gentiles, and their feed. Circumciiion was inftifuted by 
God as a token of that covenant, and, as fuch, he com¬ 
manded that it ffiould be adminiftered to the infant oft- 
fpring of his covenant-people. Gen. xvii. 1-4. And yet, 
though the covenant endureth, that ancient token of it 
is aboliffied; nor is there any external fign or feal of it, 
under the Chriftian difpenfation, except baptifm. We 
have, therefore, reafon to think, that this ordinance was 
intended to fucceed circumciiion, as it refembles it in 
many refpefts, and feems to be called the circumcijion of 
Chrift, by the apoftle Paul, Col.ii. 11, 12. And, inafmuch 
as circumcifion was adminiftered to infants, in token of 
this covenant, baptifm, being its fubftitute and antitype, 
ought to be adminiftered to infants likewife. Confult Ads 
ii. 39. Rum. xi. 17, &c. 
The Paedo-baptifts acknowledge that there is no direct 
and exprefs command to baptife infants ; but, appealing 
to the hiftory of the adminiftration of baptifm, they ap¬ 
prehend, that they have been able to trace fuch intima¬ 
tions at leaft of infant-baptifm, in the earlieft ages of the 
church, as may, to a high degree of probability, prove it 
to be an apoftolic, and confequently divine, inftitution. 
Tertullian, about one hundred years after the apoftles, 
though he ad vifes parents to defer baptiling their children, 
except when their lives were in danger, fpeaks of the prac¬ 
tice as generally received and obferved in his time. Cy¬ 
prian, about one hundred and fifty years after the apof¬ 
tles, is allowed by all to fpeak exprefsly of infant-bap¬ 
tifm as generally ufed in the church; and there are many 
paflages that exprefsly refer to infant-baptifm in the works 
of Origen, who was born of Chriltian parents; and, as his 
father was martyred in the year 202, when he was feven- 
teen years old, the remoter Chriftians of his family mult 
have been nearly contemporary with the apoftles. In the 
Apoftolic Conftitutions alfo, which are allowed to be very 
ancient, exprefs mention occurs of infant-baptifm, as 
commanded by Chrift. 
Such are the arguments in favour of infant-baptifm. 
See, on the other fide, the article Anabaptists, vol. i. 
and Baptism, and Baptists, vol. ii. See alfo, on this 
fiubjedt, Wall’s Hiltory of Infant-Baptifm, 4to. Wall’s 
Defence of the Hiftory againlt Gale, &c. 8vo. Towgood’s 
Baptifm of Infants, a reafonable Service. Fleming’s Plea 
for Infants, &c. 
PAiDO'PEIA, f. [from the Gr. toi?, a child.] That 
part of phylic which preferibes the proper management of 
children. 
PAsDOTHYS'IA, /. [Greek.] An inhuman cuftom, 
that prevailed amongft the ancient heathens, of facrificing • 
their children. Thus it is related in the Scriptures, that 
the king of Moab, being befieged by the Ifraelites in his 
capital, and reduced to great ftraits, took his eldeft fon, 
that ffiould have reigned in his ftead, and offered him for 
a burntTdffering upon the wall; on which the liege was 
railed. 2 Rings iii. 27. From Phoenicia this cruel prac¬ 
tice palled into Europe and Africa, and fpread itfelf far 
and wide; and it is reported that the Mexicans are at 
prefent guilty of it. 
PdEMA'NI, a people of Belgic Gaul, fuppofed to dwell 
in the prefent country at the weft of Luxemburg. 
PAS'NA, in ancient geography, an illand of the Atlantic 
Ocean, weft of the province of Tingitana. 
P JE O 
PASNO'E, f. in botany, the name of a very large tree 
which grows in Malabar. The refin, di('charged from the 
root, bark, fruit, and other parts of this tree, when boiled 
with oil, is ufed either for a hard or liquid pitch ; and is, 
in the Indian facrifices, fometimes burnt inftead of in- 
cenfe. The kernels of the fruit, when bruifed, and, in 
conjunction with warm water, levigated on a marble, 
ftrengthen the ftomach, remove a naufea and vomiting, 
and cure the cholera morbus. 
PAiN'ULA, or Penula, f. Among the ancient Ro¬ 
mans, a thick ffiort clofe-bodied garment, ufed for a de¬ 
fence againft cold and rain. 
PAL'ON, a celebrated phyfician, who cured the wounds 
which the gods received during the Trojan war. From 
him phyficians are fometimes called peeonii, and herbs fer- 
viceable in medicinal procefles pceoniee herbee. 
P-CEO'NIA, f. [fo named by the ancients, in memory 
of Paron the phyfician, whom Homer records as having 
cured Pluto with this herb, when he was wounded by 
Hercules ; but, fays Dr. Smith, “ we prefume its virtues 
are altogether referved for fuch auguft occafions, they 
having never been made manifeft on any other, as far as 
we can learn.” The 1rxiovia. of Diofcorides evidently ap¬ 
pears, by his very particular defeription, ta be ourP. of¬ 
ficinalis. What he diftinguiffies by the appellation of 
male and female, are now acknowledged to be two fpecies, 
though Linnaeus confidered them as varieties of one.] 
Pteony ; in botany, a genus of the clafs polyandria, order 
trigynia, natural order of multifiiiquse, (ranunculacese, 
Jujf.) Generic characters—Calyx : perianthium five¬ 
leaved, fmall, permanent; leaflets roundifh, concave, re¬ 
flex, unequal in fize and fituation. Corolla : petals five, 
roundifh, concave, narrower at the bafe, fpreading, very 
large. Stamina: filaments numerous (about three hun¬ 
dred), capillary, ffiort; antherae oblong, quadrangular, 
ereCl, four-celled, large. Piftillum: germs two to five, 
ovate, ereCt; ftyles none. Stigmas compreffed, oblong, 
blunt, coloured. Pericarpium : capfules as many, ovate- 
oblong, fpreading and reflex, tomentofe, one-ceiied, one- 
valved, opening longitudinally inwards. Seeds feveral, 
oval, ftiining, coloured, fattened to the opening future.— 
Ejjential CharaSler. Calyx five-leaved ; petals five ; ftyles 
none ; capfule many-feeded. 
1. Paeonia albiflora, or white-flowered peony: leaves 
ternate ; leaflets lobed, Alining; germs in threes, fmooth. 
Root brown, compofed of a few cylindrical or fufiform 
tubers, a fpan in length, united at top; the fleffi white, 
with little tafte. Stem from a radical leaflets ffieath, two 
feet high, the thicknefs of a reed, flender, round, with 
fcarcely-confpicuous grooves defeending from each pe¬ 
tiole down both fides ; green tinged with red, naked at 
bottom. Leaves alternate, on long round petioles, 
channelled above. The whole plant is very fmooth, and 
fliining. The ftem is often three-flowered, with the axils 
of the upper leaves putting forth long faftigiate pedun¬ 
cles. The calyx is raifed above the floral leaf on a very 
ffiort thick peduncle, and is four-leaved; the two outer 
leaflets narrow, green, acuminate ; the two inner broad- 
concave, fubacuminate, pale-red. Petals eight, very 
large, milk-white, oval, concave. Stamens about a hun¬ 
dred and fifty, with the filaments as well as antherae yel¬ 
low. Antherae oblong, ereCt, four-grooved. Seeds, when 
ripe, of a yellowifli teftaceous colour, and oval-globular. 
It differs from the common peony (P. officinalis) re¬ 
markably : 1. in having the ftem more flender, rounder, 
fcarcely grooved, more rigid ; whereas, in P. officinalis, it 
is torofely fix or feven grooved ; 2. in having the leaves 
larger, biternate, with broader fmoother leaflets, fliining 
very much on both furfaces, undivided, with the veins 
fcarcely prominent underneath; whereas, in that, the 
leaves are fubtriquinate or triternate, with the primary 
leaflets bifid, the lateral ones frequently accompanied by 
a fmaller acceffory leaflet; 3. in having the floral leaf 
more remote; 4. in the colour of the flower, and efpo- 
cially the pleafant fmell, like that of Narciffus; 5. in the 
fmooth nefs 
