§ 176. Beza’s Writings.
§ 176. Beza’s Writings.
Beza’s name will ever be most honorably associated with biblical learning. Indeed, to many students his services in this department will constitute his only claim to notice. Every one who knows anything of the uncial manuscripts of the Greek New Testament has heard of the Codex Bezae, or of the history of the printed text of the New Testament has heard of Beza’s editions and of his Latin translation with notes. The Codex Bezae, known as D in the list of the uncials, also as Codex Cantabrigiensis, is a manuscript of the Gospels and Acts, originally also of the Catholic Epistles, dating from the sixth century.1310 Its transcriber would seem to have been a Gaul, ignorant of Greek. Beza procured it from the monastery of St. Irenaeus, at Lyons, when the city was sacked by Des Adrets, in 1562, but did not use it in his edition of the Greek Testament, because it departed so widely from the other manuscripts, which departures are often supported by the ancient Latin and Syriac versions. He presented it to the University of Cambridge in 1581, and it is now shown in the library among the great treasures.
Beza was also the possessor of an uncial manuscript of the Pauline Epistles, also dating from the sixth century. How he got hold of it is unknown. He merely says (Preface to his 3d ed. of the N. T., 1582) that it had been found at Clermont, near Beauvais, France. It may have been another fortune of war. After his death it was sold, and ultimately came into the Royal (now the National) Library in Paris, and there it is preserved.1311 Beza made some use of it. Both these manuscripts were accompanied by a Latin version of extreme antiquity.
Among the eminent editors of the Greek New Testament, Beza deserves prominent mention. He put forth four folio editions of Stephen’s Greek text; viz. 1565, 1582, 1589, with a Latin version, the Latin Vulgate, and Annotations. He issued also several octavo editions with his Latin version, and brief marginal notes (1565, 1567, 1580, 1590, 1604).1312
What especially interests the English Bible student is the close connection he had with the Authorized Version. Not only were his editions in the hands of King James’ revisers, but his Latin version with its notes was constantly used by them. He had already influenced the authors of the Genevan version (1557 and 1560), as was of course inevitable, and this version influenced the Authorized. As Beza was undoubtedly the best Continental exegete of the closing part of the sixteenth century, this influence of his Latin version and notes was on the whole beneficial. But then it must be confessed that he was also responsible for many errors of reading and rendering in the Authorized Version.1313
Beza was the chief theologian of the Reformed Church after Calvin. Principal Cunningham has shown1314 the part Beza played in bringing about the transition from the original Calvinism to the scholastic form, hard and mechanical, and so unconsciously preparing the way for the great reaction from Calvinism, viz. Arminianism; for Arminius had been a student in the Genevan Academy under Beza. Beza drew up in the form of a chart a curious scheme of a system of theology, and he published it in his Tractationes (mentioned below) along with a commentary, Summa totius Christianismi sive descriptio et distributio causarum salutis electorum et exitii reproborum, ex sacris literis collecta et explicata, pp. 170 sqq. Heppe reprints the chart.
The chief work published by Beza, though not acknowledged by him, is the famous and invaluable Histoire ecclésiastique des Églises Réformées au royaume de France, originally issued at Antwerp in 1580, 3 vols. 8vo. The best edition of which is that by Baum (d. 1881), Cunitz (d. 1886), and Rodolphe Reuss, Paris, 1883–89, 3 vols. small quarto. It is well known to scholars that the first four books are in a great degree composed of extracts from contemporaneous works, especially the Histoire des Martyrs by Crespin, and the Histoire de l’estat de France, attributed to Regnier de la Plancée, but no indication is given whence the extracts are taken. This defect in modern eyes is removed in the edition spoken of. The genesis of the work seems to be this, that Beza received reports from all parts of France in reply to the Synod’s recommendation that the churches write their histories for the benefit of posterity, that he arranged these, and inserted much autobiographical matter, but as he had to employ unknown persons to assist him, he modestly refused to put his name to the book.
Beza’s "Life of Calvin" was written in French, and immediately translated by himself into Latin (Geneva, 1565). It is the invaluable, accurate, and sympathetic picture of the great Reformer by one who knew him intimately and revered him deeply. It has been constantly used in the former chapters of this volume. It is by far the best of the contemporary biographies of any of the Reformers.
Beza collected his miscellanies under the title Tractationes theologicae, Geneva, 1570, 2d ed. 1582, 3 vols. folio. In these volumes will be found united his chief essays, including the De haereticis à civili magistratu puniendis, adversus M. Bellium (I. 85–169), already analyzed. The first part was reprinted as late as 1658 under the new title Opuscula, in quibus pleraque Christianae religionis dogmata adversus haereses nostris temporibus renovatas solide ex verbo Dei defenduntur.
In 1573 he published a curious volume of correspondence on theological subjects, Epistolarum Theologicarum. The letters are written to different persons and are variously dated from 1556 to 1572. The volume is printed in small italics and was so popular that the third edition appeared at Hanover in 1597. But the number of his letters published is greatly exceeded by those still in manuscript.
In 1577 he published Lex Dei, moralis, ceremonialis, et politica, ex libris Mosis excerpta, et in certas classes distributa. This is simply the legal portions of the Pentateuch classified, without note or comment, apparently under the theory that the Mosaic law is still binding.
In 1581 Beza, in connection with Daneau and Salnar, issued the Harmonia Confessionum Fidei, designed to promote Christian union among the evangelical churches.1315
Mention has already been made of Beza as a poet His Poëmata, Paris, 1548, commonly called Juvenilia, consists of epigrams, epitaphs, elegies, and bucolics. They are classical in expression, and erotic in sentiment, though not so vicious as such a libeller as Bolsec would have us believe. His Abraham’s Sacrifice, already alluded to, was written in French (Geneva, 1550), and translated into Italian (Florence, 1572), English (London, 1577), and Latin (Geneva, 1597). It was republished along with the Poëmata, Geneva, 1597. Of much more importance is his translation of the Psalms, completing that begun by Clément Marot. It was undertaken at Calvin’s request, and published in sections, and finished at Geneva in 1560.
This was the old spelling as appears from Beza’s signature. The modern French spell it Bèze, the English and Germans Beza, which is the Latin form.
The Jesuit Maimbourg, a declared enemy, in his Histoire du Calvinisme (Paris, 1682, 18mo, p. 217), has thus described him at this time: "Homme bien fait, de belle taille, ayant le visage fort agréable, l’air fin et délicat, et toutes les manières d’un homme du monde qui le faisoient estimer des Grands et surtout des dames, ausquelles il prenoit grand soin de ne pas déplaire. Pour l’esprit, on ne peut nier qu’il ne l’eust très-beau, vif, aisé, subtil, enjoûéet poli, ayant pris peine de le cultiver par l’étude des belles lettres, et particulièrement de la poësie, oùil excelloit en françois et en latin, sçachant avec cela un peu de philosophie et de droit qu’il avoit appris aux écoles d’Orleans." "He was well made, of good size, having a very agreeable countenance, a refined and delicate air, and the carriage of a man of the world, who had won the esteem of the great, and especially of the ladies, whom he took much pains not to displease. It cannot be denied that he was very attractive, lively, easy, subtle, playful, and polished, having cultivated his mind by reading literature, particularly poetry, wherein he himself excelled both in French and Latin, mingling with it a little philosophy and law which he had taken in at Orleans."
Baum, I. 60-63.
Anciently spelled Desnosze.
Thus they have taken the characters mentioned in them as actual, whereas they are purely imaginary.
He adopted the alias of Thibaud de May. So Heppe, p. 20.
For having left France because he was a Protestant he was condemned by the Parliament of Paris to death, and all his property confiscated to the State (May 31, 1550). By special royal mandate his property was restored to him in 1564, although he was at the time at the head of the Reformed Church of France. Cf. Baum, I. 66 sq.
His colleague in the Latin chair was the distinguished François Hotman (Latin, Hotomanus), who afterwards founded a law school at Geneva.
It was performed by the students of the Lausanne academy and elsewhere and translated into several languages.
See the text in Baum, I. 405-409.
Pierre Viret had followed him to Geneva, Jan. 13, 1559, and was one of his colleagues in ecclesiastical service.
Baum, II. 122. Unfortunately Beza’s account of it is lost.
Baum, II. 168-419, Heppe, 104-148, Baird (Rise of the Huguenots), I. 493-577, give full, accurate, and interesting accounts of the famous Colloquy of Poissy, to which the reader is referred. Only the briefest mention can be made in this place.
The entirely proper request of the Protestants that the bishops should not be at the same time parties and judges, that the questions in debate should be decided solely by the Word of God in the originals, and that the minutes should not be accepted unless signed by the secretary on each side, had been refused. With studied indignity the Protestant ministers, who numbered twelve, all distinguished men, were required to appear as culprits brought to the bar, for they were separated by a railing from the prelates and courtiers.
His leave of absence from Geneva had been much extended in answer to the request of the king of Navarre, Condé, and Coligny. Heppe, 161.
Cf. the touching account of these events in Heppe, 158-61.
Baird, I. 576 sq.
"Sire, c’est àla vérite àl’Église de Dieu, au nom de laquelle je parle, d’endurer les coups, et non pas d’en donner. Mais aussi vous plaira-t-il vous souvenir que c’est une enclume qui a usébeaucoup de marteaux." Quoted by Baird, II. 28; cf. Baum, II. 567.
Baum says (II. 642) that it may with confidence be placed by the side of the most eloquent passages in the French language. A judgment in which Baird (II. 61) concurs.
Baum, II. 711; Baird, II. 105.
Baum, II. 714, 716.
Baird, II. 118.
Referring to the entire length of service in France, Baum says: "He had been absent twenty-two months. They were the most wearing and the most perilous, but also the most fruitful months in his life. For during that period, with courage and dignity, with learning and acuteness, with penetrating force and charming eloquence, he had before princes and kings preached the gospel and exalted the name of Christ. As the representation in this work has abundantly shown, amid incessant struggles against unwise or faint-hearted friends, against cunning and powerful foes, many times and most daringly at the risk of his own life, he developed into one of the great leaders who procured for the Reformed Church of France its soul-liberty, which, though, it is true, less than it claimed should have been given, was still secured to it by law." With these words Baum (II. 731) closes his authoritative but, alas, unfinished work upon Beza.
Baird, II. 388. In the regent’s proclamation, Beza was described as "homme de moïenne stature, ayant barbe àdemy blanche, et le visage hault et large."
Also called by some Pierre.
The whole number of the massacred is reckoned at about thirty thousand. Cf. the monograph of Henri Bordier: La Saint-Barthélemy et la critique moderne. Genève et Paris, 1879.
Heppe, 248. Baird (II. 554-557) gives a graphic description of the Genevese reception of the refugees, and shows how the city for so doing was exposed to the revenge of Charles IX.
Baird, The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre, I. 50.
Baird, ibid., I. 213 sq.
Heppe, 287. Although he could not greet him as a brother, Andreä kindly offered to give Beza his hand as a mark of his love toward him as a fellow-man—a condescension which not unnaturally the Genevese reformer at once declined. Baird, ibid., I. 401.
See the letter in Heppe, 294-299.
Heppe, 307.
Ibid. 314.
Heppe, 310.
Given at length in a German translation by Heppe, 304-306.
1310 A very full description of it is given by Scrivener, Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, 3d ed. 120-127; cf. Gregory, Prolegomena in N. T. Tischendorfianum ed. viii. maior, 369-374; Schaff, Companion to the Greek Testament, 122-124.
1311 For full description, see Scrivener, ibid. 163-166; cf. Gregory, ibid. 419-422.
1312 Schaff, ibid. 237-238, and his tract on the Revision of the N. T., p. 28 sq.
1313 The late Ezra Abbot, the biblical textual critic, at Dr. Schaff’s request, made a very careful collation of the different editions of Beza with the Authorized Version, and found that "the Authorized Version agrees with Beza’s text of 1589 against Stephen’s of 1550 in about ninety places; with Stephen’s against Beza in about forty; and in from thirty to forty places, in most of which the variations are of a trivial character, it differs from both." Schaff: The Revision of the English Version of the New Testament, New York, 1873 (Introd. p. xxviii). Cf. Farrar, History of Interpretation, p. 342, note 3.
1314 See his Reformers (pp. 345-413) mentioned at the head of this chapter.
1315 See Schaff, Creeds, I. 354; II. 193 sqq.