Berkeley, George, bishop of Cloyne, was born at Kilcrin March 12, 1G84, and educated at Trinity Col- lege, Dublin. In 1707 he published A ritlnnetlca absque A 'gebra aut Euclide demonstrate ; and in 1709 appeared his well-known Theory of Vision, the first work in which an attempt was made to distinguish the imme- diate operations of the senses from the deductions which we habitually draw from our sensations. In 1710 appeared his Principles of Human Know', dffe, in which he propounded the novel doctrine that what we call matter has no actual existence, and that the im- pressions which we believe that we receive from it are not, in fact, derived from any thing external to our- selves, but are produced within us by a certain dispo- sition of the mind, the immediate operation of God. In 1724 he was made dean of Deny, and in the year following published his propositions for the conversion of the American savages by means of a college in the Bermudas. The design was received with favor by the government and by individuals, and great prom- ises of money were made to him, such as to induce him to resign his living, worth £1100 a year, and to embark with his wife in order to purchase land for the intend- ed College of St. Paul and to prepare for its foundation Landing at Newport, R. I., he remained there for two years, and, finding all his expectations of assistance vain, he was compelled to return to England, and thus ended a noble scheme, to complete which he had spent seven years of his life, resigned his actual preferment, and refused a bishopric, declaring that he would rath- er have the office of superior in the new college of St. Paul than bo primate of all England, this superiorship being actually worth to him £100 a year., In 1732 he published Alciphron, 2 vols. 8vo, the design of which work was to refute the various systems of atheism, fa- talism, and scepticism. At length, in 1734, he was raised to the see of Cloyne. He continued to put forth from time to time works calculated to advance the cause of Christianity and his counuy, refused to ex- change his see for that of Clogher, although the income was twice as great, and died at Oxford in 1753. His Works, with a Life of the A uthor, by Wright, were re- printed, with a translation of the Latin essays, in 1843 (London, 2 vols. 8vo). Mackintosh says that Berke- ley's writings afford the finest models of philosophical style since Cicero. His style is very clear, and his bold method of thinking, and absence of all adhesion to great authorities, make his works even now valua- ble to the student. These same qualities make them difficult to describe, and the peculiar nature of the subjects which he treated has caused them to bo mis- represented, so that their true scope is less understood than that of any other writings of his day. — Landon, Eccl. Did. ii, 188 ; New Englander, vii, 474 ; Engl. Cy- clopcedia; Sprague, Annuls, v, 03; Tennemann, Man- ual Hist. Phil. § 349; Mackintosh, History of Ethics, p. 130, North Amer. Rev. Jan. 1855 ; Chris/ion Eetf.April, 1861, art. 7 ; Lewes, Hist, of Philosophy, ii, 281, 3d ed.
Beikenmeyer, William Christopher, a Lu- theran minister, of whose parentage and early life lit- tle is known. He arrived in America in 1725, and became minister to the Lutheran congregation of Quas- saik Parish. His residence was at Loonenburgh (now Athens, N. Y.), but his itinerant labors extended over a large part of the colony of New York. He was re- garded as a man of great learning in his time, and tradition still speaks of his great zeal and industry as a minister. He gave special care to the negro race. — Evang. Rtv. April, 18G2 ; Doc. Hist, of N. Y. vol. iii.
Berlebtirg Bible (Berkburger Bibel), an edition of the Bible published at Berleburg, Germany, 1726- 29, by anonymous editors. It gives an entirely new translation, with a running exposition, giving the lit- eral, spiritual, and hidden, or mystical interpretation. It was edited in the spirit of pietism of a mystical ten- dency (Walch, Biblioth. Theol. iv, 187).
Bernard of Mentone (or or Aosta), St., was born in 923, near Annecy. He is memorable as the founder of two establishments of Hospitallers, where for more than nine hundred years travellers have found an asylum against the perils of the Alps. He was archdeacon of Aosta, and grand-vicar of the dio- cese. In his journeys he had opportunities of seeing the sufferings to which the pilgrims were exposed in crossing the Alps, and he conceived the project of es- tablishing two hospitals, one on Mount Joux (3fons Jovis), the other in a pass in the Greek Alps, called Colona Jou, on account of a pile of stones raised on the spot to point out the road to travellers. Upon these summits he raised the two hospitals known as the Great and Little St. Bernard, which he confided to the regular canons of St. Augustine, who, from that time down to the present, have continued to fulfil with a zeal and charity beyond all praise the merciful inten- tions of the founder. The chief monaster)' is on the Great St. Bernard, which is supposed to be the highest dwelling in Europe, and there, amid perpetual snows, the monks exercise their hospital >le labors. Bernard died at Novara May 28, 1008. His festival is celebra- ted on June 15, the day of his interment. His life is given in the Acta Sanctorum, June 15. — Landon, Eccl. Diet, ii, 189 ; Butler, Lives of Saints, June 15.