GERIZIM, a mountain in the hill-country of Samaria, 2849 ft. above the sea-level, and enclosing, with its companion Ebal, the valley in which lies the town of Nāblus (Shechem). It is the holy place of the community of the Samaritans, who hold that it was the scene of the sacrifice of Isaac—a tradition accepted by Dean Stanley but no other western writers of importance. Here, on the formal entrance of the Israelites into the possession of the Promised Land, were pronounced the blessings connected with a faithful observance of the law (Josh. viii. 33, 34; cf. Deut. xi. 29, 30, xxvii. 12-26), the six tribes, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin, standing here for the purpose while the remaining tribes stood on Ebal to accept the curses attached to specific violations thereof. Gerizim was probably chosen as the mount of blessing as being on the right hand, the fortunate side, of a spectator facing east. The counter-suggestion of Eusebius and Jerome that the Ebal and Gerizim associated with this solemnity were not the Shechem mountains at all, but two small hills near Jericho, is no longer considered important. From this mountain Jotham spoke his parable to the elders of Shechem (Judg. ix. 7). Manasseh, the son of the Jewish high-priest in the days of Nehemiah, married the daughter of Sanballat and, about 432 B.C., erected on this mountain a temple for the Samaritans; it was destroyed by Hyrcanus about 300 years afterwards. Its site is a small level plateau a little under the summit of the mountain. Close to this is the place where the Passover is still annually celebrated in exact accordance with the rites prescribed in the Pentateuch. On the summit of the mountain, which commands a view embracing the greater part of Palestine, are a small Moslem shrine and the ruins of a castle probably dating from Justinian’s time. There was an octagonal Byzantine church here, but the foundations alone remain. Josephus describes it as the highest of the mountains of Samaria, but Ebal and Tell Azur are both higher. (R. A. S. M.)
GERLACHE, ÉTIENNE CONSTANTIN, Baron de (1785–1871),
Belgian politician and historian, was born at Biourge,
Luxemburg, on the 24th of December 1785. He studied law
in Paris and practised there for some time, but settled at Liége
after the establishment of the kingdom of the Netherlands.
As member of the states-general he was an energetic member
of the opposition, and, though he repudiated an ultramontane
policy, he supported the alliance of the extreme Catholics with
the Liberal party, which paved the way for the revolution of
1830. On the outbreak of disturbance in August 1830 he still,
however, thought the Orange-Nassau dynasty and the union
with the Dutch states essential; but his views changed, and,
after holding various offices in the provisional government, he
became president of congress, and brought forward the motion
inviting Leopold of Saxe-Coburg to become king of the Belgians.
In 1832 he was president of the chamber of representatives, and
for thirty-five years he presided over the court of appeal. He
presided over the Catholic congresses held at Malines between
1863 and 1867. That his early Liberal views underwent some
modification is plain from the Conservative principles enunciated
in his Essai sur le mouvement des partis en Belgique (Brussels,
1852). As an historian his work was strongly coloured by his
anti-Dutch prejudices and his Catholic predilections. His
Histoire des Pays-Bas depuis 1814 jusqu’en 1830 (Brussels, 2
vols., 1839), which reached a fourth edition in 1875, was a piece
of special pleading against the Dutch domination. The most
important of his other works were his Histoire de Liége (Brussels,
1843) and his Études sur Salluste et sur quelques-uns des principaux
historiens de l’antiquité (Brussels, 1847).
A complete edition of his works (6 vols., Brussels, 1874–1875) contains a biography by M. Thonissen.
GERLE, CHRISTOPHE ANTOINE (1736–c. 1801), French
revolutionist and mystic, was born at Riom in Auvergne. Entering
the Carthusian order early in life, he became prior of Laval-Dieu
in Perche, and afterwards of Pont-Sainte-Marie at Moulins.
Elected deputy to the states-general in 1789, Gerle became very
popular, and though he had no seat in the assembly until after
the Tennis Court oath, being only deputy suppléant, he is represented
in David’s classic painting as taking part in it. In 1792
he was chosen elector of Paris. In the revolutionary turmoil
Gerle developed a strong vein of mysticism, mingled with ideas
of reform, and in June 1790 the prophetic powers of Suzanne
Labrousse (1747–1821), a visionary who had predicted the
Revolution ten years before, were brought by him to the notice
of the Convention. In Paris, where he lived first with a spiritualistic
doctor and afterwards, like Robespierre, at the house of a
cabinetmaker, his mystical tendencies were strengthened. The
insane fancies of Catherine Théot, a convent servant turned
prophetess, who proclaimed herself the Virgin, the “Mother of
God” and the “new Eve,” were eminently attractive to Gerle;
in the person of Robespierre he recognized the Messiah, and at the
meetings of the Théotists he officiated with the aged prophetess
as co-president. But the activities of Catherine and her adepts
were short-lived. The Théotists’ cult of Robespierre was a
weapon in the hands of his opponents; and shortly after the
festival of the Supreme Being, Vadier made a report to the
Convention calling for the prosecution of Catherine, Gerle and
others as fanatics and conspirators. They were arrested, thrown
into prison and, in the confusion of Robespierre’s fall, apparently
forgotten. Catherine died in prison, but Gerle, released by the
Directory, became one of the editors of the Messager du soir, and
was afterwards in the office of Pierre Bénézech (1775–1802),
minister of the interior. Having renounced his monastic vows
in Paris, he is thought to have married, towards the close of
his life, Christine Raffet, aunt of the artist Denis Raffet. The
date of his death is uncertain.
GERMAN BAPTIST BRETHREN, or German Brethren, a
sect of American Baptists which originated in Germany, and
whose members are popularly known in the United States as
“Dunkers,” “Dunkards” or “Tunkers,” corruptions of the
German verb tunken, “to dip,” in recognition of the sect’s
continued adherence to the practice of trine immersion. The
sect was the outcome of one of the many Pietistic movements
of the 17th century, and was founded in 1708 by Andrew Mack
of Swartzenau, Germany, and seven of his followers, upon the
general issue that both the Lutheran and Reformed churches
were taking liberties with the literal teachings of the Scriptures.
The new sect was scarcely organized in Germany when its members
were compelled by persecution to take refuge in Holland, whence
they emigrated to Pennsylvania, in small companies, between
1719 and 1729. The first congregation in America was organized
on Christmas Day 1723 by Peter Becker at Germantown,
Pennsylvania, and here in 1743 Christopher Sauer, one of the
sect’s first pastors, and a printer by trade, printed the first
Bible (a few copies of which are still in existence) published in a
European language in America. From Pennsylvania the sect
spread chiefly westward, and, after various vicissitudes, caused
by defections and divisions due to doctrinal differences, in 1908
were most numerous in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and North
Dakota.
There is much uncertainty about the early theological history of the sect, but it is probable that Mack and his followers were influenced by both the Greek Catholics and the Waldensians. P. H. Bashor in his historical sketch, read before the World’s Fair Congress of the Brethren Church (1894), says: “From the history of extended labour by Greek missionaries, from the active propaganda of doctrine by scattered Waldensian refugees, through parts of Germany and Bavaria, from the credence that may generally be given to local tradition, and from the strong similarity between the three churches in general features of circumstantial service, the conclusion, without additional evidence, is both reasonable and natural that the founders of the new church received their teaching, their faith and much of their church idea from intimate acquaintance with the established usages of both societies, and from their amplification and enforcement by missionaries and pastors.... In doctrine the church has been from the first contentious for believers’ baptism, holding that nowhere in the New Testament can be found any authority even by inference, precept or example for the baptism of infants. On questions of fundamental doctrine they held to the belief
