Brattle, William, a Congregational minister, was born in Boston 1662. After his graduation at Har- vard, 1680, he remained as tutor and fellow a number of years. He was installed pastor in Cambridge, Nov. 25, 1696, in which place he remained until his death, Feb. 15, 1717. He published a Compendium Logicce se- cundum principia D. Renati Cartesii plcrumque efforma- tum et catechistice propositum , which was used as a text- book in Harvard. — Sprague, Annals, i, 236.
Braunius, John, D D., professor of theology and Hebrew in the University of Groningen, was born at Kaiserslautern 1G28, died at Groningen 1709. His works discover an extensive and accurate knowledge of Jewish rites and customs, and great rabbinical learning. In theology he followed Cocceius. His works are, 1. Selecta Sacra (Amst. 1700, 4to). They embrace various things relating to the Epistles ; the 7th seal ; holiness of the high-priest ; weeping for Tha- muz, Ezek. viii; various dissertations. 2. De Yestitu Sacerdotum. Hebrecorum (Lug. Bat. 1680, 4to). This work, on the clothing of the Jewish priests, is a kind of commentary on Exod. xxviii, xxix. 3. Commenta- rius in Epistolam ad Hebrwos (1705, 4to). Carpzov calls this one of the best commentaries on the Hebrews. It contains a dissertation on the eternal generation of the Son of God. — Home, Bibliography, pt. ii, ch. v.
Bravery, a term used in the Auth. Vers, only in its early sense of finery for the Heb. r^NSP, tipe'reth, female ornament, Isa. iii, 18. So in the Apocrj'pha (Judith x, 4) " decked herself bravely" stands for gayly, as a rendering of tKaWioTriaaro, presented a fine ap- pearance.
Bray, signifying in Old English to pound, stands in the Auth. Vers, at Prov. xxvii, 22, for 1TP.3, la- tlias//', to beat to pieces in a mortar (q. v.). This pun- ishment is still in use among Oriental nations. Rob- erts observes, "Cruel as it is, this is a punishment of the state ; the poor victim is thrust into the mortar, and beaten with the pestle. The late King of Kandy compelled one of the wives of his rebellious chiefs thus to beat her own infant to death. Hence the saying, 'Though you beat that loose woman in a mortar, she will not leave her w-ays ;' which means, though you
BRAY
BRAZEN SERPENT
chastise her ever so much, she will never improve." See Pitnishment.
As the appropriate word for the voice of the ass, "bray" represents, in Job vi, 5 (figuratively in xxx,
7), pn3, nahak'. See Ass.
Bray, Thomas, D.D., was born in Shropshire 1656, ami was educated at Oxford. In 1690 he was appoint- ed to the livings of Over-Whitacre and Sheldon. Here he composed his Catechetical Lectures, a work which so pleased Bishop Compton that he selected the writer to act as his commissary to settle the Church affairs of Maryland. He arrived in America March 12th, 1700, and for two years devoted himself to the labors assign- ed to him, in the face of the most harassing opposition. He then returned to England, became incumbent of St. Botolph's, Aldgate, and died Feb. 15th, 1730, aged sev- enty-three. In 1707 he published Bibliotheca Paro- chialis (1 vol. 8vo), and in 1712 one vol. of his Martyr- o'ogt/, or Papal Usurpation (fob), designing to follow it up by another, which he left unfinished. In 172G ap- peared his Directorium Missionarium and his Primor- dia Bibliothecaria. One of his chief objects in Mary- land had been to establish parochial libraries in each parish for the use of the clergyman, a plan which was afterward extended to England and Wales ; and a so- ciety still exists under the title of the " Associates of Dr. Bray." The Report of the Bray Associates for 1847 contains a memoir of Dr. Bray. — New Gen. Bioff. Diet. v, 26 ; Sprague, Ann. v, 17 ; Landon, Eccl. Diet, ii, 387.
Brazen Sea (TUZJnSfi C^,yamhan-nec7w' 'sheth, sea of copper, 2 Kings xxv, 13; 1 Chron. xviii, 8; alsoE"1 pX!ra, mo/ten sea, 1 Kings vii, 23; or simply E*n, the sea, 1 Kings vii, 24, 29; 2 Kings xvi, 17; 2 Chron. iv, 3 sq.), the great round laver, cast of metal (" brass" [q. v.]), placed in the priests' court of Solomon's Tem- ple (1 Kings vii, 23-26; 2 Chron. iv, 2-5; see Jose- phus, Ant. viii, 3, 5; compare a similar basin of stone discovered in the island of Cyprus, Midler, Archilol. p. 292). See generally Reland, Antiq. Sacr. i, 6, 7 sq. ; Schacht, ad Iken, p. 415 sq. ; Keil, Tempel Sol. p. 118 sq. ; especialh' Thenius, Alihebr. Ldngen it. llohl- maase, p. 19 sq., 61 sq. ; also his Komment. in Kan. ad fin. It was 5 cubits high, and had at the brim a cir- cumference of 30 cubits, or a diameter of 10 cubits. The rim was finished off with the cups of flowers (lilies), and below these ran a double row of gourd-shaped bosses ("knobs" [q. v.]). The edge was a hand- breadth in thickness, and the vessel was capable of containing 2000 (according to Chron. 3000) baths (q. v.). This immense basin rested upon twelve bullocks, also cast of " brass," tluir hinder parts being turned inward in a radiate form. It was designed for ablu- tion of the priests (2 Chron. iv, 6), i. e. their hands and feet (Exod. xxx, 18 sq.). At the destruction of the Temple it was broken into pieces by the Chaldas- ans, and so taken in fragments to Babylon (2 Kings xxv, 13; Jer. lii, 17). A few points deserve especial consideration.