effect, but I fear it had a baneful influence on others. The rejection
of all human authority and influence in religion, requires to be
balanced by a very strong sense of the divine authority, to prevent its
generating a state of mind more characterized by pride of intellect, and
independence of spirit, than by the humility and diffidence which are
essential features in the Christian character. It is a singular fact,
that the Presbyterians, though at first more rigid in their doctrinal
views, and more exclusive in their spirit and system of church
government, than the Independents, became before the death of Baxter the
more liberal party. High views began to be ascribed by them to their now
moderate brethren; and, to avoid the charge of Antinomianism, which
Baxter was too ready to prefer against such as differed from some of his
views, the Presbyterians seem gradually to have sunk into a state of
low, moderate orthodoxy, in which there was little of the warmth or
vitality of evangelical religion.
“In farther illustration of the influence now adverted to, it must be
remarked, that the first stage in that process of deterioration which
took place among the Presbyterian Dissenters, was generally
characterized by the term Baxterianism; a word to which it is difficult
to attach a definite meaning. It denotes no separate sect or party, but
rather a system of opinions on doctrinal points, verging toward
Arminianism, and which ultimately passed to Arianism and Socinianism.
Even during Baxter’s own life, while the Presbyterians taxed the
Independents with Antinomianism, the latter retorted the charge of
Socinianism, or at least of a tendency toward it, in some of the
opinions maintained both by Baxter and others of that party. To whatever
cause it is to be attributed, it is a melancholy fact, that the
declension which began even at this early period in the Presbyterian
body, went on slowly, but surely, till, from the most fervid orthodoxy,
it finally arrived at the frigid zone of Unitarianism.
“I wish not to be understood as stating that Baxter either held any
opinions of this description, or was conscious of a tendency in his
sentiments toward such a fearful consummation; but, that there was an
injurious tendency in his manner of discussing certain important
subjects. It was subtle, and full of logomachy; it tended to unsettle,
rather than to fix and determine; it gendered strife, rather than godly
edifying. It is not possible to study such books as his ‘_Methodus_,’
and his ‘Catholic Theology,’ without experiencing that we are brought
into a different region from Apostolic Christianity; a region of fierce
debate and altercation about words, and names, and opinions; in which
all that can be said for error is largely dwelt upon, as well as what
can be said for truth. The ambiguities of language, the diversities of
sects, the uncertainties of human perception and argument are urged,
till the force of revealed truth is considerably weakened, and
confidence in our own judgment of its meaning greatly impaired.
Erroneous language is maintained to be capable of sound meaning, and the
most Scriptural phrases to be susceptible of unscriptural
interpretation, till truth and error almost change places, and the mind
is bewildered, confounded, and paralyzed. Into this mode of discussing
such subjects, was this most excellent man led, partly by the natural
constitution of his mind, which has often been adverted to; partly by
his ardent desire of putting an end to the divisions of the Christian
world, and producing universal concord and harmony. He failed where
success was impossible, however plausible might have been the means
which he employed. He understood the causes of difference and contention
better than their remedies; hence the measures which he used frequently
aggravated instead of curing the disease. While a portion of evil,
however, probably resulted from Baxter’s mode of conducting controversy,
and no great light was thrown by him on some of the dark and difficult
subjects which he so keenly discussed, I have no doubt he contributed
considerably to produce a more moderate spirit toward each other,
between Calvinists and Arminians, than had long prevailed. Though he
satisfied neither party, he must have convinced both, that great
difficulties exist on the subjects in debate, if pursued beyond a
certain length; that allowance ought to be made by each, for the
weakness or prejudices of the other; and that genuine religion is
compatible with some diversity of opinion respecting one or all of the
five points.” A similar effect as that which Mr. Orme ascribes to
Baxter’s writings on the English Presbyterians, followed also, on the
continent among the reformed churches. It was the same middle system
with its philosophical subtleties, which Camero and Amyraut taught
abroad, and which produced in them those effects that have been falsely
ascribed, both in England and abroad, to Arminianism. See AMYRAUT and
CAMERON.
BAY-TREE. אזרח. It is mentioned only in Psalm xxxvii, 35, 36: “I have
seen the ungodly in great power, and flourishing like a green bay-tree.
Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not. Yea, I sought him, but he could
not be found.” Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, Jerom, and some others say
that the original may mean only _a native tree_; a tree growing in its
native soil, not having suffered by transplantation. Such a tree spreads
itself luxuriantly. The Septuagint and Vulgate render it _cedars_; but
the high Dutch of Luther’s Bible, the old Saxon, the French, the
Spanish, the Italian of Diodati, and the version of Ainsworth, make it
the laurel.
BDELLIUM, בדלה, occurs Gen. ii, 12, and Num. xi, 7. Interpreters seem at
a loss to know what to do with this word, and have rendered it
variously. Many suppose it a mineral production. The Septuagint
translates in the first place, ἀνθράκα, _a carbuncle_, and in the
second, κρύϛαλλον, _a crystal_. The rabbins are followed by Reland in
calling it a crystal; but some, instead of _bedolah_, read _berolah_,
changing the ב into ר, which are not always easily distinguished, and
are often mistaken by transcribers; and so render it the _beryl_, which,
say they, is the prime kind of crystal. The _bedoleh_, in Genesis, is
undoubtedly some precious stone; and its colour, mentioned in Numbers,
where the manna is spoken of as of the colour of _bdellium_, is
explained by a reference to Exod. xvi, 14, 31, where it is likened to
hoar frost, which being like little fragments of ice, may confirm the
opinion that the bdellium is the beryl, perhaps that pellucid kind,
called by Dr. Hill the _ellipomocrostyla_, or beryl crystal.
BEAN, פול, occurs 2 Sam. xvii, 28, and Ezek. iv, 9. A common legume.
Those most usually cultivated in Syria are the white horse-bean, _faba
rotunda oblonga_, and the kidney-bean, _phaseolis minimus, fructu viridi
ovato_, called by the natives _masch_. The Arabic _ban_, the name of the
coffee berry, corresponds with our bean, and is probably its etymon.
BEAR. That bears were common in Palestine appears from several passages
of the Old Testament. Their strength, rapacity, and fierceness, furnish
many expressive metaphors to the Hebrew poets. The Hebrew name of this
animal is taken from his _growling_; so Varro deduces his Latin name
_ursus_ by an onomatopæia from the noise which he makes: “_ursi Lucana
origo, vel unde illi, nostri ab ipsius voce_:” [the origin of the term
_ursus_ (bear) is Lucanian, (whence also the bears themselves,) from the
noise made by the animal.] David had to defend his flock against bears
as well as lions, 1 Sam. xvii, 34. And Dr. Shaw gives us to understand
that these rugged animals are not peculiar to the bleak regions of the
north, being found in Barbary; and Thevenot informs us that they inhabit
the wilderness adjoining the Holy Land, and that he saw one near the
northern extremities of the Red Sea. The ferocity of the bear,
especially when hungry or robbed of its whelps, has been mentioned by
many authors. The Scripture alludes in three places to this furious
disposition. The first is, 2 Sam. xvii, 8, “They be mighty men, and they
be chafed in their minds as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field.”
The second, Prov. xvii, 12, “Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man
rather than a fool in his folly.” And the third, Hosea xiii, 8, “I will
meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the
caul of their heart.”
BEARD. The Hebrews wore their beards, but had, doubtless, in common with
other Asiatic nations, several fashions in this, as in all other parts
of dress. Moses forbids them, Lev. xix, 27, “to cut off entirely the
angle, or extremity of their beard;” that is, to avoid the manner of the
Egyptians, who left only a little tuft of beard at the extremity of
their chins. The Jews, in some places, at this day suffer a little
fillet of hair to grow from below the ears to the chin: where, as well
as upon their lower lips, their beards are long. When they mourned, they
entirely shaved the hair of their heads and beards, and neglected to
trim their beards, to regulate them into neat order, or to remove what
grew on their upper lips and cheeks, Jer. xli, 5; xlviii, 37. In times
of grief and affliction, they plucked away the hair of their heads and
beards, a mode of expression common to other nations under great
calamities. The king of the Ammonites, designing to insult David in the
person of his ambassadors, cut away half of their beards, and half of
their clothes; that is, he cut off all their beard on one side of their
faces, 2 Sam. x, 4, 5; 1 Chron. xix, 5. To avoid ridicule, David did not
wish them to appear at his court till their beards were grown again.
When a leper was cured of his leprosy, he washed himself in a bath, and
shaved off all the hair of his body; after which, he returned into the
camp, or city; seven days afterward, he washed himself and his clothes
again, shaved off all his hair, and offered the sacrifices appointed for
his purification, Lev. xiv, 9. The Levites, at their consecration, were
purified by bathing, and washing their bodies and clothes; after which,
they shaved off all the hair of their bodies, and then offered the
sacrifices appointed for their consecration, Num. viii, 7.
Nothing has been more fluctuating in the different ages of the world and
countries than the fashion of wearing the beard. Some have cultivated
one part and some another; some have endeavoured to extirpate it
entirely, while others have almost idolized it; the revolutions of
countries have scarcely been more famous than the revolutions of beards.
It is a great mark of infamy among the Arabs to cut off the beard. Many
people would prefer death to this kind of treatment. As they would think
it a grievous punishment to lose it, they carry things so far as to beg
for the sake of it: “By your beard, by the life of your beard, God
preserve your blessed beard.” When they would express their value for
any thing, they say, “It is worth more than a man’s beard.” And hence we
may easily learn the magnitude of the offence of the Ammonites in their
treatment of David’s ambassadors, as above mentioned; and also the force
of the emblem used Ezek. v, 1–5, where the inhabitants of Jerusalem are
compared to the hair of his head and beard. Though they had been dear to
God as the hair of an eastern beard to its owner, they should be taken
away and consumed, one part by pestilence and famine, another by the
sword, another by the calamities incident on exile.
BEASTS. When this word is used in opposition to man, as Psalm xxxvi, 5,
any brute creature is signified; when to creeping things, as Lev. xi, 2,
7; xxix, 30, four-footed animals, from the size of the hare and upward,
are intended; and when to wild creatures, as Gen. i, 25, cattle, or tame
animals, are spoken of. In Isaiah xiii, 21, several wild animals are
mentioned as dwelling among the ruins of Babylon: “Wild beasts of the
desert,” ציים, those of the dry wilderness, as the root of the word
implies, “shall dwell there. Their houses shall be full of doleful
creatures,” אהים, _marsh animals_. “Owls shall dwell there,” ostriches,
“and satyrs,” שעירים, _shaggy ones_, “shall dance there. And the wild
beasts of the islands,” איים, _oases of the desert_, “shall cry in their
desolate houses, and dragons,” תנים, _crocodiles_, or amphibious
animals, “shall be in their desolate places.” St. Paul, 1 Cor. xv, 32,
speaks of fighting with beasts, &c: by which he does not mean his having
been exposed in the amphitheatre to fight as a gladiator, as some have
conjectured, but that he had to contend at Ephesus with the fierce
uproar of Demetrius and his associates. Ignatius uses the same figure in
his Epistle to the Romans: “From Syria even unto Rome I fight with wild
beasts, both by sea and land, both night and day, being bound to ten
leopards;” that is, to a band of soldiers. So Lucian, in like manner,
says, “For I am not to fight with ordinary wild beasts, but with men,
insolent and hard to be convinced.” In Rev. iv, v, vi, mention is made
of four beasts, or rather, as the word ζῶα signifies, _living
creatures_, as in Ezek. i; and so the word might have been less harshly
translated. Wild beasts are used in Scripture as emblems of tyrannical
and persecuting powers. The most illustrious conquerors of antiquity
also have not a more honourable emblem.
BED. Mattresses, or thick cotton quilts folded, were used for sleeping
upon. These were laid upon the duan, or divan, a part of the room
elevated above the level of the rest, covered with a carpet in winter,
and a fine mat in summer. (See _Accubation_ and _Banquets_.) A divan
cushion serves for a pillow and bolster. They do not keep their beds
made; the mattresses are rolled up, carried away, and placed in a
cupboard till they are wanted at night. And hence the propriety of our
Lord’s address to the paralytic, “Arise, take up thy bed,” or mattress,
“and walk,” Matt. ix, 6. The duan on which these mattresses are placed,
is at the end of the chamber, and has an ascent of several steps. Hence
Hezekiah is said to turn his face to the wall when he prayed, that is,
from his attendants. In the day the duan was used as a seat, and the
place of honour was the corner, Amos iii, 12.
BEELZEBUB, Matt. x, 25. See BAALZEBUB.
BEERSHEBA, or the well of the oath; so named from a well which Abraham
dug in this place, and the covenant which he here made with Abimelech,
king of Gerar, Gen. xx, 31. Here also he planted a grove, as it would
appear, for the purpose of retirement for religious worship. In process
of time, a considerable town was built on the same spot, which retained
the same name. Beersheba was given by Joshua to the tribe of Judah, and
afterward transferred to Simeon, Joshua xv, 28. It was situated twenty
miles south of Hebron, in the extreme south of the land of Israel, as
Dan was on the north. The two places are frequently thus mentioned in
Scripture, as “from Dan to Beersheba,” to denote the whole length of the
country.
דבורה BEE, דבורה, occurs Deut. i, 44; Judges xiv, 8; Psalm cviii, 12;
Isa. vii, 18. A well known, small, industrious insect; whose form,
propagation, economy, and singular instinct and ingenuity, have
attracted the attention of the most inquisitive and laborious inquirers
into nature. Bees were very numerous in the east. _Serid, or Seriad_,
means “the land of the hive;” and Canaan was celebrated as “a land
flowing with milk and honey.” The wild bees formed their comb in the
crevices of the rocks, and in the hollows of decayed trees. The passage
in Isa. vii, 8, which mentions the “hissing for the bee,” is supposed to
involve an allusion to the practice of calling out the bees from their
hives, by a hissing or whistling sound, to their labour in the fields,
and summoning them again to return when the heavens begin to lower, or
the shadows of evening to fall. In this manner Jehovah threatens to
rouse the enemies of Judah, and lead them to the prey. However widely
scattered, or far remote from the scene of action, they should hear his
voice, and with as much promptitude as the bee that has been taught to
recognise the signal of its owner and obey his call, they should
assemble their forces; and although weak and insignificant as a swarm of
bees, in the estimation of a proud and infatuated people, they should
come, with irresistible might, and take possession of the rich and
beautiful region which had been abandoned by its terrified inhabitants.
The bee is represented by the ancients as a vexatious and even a
formidable enemy; and the experience of every person who turns his
attention to the temper and habits of this insect attests the truth of
their assertion. The allusion, therefore, of Moses to their fierce
hostility, Deut. i, 44, is both just and beautiful: “The Amorites, which
dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you as bees do,
and destroyed you in Seir even unto Hormah.” The Amorites, it appears,
were the most bitter adversaries to Israel of all the nations of Canaan.
Like bees that are easily irritated, that attack with great fury and
increasing numbers the person that dares to molest their hive, and
persecute him in his flight to a considerable distance, the incensed
Amorites had collected their hostile bands, and chased the Israelites
from their territory. The Psalmist also complains that his enemies
compassed him about like bees; fiercely attacking him on every side.
From these allusions it would however appear, that the bees of the east
were of a more quarrelsome temper than ours, which exist chiefly in a
domesticated state.
BEETLE. חרגל. It occurs only Lev. xi, 22. A species of locust is thought
to be there spoken of. The word still remains in the Arabic, and is
derived from an original, alluding to the vast number of their swarms.
Golius explains it of the locust without wings. The Egyptians paid a
superstitious worship to the beetle. Mr. Molyneaux, in the
“Philosophical Transactions,” says, “It is more than probable that this
destructive beetle we are speaking of was that very kind of scarabæus,
which the idolatrous Egyptians of old had in such high veneration as to
pay divine worship unto it, and so frequently engrave its image upon
their obelisks, &c, as we see at this day. For nothing can be supposed
more natural than to imagine a nation, addicted to polytheism, as the
Egyptians were, in a country frequently suffering great mischief and
scarcity from swarms of devouring insects, should, from a strange sense
and fear of evil to come, (the common principle of superstition and
idolatry,) give sacred worship to the visible authors of these their
sufferings, in hopes to render them more propitious for the future. See
FLY and LOCUST.
BEHEMOTH. בהמות. This term has greatly tried the ingenuity of the
critics. By some, among whom are Bythner and Reiske, it is regarded in
Job xl, 16, as a plural noun for beasts in general: the peculiar name of
the animal immediately described not being mentioned, as unnecessary, on
account of the description itself being so easily applied at the time.
In this sense it is translated in various passages in the Psalms. Thus,
l, 10, in which it is usually rendered cattle, as the plural of בהמת it
means unquestionably a _beast_ or _brute_, in the general signification
of these words: “For every beast of the field is mine, and the cattle,”
_behemoth_, “upon a thousand hills.” So again, Isa. lxxiii, 22: “So
foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast,” _behemoth_, “before
thee.” It is also used in the same sense in chap. xxxv, 11, of the book
of Job: “Who teacheth us more than the beasts,” _behemoth_, “of the
earth.” The greater number of critics, however, have understood the word
behemoth, in the singular number, as the peculiar name of the quadruped
described, Job xl, of whatever kind or nature it may be; although they
have materially differed upon this last point, some regarding it as the
hippopotamus, or river horse, and others as the elephant. The evidence
in favour of the hippopotamus appears, however, to predominate. The
hippopotamus is nearly as large as the rhinoceros. The male has been
found seventeen feet in length, fifteen in circumference, and seven in
height. The head is enormously large, and the jaws extend upwards two
feet, and are armed with four cutting teeth, each of which is twelve
inches in length. The body is of a lightish colour, thinly covered with
hair. The legs are three feet long. Though amphibious, the hoofs, which
are quadrifid, are not connected by membranes. The hide is so thick and
tough as to resist the edge of a sword or sabre. Although an inhabitant
of the waters, the hippopotamus is well known to breathe air like land
animals. On land, indeed, he finds the chief part of his food. It has
been pretended that he devours vast quantities of fish; but it appears
with the fullest evidence, both from the relations of many travellers,
and from the structure of the stomach, in specimens that have been
dissected, that he is nourished solely, or almost solely, on vegetable
food. Though he feeds upon aquatic plants, yet he very often leaves the
waters, and commits wide devastations through all the cultivated fields
adjacent to the river. Unless when accidentally provoked, or wounded, he
is never offensive; but when he is assaulted or hurt, his fury against
the assailants is terrible. He will attack a boat, break it in pieces
with his teeth; or, where the river is not too deep, he will raise it on
his back and overset it. If he be irritated when on shore, he will
immediately betake himself to the water; and there, in his native
element, shows all his strength and resolution.