RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Beard Bebb
In the bitter political contests of the time between the French and English parties he sided with the former, and fought with energy and courage for the independence of Scotland against the plans of Henry VIII. In the religious contests between Romanists and Reformers he took as decidedly the part of the hierarchy and did not scruple to use intrigue and force when argument and persuasion failed. His memory has been darkened by his severity against heretics and his immoral life. The case of George Wishart (q.v.) is adduced as a particularly flagrant piece of religious persecution; but it must be remembered that he lived in a rude country in turbulent times, and the Reformers were implicated in political intrigues and treasonable plots. The execution of Wishart was the immediate cause of a conspiracy to put Beaton out of the way, and certain members of the Reform party murdered him in his bedchamber.
Bibliography: R. Chambers, Lives of Illustrious Scotchmen, ed. T. Thomson, 5 vols., Edinburgh, 1835; C. R. Rogers, Life of George Wishart, ib. 1876; DNB, iv, 17-18; J. Heirless, Cardinal Beaton, Priest and Politician, London, 1891.
BEATTIE, FRANCIS ROBERT: Presbyterian; b. at Guelph, Ont., Mar. 31,1848; d. at Louisville, Ky., Sept. 4, 1906. He was educated at the University of Toronto (B.A., 1875), Knox Theological College, Toronto (1878), Illinois Wesleyan University (Ph.D., 1884), and Presbyterian Theological College, Montreal (D.D., 1887). He was tutor in Knox College in 1876-78, and held Canadian pastorates at Baltimore and Coldsprings (1878-82) and Brantford (1882-88), in addition to being examiner to Toronto University in 1884- 1888. In the latter year he entered the Presbyterian Church, South, and was appointed professor of apologetics in Columbia Seminary, Columbia, S. C, remaining there until 1893, when he became prof esse i' of apologetics and systematic theology in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Kentucky at Louisville. He published Utilitarian Theory of Morals (Brantford, Ont., 1884); Methods of Theism (1887); Radical Criticism (Chicago, 1894); Presbyterian Standards (Richmond, Va., 1896); and Apologetics (vol. i, 1903). He also edited the Memorial Volume of the Westminster Assembly Celebration at Chartotte, N C. (Richmond, Va., 1897), and was associate editor of the Christian Observer from 1893 and of The Presbyterian Quarterly from 1895.
BEATTIE, JAMES: Scotch poet; b. at Laurencekirk (70 m. n.n.e. of Edinburgh), Kincardineshire, Oct. 25, 1735; d. at Aberdeen Aug. 18, 1803. He studied at the Marischal College, Aberdeen (M.A., 1753), and, after seven years as a school-teacher, became professor of moral philosophy and logic at that institution in 1760. In reply to Hume he wrote An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth (London, 1770), which was popular and successful, but has little value as a philosophical work. Other works of his were: Dissertations, Moral and Critical (1783); Evidences of the Christian Religion (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1786); and Elements of Moral Science (2 vols., 1790-93). His poems, of which the chief is The Minstrel (books i-ii, 1771-
1774), are much better than his philosophical writings; and it is for them that he is remembered.
Bibliography: Sir William Forbes, An Account of the Life and Writings of James Beattie, Edinburgh, 1806; DNB, iv, 22-25.
BEAUSOBRE, bo"so'br, ISAAC DE: One of
the most distinguished preachers of the French Protestant Church; b. at Niort (220 m. s.w. of Paris), in the present department of Deux-Sevres, Mar. 8, 1659; d. in Berlin June 5, 1738. He was descended from a Protestant family of Gascogne, whose head took refuge in Geneva in 1578. He began his theological studies at the celebrated academy of Saumur, was ordained at the last synod of Loudun, and was called to be minister of the church at Chatillon, department of Indre, 1683. During the religious persecution, he fled in Nov., 1685, to Rotterdam, where he was welcomed at the house of the princess of Orange and, through her, was appointed chaplain to her daughter, princess of Anhalt-Dessau. In 1 694 he was appointed chaplain to the elector of Brandenburg, Frederick III, and was called to Berlin as minister of the French Church. He stayed there for thirty-six years, preaching with much success, and was loaded with favors by King Frederick II. Among other honorable missions, he was sent in 1704 to the Duke of Marlborough, and, in 1713, to the commissioners of the Treaty of Utrecht, to ask for the exchange of Huguenot galley-slaves for French prisoners. He was privy councilor of the king of Prussia, director of the French House and of the French schools, and superintendent of all the French churches in Berlin.
His works are: Defense de la doctrine des Reformes sur la Providence, la predestination, la grace, et V Eucharistie (Magdeburg, 1693); Les Psaumes de David mis en rime francaise (Berlin, 1701); Le Nouveau-Testament de J. C. traduit en fran^ais sur Voriginal grec, avec des notes litterales (Amsterdam, 1718); Histoire critique de Manichee et du Manicheisme (1739); Sermons (4 vols., Lausanne, 1755); Histoire de la Reformation ou origine et progres du Lutheranisme dans I' Empire de 1517 a 1536 (4 vols., Berlin, 1785-86). G. Bonet-Maury.
Bibliography: A life is prefixed by A. B. de la Chapelle to Beausobre's Remarques . sur le Nouveau Testament, 2 vols., The Hague, 1742. Consult J. H. S. Formey, Eloge des acadimiciens de Berlin, 2 vols., Berlin, 1757; E. and £. Haag, La France protestante, ed. H. L. Bordier, ii, 1 27, Paris, 1877; C. J. G. Bartholmess, Le Grand Beausobre, in Bulletin de la societe d'histoire du protestantisme francais, ib. 1876.