Beyond. The phrase " beyond Jordan" (~\"2$ •jl-^n, iripav tov 'lopcc'ivov) frequently occurs in the Scriptures, and to ascertain its meaning we must, of com'-", attend to the situation of the writer (see Kuinol, ( 'omrm nt. in John i, 28). With Moses it usually signi- fies the country on the western side of the river, as he wrote upon its eastern bank (Gen. i, 10, 11; Deut. i, 1.5; iii, 8, 20; iv, 46); but with Joshua, after he had crossed the river, it means the reverse (Josh, v, 1 ; xii, 7 ; xxii, 7). In Matt, iv, 15, it means " by the side of the Jordan." See Atad. Beyrout. See Berytus. Beytsah. SccMishna.
Beza (Theodore de Bkze), one of the most emi- nent of the Reformers, the friend and coadjutor of Cal- vin, wa8bornatVezelai,inthe Nivernais, June 24, 1519. lie passed the iirst years of his life with his uncle, Nich- olas de Beza, counsellor in the Parliament of Paris, who sent him, before he was ten years old, to study at Or- leans, where his preceptor was Melcbior Wolmar, a converl to Protest mtism. Beza accompanied Wolmar to the University of Bourges, and remained, in the whole, fur seven years under his tuition. During this tine- he became an excellent scholar, and he afterward acknowledged a deeper obligation to his tutor for hav- ing "imbued him with the knowledge of true piety, drawn from the limpid fountain of the Word of God." in 1635 Wolmar returned to Germany, and Beza re- paired t" » irleana to study law ; but his attention was chiefly directed to the classics and the composition of verses. [lis verses, published in 15 is, under the title Juvenilia, were chiefly written during this period of his life, and their indecency caused him many a bitter pang in afterlife. Beza obtained his degree as licentiate of civil law in 1539, upon which he went to Paris,_where he spent nine years, tie was young, handsome, and of ample means ; for, though not in the priesthood, he enjoyed the proceeds of two good benefices, amounting,
he says, to 700 golden crowns a year. The death of a brother added to his income, and an uncle, who was abbot of Froidmond, expressed an intention of resign- ing that preferment, valued at 15,000 livres yearly, in his favor. Thus, in a city like Paris, he was exposed to strong temptation, and his conduct has incurred great censure. That his life was grossly immoral he denies ; but he formed a private marriage with a woman of birth, he says, inferior to his own. He was to marry her publicly as soon as the obstacles should be removed, and, in the mean time, not to take orders, a thing en- tirely inconsistent with taking a wife. Meanwhile his relatives pressed him to enter into the Church ; his wife and his conscience bade him avow his marriage and his real belief; his inclination bade him conceal both and stick to the rich benefices which he enjoyed; and in this divided state of mind he remained till ill- ness brought him to a better temper. On his recov- er}' he fled to Geneva, at the end of October, 1548, and there publicly solemnized his marriage and avowed his faith. After a short residence at Geneva, and sub- sequently at Tubingen, Beza was appointed Greek professor at. Lausanne: During his residence there he took every opportunity of going to Geneva to hear Cal- vin, at whose suggestion he undertook to complete Marot's translation of the Psalms into French verse. Marot had translated 50, so that 100 Psalms remained : these were first printed in France, with the royal li- cense, in 1561. Beza, at this time, employed his pen in support of the right of punishing heresy by the civil power. His treatise De Hatretids a Civili Magistraiu punimdis is a defence of the execution of Servetus at Geneva in 1553. Beza was not singular in maintain- ing this doctrine; the principal churches of Switzer- land, and even Melancthon, concurred in justifying by their authority that act which has been so fruitful of reproach against the party by whom it was perpetrated. His work De Jure M<ig;s!ratuum, published at a much later time in his life (about 1572), presents a curious contrast to the work De Hcereticis, etc. In this later work he asserted the principles of civil and religious liberty, and the rights of conscience; but, though he may lie considered as before most men of his age in the boldness of his opinions as to the nature of civil author- ity, his views of the sovereign power are confused and contradictory. During his residence at Lausanne, Be- za published several controversial treatises, which his biographer, Antoine la Faye, confesses to be written with a freer pen than was consistent with the gravity of the subject. To this part of Beza's life belongs the translation of the N. T. into Latin, completed in 1556, and printed at Paris by R. Stephens in 1557. It con- tains the commentary of Camerarius, as well as a co- pious body of notes by the translator himself. For this edition he used a manuscript of the four Gospels, which in 1581 he gave to the University of Cambridge. It is generally known as Beza's Codex, and a fac-simile edition of it was published in 1793. After ten years' residence at Lausanne, Beza removed to Geneva in 1559, and entered into holy orders. At Calvin's re- quest he was appointed to assist in giving lectures in theology; and when the University of Geneva was founded he was appointed rector upon Calvin declining that office. At the request of some leading nobles among the French Protestants, he undertook a journey to Nerac in hope of winning the King of Navarre to Protestantism. His pleading was successful, and he remained at Nerac until the beginning of 156], and, at the King of Navarre's request, attended the Conference of Poissy, opened in August of that year, in the hope of effecting a reconciliation between the Catholic and Protestant churches of France. Beza was the chief speaker on behalf of the French churches. He man- aged his cause with temper and ability, and made a fa- vorable impression on both Catherine of Medicis and < iardinal Lorraine, who said, " I could well have wished either that this man had been dumb or that we had been