Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/616

 696 BETHLEIIEMITES BETHSAIDA resorted to in summer. It is noted for its iron and zinc manufactories. The Lehigh Valley and Lehigh and Susquehanna railroads connect at this point with the North Pennsylvania road. The Lehigh university (Episcopal) was established here in 1866, through the liberal- ity of Asa Packer, who gave 56 acres of land for its site, and endowed it with the sum of $500,000. In 1871 it had 15 instructors, 48 students in the preparatory and 68 in the collegiate department, and a library of 2,000 volumes. BETIILEHEMITES. I. An ancient monastic order as to which there is great uncertainty, no monastery being known except that at Cam- bridge, England, said by Matthew Paris to have been founded in 1257. II. An order of religious hospitallers founded about 1655 in Guatemala by Fray Pedro de Betancurt of St. Joseph, a native of Teneriffe. He was a Fran- ciscan tertiary, and his associates assumed that habit, but soon adopted constitutions of their own, which were approved by Pope Inno- cent XI. in 1687. They devoted themselves to the education of the poor and the care of the sick. The order spread to Mexico and Peru, and also, it is said, to the Canary islands, being governed by a general at Guatemala. A year after Fray Pedro's death in 1667, the Bethlehemite nuns were founded by Maria Anna del Galdo, also a Franciscan tertiary, and devoted themselves to the same objects among their own sex. BETHLEN, tabor, prince of Transylvania, born in 1580, of an eminent Magyar Protestant fam- ily, died Nov. 15, 1629. In 1613, after the death of the two Bathoris, he succeeded, with the aid of Turkey, in being elected prince of Transyl- vania. Joining the Bohemians in 1619 in the war against Austria, he took Presburg, threat- ened Vienna, and the Magyar nobles elected him king of Hungary (Aug. 25, 1 620). A t the begin- ning of 1622, however, he concluded at Nikols- bnrg a peace with the emperor Ferdinand II., who ceded to him seven Hungarian counties and two Silesian principalities on condition of his abandoning the Hungarian crown. This treaty being violated by the imperialists, he re- newed hostilities in 1623, and at the head of a powerful force invaded Moravia ; but, unable to join the Protestant army under Christian of Brunswick, he concluded an armistice, then a treaty of peace, which he again broke in 1626 on his marriage with Catharine of Branden- burg. Shortly afterward he made a third and permanent alliance with Ferdinand II., hence- forward devoting himself to Transylvanian interests, and founded an academy at Weissen- hurg (now Karlsburg), which still exists at Enyed, promoting learning by appointing Ger- man professors. He was regarded as one of the pillars of Protestantism. BETHPUAGE (Heb., place of unripe figs), a place of Scriptural interest which has passed away, leaving no trace behind. It must have been situated somewhere on the E. slope of the range of hills extending N. and S. between Jerusalem and Bethany. By Eusebius and Je- rome, and also by Origen, the place was known, though its position is not indicated ; they de- scribe it as a village of priests, possibly deriving the name from Beth-phake, signifying in Syriac the house of the jaw, as that part in the sacri- fices was the portion of the priests. Schwarz places Bethphage on the S. shoulder of the mount of Offence above Siloam ; and Dr. Bar- clay ("City of the Great King") identifies it with traces of foundations and cisterns in that vicinity, that is, S. W. of Bethany. BETHSAIDA (Heb., fishing place), the name of two places, as is now generally agreed, of ancient Palestine. One of them is believed to have been situated on the N. W. shore of the lake of Tiberias. Jerome and Eusebius men- tion Capernaum, Chorazin, Tiberias, and Betli- saida as lying on the shore of Lake Tiberias ; and Epiphanius says of Bethsaida and Caper- Bethsaida. naum that they were not far apart. But the exact position of this Bethsaida has never been indicated, and even the name is un- known to the inhabitants of that part of the country, except such as have learned it from the New Testament. Some writers place it at Khan Minyeh, others, with Robinson, at Ain et-Tabighah ; and De Saulcy thinks it was lo- cated at Tell Hum. Here was the birthplace of three of Christ's disciples and a frequent re- sort of Christ himself. The other place ap- pears to have been Bethsaida of Gaulonitis, just above the embouchure of the Jordan into the lake of Tiberias, on the E. side. It was originally a village called Bethsaida, but was rebuilt and enlarged by Philip the tetrarch and named Julias in honor of Julia, daughter of Augustus. This is identified with the place where Christ miraculously fed the 5,000, and where the blind man was restored to sight, Here also Philip the tetrarch died and was buried.