LiTBRATraB. — ^The works named in the preceding article and those quoted above. On the dogmatic problem see Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. hi. 10, liv. 6 ; Thomas Aquinas, Summa, Pars Tertia, QuEBStiones 7-12; Dorner, History of the Development «/ the Doctrine of the. Person of Christ, on the true growth of the Humanity, Division n. vol. i. 45, 343 ; vol. ii. 89. 125, 139, 204, 213, 214. 281, 285, 287, 365, 36S, 432 ; vol. iii. 18, 20, 30, 127, 140, 147, 266. On the Apocrj-phal stories of the Bovhood see Trench, Miracles, Introd. iv. 2; Nicolas, Etude sur' leg Evan- giles Apocryphes, Paris, 1865 ; also the ' Lives of Christ ' and the Commentaries on St. Luke.
The fact that the passage Lk l^"- is the liturgi.-al Gospel for the first Sunday after the Epiphany in the Anglic.™ and Roman liturgies, has produced a mass of homiletical and devotional literature, which naturally deals more with the spiritual lessons of the Boyhood of Christ, but which often hi< othfr useful matter. We can name onh- a s,:ifill iiorri>,n ,>f 11,1^ lii,.r.,t,,r., • Goulburn, Gos/>e^ "' '' ' 'V '" /
cal Gospels, i. 13:. < ; after the Epiph.iri tians 18, 19, 20; i; - week, i. to xii. ; Hoiliu. ii , ., Gordon Calthrop, in t.niirrr, 1 Jesus Christ the Divine Man,
etc. p. 16; W. R. Nicoll, ri.r I. i
iii.; Oodet, 'Life of Jesus pr, . . . i, , ,„
Thinker, vii, 390-404; F. W. l; ,!;, r; >„. _ , ,.
175 fl. ; Expositor, 2nd ser. viii. |lss4J p. 17 IT., lib s.r. iv. llbjl] p. Iff., 6th ser. ii. (I895J p. 69 ff. ; Liddon, Hampton Lrct.» p. 456ff. ; Farrar, Christ in Art, pp. 271-291.
George Farmer.
BRASS. — AVherever we find the word ' brass ' in the EV, we may be reasonably certain that copper or bronze is intended. Copper was universally used by the ancients, on account of its extreme ductility. In Bible lands it was mined in the region of Lebanon, in Edom, in tlie .Sinaitic pin- insula, where the great Egyptian mines were
* The reference in the last sentence is, of course, to Mt 27«,
located, and in the isle of Cyprus. Brass is a fictitious metal, an alloy of copper and zinc; bronze is a mixture of ooiiper and tin. But while in ancient ve.s.sels a combination of tin Avith copi«2r is frequently found, analysis hardly ever reveals the 2Jreseuce of zinc.
1. The word xuXkia in Mk V (found here only in the NT), AV and RV ' brasen vessels,' may be tr. ' copper vessels,' and is actually so rendered in the German and Dutch versions.
2. The noun xaXf 6s, tr. ' brass,' is used by Christ in Mt 10' ' Get you no gold nor silver nor brass in your purses,' by metonymy for copper coin. xaXxAs occurs also in Mk 6* 12*', where it is tr. ' money,' marg. 'brass.'
3. The word xa^KoXi^oj'o;', white copper, tr. ' fine brass' (RV 'burnished brass') in Rev 1'^ 2" (cf. Dn 10^), is descriptively applied to the feet of Christ as He appeared in the vision of St. John in Patmos. There is quite a diversity of opinion as to its correct meaning. Some have supposed it to be that rare metal, more precious than gold, Orichalcmn, whilst others have thought of frank- incense and even of amber. In this connexion it evidently refers to the strength and stable majesty of the glorified Christ, in the same way as the Heb. nehdsheth is used in the OT (Ps 107'S Mic 4i3, Zee 6').
LrTERATtTEE.— Hastings' DB, art.' Brass'; Smith, Diet, of Antiq. s.v. 'Aes'; Grimm-Thayer, Lex. s.v. j;«>.««A/3«.»..
Henry E. Dosker. BREAD. — In Syria and Palestine there are cer- tain shrines and groves that have been preserved undisturbed through times of political change, and are to-day venerated by all the religions of the country. Such also has been the unchanged history of bread in Bible lands. It is to-day practically what it has always been with regard to (1) the materials of which it is made, (2) the way in which it is pre- pared, (3) its importance and use as an article of food, and (4) the symbolism and sanctity suggested by its value.
1, il/<(^r(«?s-.— Bread is usually made of wheat flour, the wlicat of the Syrian plains being remark- able for its nutritious quality. An inferior and cheaper kind of luead is also made from barley flour, and less frequently the meal of Indian corn is used.
2. Modes of preparation.— The most primitive way is that of making a hollow in the ground, burning twigs, thorn-bushes, thistles and dry grass upon it, and then laying the flat cakes of dough upon the hot ashes. These loaves are about seven inches in diameter and from half an inch to an inch in thickness. The upper surface is frequently studded with seeds of Indian corn, and they are generally turned in the process of baking (Hos 7"). They are ' cakes upon the liearth ' (Gn IS""), ' baken niH.n the coals' (1 K 17'--''). Such probably were
lir liarley loaves brought to Christ at the feeding It he five thousand ( Jn 6'- "). Out of this custom, I rr\ .liliiis ,imong the pastoral tribesand the poorest it I hi |i. isantry, were developed several improved