Be'rea (Bipsa), a place in Judea apparently not very far from Jerusalem, where Baechides, the general of Demetrius, encamped shortly before the engage- ment in which Judas Maccabants was slain (1 Mace. ix, 4). Other copies, however, read Berza/h (Berfp^ad, BiT)pSa£, lu/olV/3-, etc., see Grimm, in loc), from which Behind conjectures (Paleest. p. G24) that it may be the Bezeth (q. v.) of 1 Mace, vii, 19, especially as Jose- phus, in his parallel account (Ant. xii, 11, 4), calls the place in question Bethzetho (Bny^>fiw, Ant. xii, 11, 1 ; comp. 10, 2). See also Bercea.
Bereans, a small sect of dissenters from the Church of Scotland, who profess to follow the example of the ancient Berceans (Acts xvii, 11) in building their sys- tem upon the Scriptures alone, without regard to any human authority. The sect was founded in 1773 by a clergyman Darned Barclay, who was excluded from the parish of Fettercairn. They hold the Calvinistic creed, with the following peculiarities: 1. They reject natural religion as undermining the evidences of Chris- tianity. 2. They consider faith in Christ and assur- ances of salvation as inseparable, or rather as the same thing, because (say they) '-Cod hath expressly de- clared, lie that believeth shall be saved ; and therefore i; is not only absurd, but impious, and in a manner calling God a liar, for a man to say I believe the Gos- pel, but have doubts, nevertheless, of my own salva- tion." ;;. They say that the sin against the Holy Ghost is nothing else but unbelief; and that the ex- pression, " It shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor th it which is to come," means only that a
pen lying in unbelief would not be forgiven, neither
under the former dispensation by Moses, nor under the Gospel dispensation, which, in respect of the Mosaic, '■'•'■ a kind of future world, or world to come. 4. They interpret the Old Testament prophecies, and es- pecially tic Psalms, as typical or prophetic of Christ, ami never apply them to the experience of private Christians. There are still some congregations of
Bereans in Scotland, and a few, it is believed, in Amer- - II i i. HIB80NIAH8.
Berechi'ah (Heb. Berekyah', rrz-z. blessed by Jehovah; also in the prolonged form Berekya'hu, ~"z~z, in 1 Chron. vi,39; w. 17 ; 2 Chron. xxviii, 12; Zech. i, 7: Sept. Bapay/ac, often Bapay/a), the
»8 BERENGARIUS
name of six men. See also Barachiah and Bara- ciiias. \ 1. The son of Shimea and father of Asaph, the cel- ebrated musician ; he was one of the Levites who Lore the ark to the tent prepared for it by David (1 Chrcn. vi, 39, where the name is Anglicized "Berachiah ;" xv. 17, 23). B.C. 1043.
2. The son of Meshillemeth, and one of the seven Ephraimite chieftains who enforced the prophet Oded's prohibition of the enslavement of their Judaite cap- tives by the warriors of the northern kingdom (2
I Chron. xxviii, 12). B.C. 7i9.
3. The fourth named of the five brothers of Zerub- babel (q. v.), of the royal line of Judah (1 Chron. iii,
Strong's Harmony anl Expos, of the Gospels.
20;
p. 17, note m). B.C. 536.
4. A son of Asa, and one of the Levites that dwelt in the villages of the Netophathites on the return from Babylon (1 Chron. ix, 16). B.C. post 536.
5. The son of Iddo and father of the prophet Zech- ariah (Zech. i, 1, 7). B.C. ante 500.
6. A son of Meshezabeel and the father of Meshul- lam, which last repaired a part of the walls of Jerusa- lem (Neh. iii, 4, CO; vi, 18). B.C. ante 446.
Be'red (Heb. id. IIS, hail, in pause Bo.' reel, T*2, Gen. xvi, 14 ; Sept. always Booac"), the name of a place and of a man.
1. A town in the south of Palestine, between which and Kadesh lay the well Lahai-roi (Gen. xvi, 14 ; comp. ver. 7). The name is variously given in the ancient versions: Syriac, Gcular [? - Gerar] ; Arab. Tared, probably a mere corruption of the Hebrew name ; Onkelos, Char/ra, 505H (elsewhere employed in the Targums for "Shur"); Ps. -Jonathan, Chalutsa, RS^PJl, i. e. the Elusa, "E\ovca, of Ptolemy and the ecclesiastical writers, now eLKhulasah, on the Hebron road, about 12 miles south of Beersheba (Robinson, i, 296 ; Stewart, p. 205 ; Beland, p. 755). We have the testimony of Jerome {Vita S. Hilarionis) that Elusa was called by its inhabitants Barec, which would be an easy corruption of Bered, ~ being read for 1. Cha- luza is the name elsewhere given in the Arabic ver- sion for "shur" and for " Gerar-" — Smith. See Elisa.
2. A son of Shuthelah and grandson of Ephraim (1 Chron. vii, 20) ; supposed by some to have been identical with Becher in Num. xxvi, 35, b}' a mere
i change of letters ("C2 for 112), but with little prob- ability from the context. B.C. post 1856.
Berengarians, the followers of Berengarius, who taught, in the eleventh century, that the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper were not really and essen- tially, but figuratively, changed into the body and blood of Christ. See Berengarius.
Berengarius or Berenger, archdeacon of An- gers, was born at Tours in the beginning of the elev- enth century, and studied first in the school of St. Martin, and subsequently at Chartres, under the cele- brated Fulbert. Upon his death Berenger left Char- tres and returned to Tours, where he taught pul lic- ly at St. Martin's. He very early manifested a lib- eral spirit of inquiry, and was distinguished for his pi- ety as well as for his industry in study. He quitted this city again and repaired to Angers, where he was well received by Hubert de Ycndome, who administer- ed the church of Angers at that period, and who made Berenger archdeacon. Scholars flocked to him from all parts of France. Some time between 1040 and 1050 he besran to publish his sentiments on the Eucha- rist, in which he opposed the doctrine of Tasehasius on transubstantiation. Lanfranc, who was then in Nor- mandy, and who had been the intimate friend of Be- renger, entered into a controversy with him on the subject. Berenger answered Lanfranc in a letter (see Gieseler, Ch. Hist. per. iii, § 19), in which he blamed