BALAAMITES
BALAAMITES
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which was situated. somewhere in the presentKing’s County. Aengus and Marianus in theirFestologies commemorate him on Dec. 1 ; andthough he is come of the same Connemara family,yet he appears to be different- from Baithen, sonof Ua Corbmac ( ut supra). Little, however, isknown of him (Colgan, Acta SS. p. 437, n. *).The Mart. Doncg. p. 335, identifies him withMobaoi (Dec. 13) of Cluain-fionnabhair, or ofCluain-da-an-dobhair, in Ui-Muireadhaigh, thename of both their fathers being called Sinell;while Colgan {Acta SS. p. 598, c. 3, App.), ingiving an account of the saints belonging to thehouse of Mochoemocus and race of Conmacus,mentions “ Beodan, who is also Mobecus, son ofSinell &c., Abbot of Cluain-dobhair, Dec. 13.”
(9) Baithonus, Bathanus, Bothanus, Bp.—Dec. 25, a.d. 639. He is said by Camerarius(p. 203) to be connected with all Scotland, butspecially with Shetland and Thule, and he mayhave been one of the five bishops addressed in theepistle of Pope John IV. a.d. 640 (while yet butpope elect) to the nation of the Scots, warningthem to keep the true Easter and to avoid theerrors of Pelagius (Bede, H. E. ii. c. 19). But atthe same time it may be mentioned that Colgan{Actt SS. p. 17, n. n ) identifies the Baithanus inthe epistle with St. Baithen, son of Cuanach, bp. ofTech-baithen, who flourished about a.d. 640 (seeabove, Baithen (2) and was a Scotic bishop inHibernia, not Alba (see also Lanigan, Eccl. Hist.Ir. ii. p. 413). In Berwickshire is the parish ofAbbey of St. Bathans (A. S. A. “ Berwickshire,”p. 105 ; 0. S. A . vol, xii. 61-64). The Registerof the Priory of St. Andrews (p. 31), giving thetaxation of the churches in the archdeaconry ofthe Lothians, assigns one mark to the “ EcclesiaSti. Boythani.” The parish of Gifford, or Yester,in East Lothian, was anciently called St. Bothans(iY. S. A. “Berwickshire,” p. 105). The parishof Bowden is supposed also to take its namefrom this saint. “ In the charter granted byKing David 1. to the Abbey of Selkirk, mentionis made of Bothenden, which seems to favourthe conjecture of this parish being named afterSt. Bothan or Bodwin, and the site of this townis still pointed out near the village” {0. S. A.vol. xvi. p. 230). Perhaps Bothwell is calledafter him {O. S. A. vol. xvi. p. 300). Balle-bodan, or Kilbodan, in the parish of Ardchattan,may take its name from him, though the patronof the parish is St. Modan, but the m and bare interchangeable in Gaelic ( Orig . Par. ii.pp. 148, 186). There is a Kilbedane in thelordship of Morven and Sheriffdom of Inverness{Ibid. ii. p. 191). But Camerarius gives a St.Bothanus, bp. of Dunblane in Scotland at the18th of January, though his reference doesnot exhibit the name (Bp. Forbes, Kal. of Scott.Saints , p. 276). [A. P. F.]
BALAAMITES, the name is derived fromthe allusion in Rev. ii. 14. There were in thechurch of Pergamus those who held “the doc-trine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast astumbling-block before the children of Israel,<Paye7v eib(aX66vTa Kal tt opvevaai.” The pre-sence and activity of these teachers is urged as amatter of blame: it argues want of vigilance,and slackness of effort on the part of the “ angel”ol that church. The city watered with themartyr-blood of Antipas is in danger of being
transformed into “ Satan’s throne,” and of be-coming the head-quarters in those parts of theopposition to Christ and His Gospel. Incidentalnotices of the Balaamites occur in 2 Pet. (ii. 15),and Jude (11). The picture given is a sad, if nota worse, parallel to that given in Rev. Theyare “false teachers,” leading many to followtheir “ lascivious ways ” (atreA/yelas) ....“ alluring through the lusts of the flesh ”;“ cursed children which have forsaken the rightway, and are gone astray following the way ofBalaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages ofunrighteousness.” While they “ promise liberty ”to their followers, “they themselves are theservants of corruption ” (2 Pet.) Or they are“ ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasci-viousness (ao-eA/yeiW), and denying the only LordGod.” Woe to them “for they have gone in theway of Cain, and run greedily after the error ofBalaam” (Jude). As in the Old Testament historyBalaam is the representative of a class whichclaiming prophetic power, debased divine inspi-ration to the suggestion of sensual and covetouspractices; so in the history of the Church theywho sought to introduce sensuality and idolatry,manners and customs, which to the far-seeingeye of men like unto the “Apostle of Love” couldonly prove a stumbling-block—are disciples andimitators of Balaam.
The existence of this class of teachers andtaught is a matter of history. The identity ofthe Balaamites with the Nicolaitans, associatedwith them in the context of the passage in theRev. (ii. 15), may be a matter of dispute [Nico-laitans], but there need be none with refe-rence to the substantial identity of their habitsand teaching. In practical results the SiSaxbB aXaafj. and the 5. N iKoXairup were equally de-testable.
That whether it came from east or
west, from Samaritan or Gnostic false prophet,was simply a caricature of the truth. “ You arefree,” was the sum of the false creed ; “ free fromlaw, from sin, from subjection of any kind: useyour liberty—if you will—for the practice ofsin; meats offered to idols cannot harm you;sensuality cannot hurt you.” This doctrine,boasting to be divinely inspired, would act mis-chievously in two ways: in some, it wouldquench religious scruples; in others, it wouldexcite coarse passions. In times of persecution,the convert—trembling at the alternative, sacri-fice or die—would gladly accept the suggestionthat the former was a matter of “ indifference.”In a less, but equally real, degree, the samedoctrine would quiet the mind of the man con-sciously or unconsciously eating meats alreadyoffered in heathen sacrifices. It would then bean easy step to participate in the heathenfestivals, and introduce the orgies of the Bac-chanalia into the Agapae of the ChristianChurch.
The melancholy distinction of being foremosttempters of the church of Pergamus to thisoffence, is coupled with the name of Balaamites.They encouraged among the Christians the prac-tices to which the Moabites had encouraged theIsraelites: they advised and introduced after theexample of Balaam a false freedom—a freedomof the flesh. The rropveia to which Balaam andJezebel had incited the people of God, was not ofnecessity that of a lawless indiscriminate connec-