PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
McClintock & Strong Cyclopaedia — Volume 6
John McClintock & James Strong · 1,371,720 words · 1335 reading sections
Section 61
Megerlin, Daahd Friedrich, a noted German Orientalist and mystic, was born at Stuttgard near the opening of the 18th century. After hokling for some time a professorship at the gymnasium at Montbelliard, he preached at Laubach, whence, in 17G9, he removed to Frankfort-on-the-Main to continue in the pastorate. He died i…
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Short (2 Kings ix, 2"). "And when Ahaziah the kill}; of Judah saw this, he lied by the way of the gar- den-house. Aiid Jehu fol- lowed alter liini, and said, Smite him also in the char- iot. And they did so at the MEGIDDO 45 MEGIDDO sepulchre with his fathers sons of the brethren of ill the city of David." Ahaziah,…
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Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast.) do not attempt to mark the situation of the place, and it appears that the name IMegiddo was in their time already lost. They often mention a town called Legio (Atytwv), which must in their day have been an important and well-known place, as they assume it as a central point from w hich t…
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whole of the Esdraelon level, but that broadest part of it which is immediately opposite the place we are de- scribing (p. 335, 336). The supposition of Eaumer (Pa- Idstina, p. 402), that Legio represented the ancient Max- iinianopolis (which is given by Jerome as the later name for IJadadrimmon), based upon the presum…
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Mehu'man (Helj. Mehuman', ')'2^nT2, either from the ^yx. faithful, or from some unknown Persian word ; Sept. 'k\.iav, Yidg, Mehumani), the tirst named of the seven eunuchs whom Xerxes commanded to bring in Vashti to the royal presence (Esth. i, 10). B.C. 483. Mehu'nim (Keb. Meilnim,' D"3^""a, habitations, as in 1 Chro…
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The latest appearance of the name Mehunims in the Bible is in the lists of those who returned from the cap- tivity with Zerubbabel. Among the non-Israelites from whom the Nethinim — following the precedent of what seems to have been the foundation of the order — were made up, we find their name (Ezra ii, 50, A. V. " Me…
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Meigs, Benjamin' Ci-akk, D.D., a missionary of the American board in Ceylon, was born at Bethlehem, Conn., Aug. 9, 1789 ; was educated at Yale College (class of 1809), and while a student there he was hopefully converted, and united with the college Church in 1809. His religious exercises were very deep and marked. He …
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Magazin (Hanov. 1787-90); Neueres Magazin (ibid. 1791-92, 3 vols.). Meiners's literary works e^-ince great activity, and at the same time a great variety in his themes; the most of his writings, however, are devoted to show the difference between past and present morals. Meinhold, Johann Wilhelm, a German theolo- gian,…
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The domestic history of Meir is in many respects touching. " It has already been stated that our rabbi was married to Beruria, so famed for her talents and rabbinical lore as, in the opinion of contemporaries, to occupy a high place among the sages of the time. Her sister had, after the martyrdom of their parents, been…
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MEIR IBN-GABBAI 51 MEISNER nispcl by a former co-religionist, named Knippe, who nas in the suite of the bishop of Basle. Eabbi Meir was imprisoned by the emperor, not so much for punish- ment as for the purpose of extorting from him or his co-religionists a sum of money, Meir died in 1293 in prison at Worms, where h…
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Meisel, Marco or Mordechai, a great Jewish phi- lanthropist, was born in 1528 and died in 1601. Little is known of his life, except that he was one of the wealthiest men at that time in Germany, and that he used his means for philanthropic purposes. He built homes, hospitals, synagogues, colleges, and did fJl in his po…
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Mekhitar Kosh, surnamed tlie neanlless, a learned Armenian ecclesiastic, who was born about 1140, found- ed a monastery in the valley of Dandsoud, in I'^astern Armenia, in 119], and became its first abbot. He died in 1213. Alekhitar Kosh left several works, but they still continue in MS. form, and are of minor value. S…
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To remove the oppressiveness of melancholy the fol- lowing remedies may be applied : 1, early rising ; 2, plain, nourishing food ; 3, strict temperance ; 4, exer- cise in the open air. Or, if it arises particularly from the mind: 1, associate with the cheerful; 2, study the Scriptures; 3, consider the amiable character…
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MELAXCTHON 54 MELAXCTHOX retirinf^ manners, caused a feeling of disappointment ; but wlien, four days later (Aug. -29), he delivereil his inaugural Icot ure, '• On i-eforining the Studk.i of Youth,'' lie \V(iii ilic ciithiisiastic apjilause of all his hearers. Lu- ther, I'siiccially, was delighted. Two days aftenvar…
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Mt hiiiiihnii ii.f a Theologian and Reformer. — But it is with Melancthon as a theologian that we have chiefly to do. He never entered the ministry, and therefore performed his work in the (Jhurch entirely in the ca- pacity of a layman. Immediately upon going to ^^'it- tenberg he identified himself with the Reformation…
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During Luther's absence at the Wartburg, the care of the Reformation rested mainly upon Melancthon, "With great abOity he defended Luther against the the- ologians of Paris, but found himself unable to withstand the storm of fanaticism which arose among some of his former friends. He was even for a time greatly in doub…
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Melancthon was undoubtedly the great theologian of the Lutheran Reformation. Yet the very gifts which were of such great service in reducing the purilied doc- trine to a connected system, and organizing the outward form of the Church, constantly tempted him to seek for external union, even at the exjiense of principles…
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Melania, St., called thk Younger, a Roman lady of a noble family, who was born about A.D. 388, became a convert to ChrisCianity and founded a convent in Palestine, and subsequently a monastery near Mount Calvary. She was the daughter of a Koman consul, and one of the many noble ladies of the Eternal City who joined the…
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There is something surprising and mysterious in the first appearance of Melchizedek, and in the subsequent references to him. Bearing a title which Jews in after- ages would recognise as designating their own sover- eign, bringing gifts which recall to Christians the Lord's Supper, this Canaanite crosses for a moment t…
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Canaanites and posterity of Xoah, and eminent for holi- ness and justice, and therefore discharged the priestly as well as regal functions among the people ; and we may conclude that his twofold capacity of king and priest (characters very commoidy united in the remote ages ; see N. Schwebel, De caiisis conjunctce olim…
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Another fruitful source of discussion has been found in the site of Salem and Shaveh, which certainly lay in Abraham's road from Hobah to the plain of Mamre, and which are assumed to be near to each other. The va- rious theories may be briefly enumerated as follows: (1) Salem is supposed to have occupied in AJbraham's …
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MELEA 60 MELETIUS says Rupertus, "sit caritas cum prudentia quadam pia et humilitate noii ficta conjuncta." He does not wish all controversies to cease, but to be conducted in a more moderate, charitable spirit. He then compares the act- ual state of religion with its state in the early ages, and concludes bj* sayin…
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Meletius of Lycopolis flourished in the Egyptian district of 'I'hebais in the beginning of the 4th century. He was a prelate in the Church, and the founder of the Meletian sect, or, as they termed themselves, the Clinrch of the Martijrs. During the bitter persecutions wliieh the Christians suffered under the reign of D…
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I. Identrfication of the Locality. — Melita was the an- cient name of Malta (see J. F.Wandalin, Diss, de Me- lita Pauli, Havn, 1707), and also of a small island in MELITA the Adriatic, now called Meleda (MeXiTivi] vtjaoc, Ptol. ii, 17, 39 ; comp. Pliny, iii, 30 ; Apollon. Rhod. iv, 572), and each of these has found w…
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2. Objections to jifalta.—The case is established to ' demonstration. Still it may be worth while to notice one or two objections. It is said, in reference to xxvii, 27, that the wreck took place in the Adriatic or Gulf of Venice. It is urged that a well-known island like Malta coidd not have been unrecognised (xxvii, …
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2. The. Island in General. — The island of Malta lies in the Mediterranean, about sixt}' mUes south from Cape Passaro, in Sicily. It is about seventeen miles in length, and nine or ten in breadth. Near it, on the west, is a smaller island, called Gozo, the ancient Gaulos. Malta has no mountains or high hills, and makes…
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Melito OF Sakdis, bishop of the place after which he is n;nned, and a writer of considerable eminence, tlourisiicd in the 2d century. So little is known of his personal history that it cannot be determined at what date he was elevated to the episcopacy, though he prob- ably held the bishopric when the controversy arose…
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' Real-Encyklopddie, ix. 313 ; Nealc. Hist, of the East. Cli. : Introd. i, 38; Donahlson. Cli. Literature; Schaff, Ch. I Hist. i. IGG, et al. ; .lonrnal Sacred Lit. vols, xv, xvi, I and xvii ; Piper, in Sludien und Kiiliken, 1838 ; Steitz, MELITONIANS 65 MELON Und. 1856 and 1857; Welte, Tiibinger theol. Quart al…
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Melon (only in the plur. Giria^X, abaftichim', from n^3, according to Gesenius by transposition for niS^, to cook, but perh. rather a foreign word ; Sept. likewise irsTroi>(c,Yu\g. pepo7ies') occurs only in Numb. xi, 5, where the murmuring Israelites say, " We remem- ber the fish which we did eat freely in Egypt, the c…
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The common melon (Cucumis vielo) is cultivated in the same places and ripens at the same time with the watermelon, but the fruit in Egypt is not so delicious (see Sonnini's Travels, ii, 328) ; the poor in Egypt do not eat this melon. "A traveller in the East," says Kitto (note on Numb, xi, 5), "who recollects the inten…
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On Melville's arrival in Edinburgh, in July, 1574, he was invited by the regent Morton to enter his family as a domestic tutor; but this invitation was declined by Melville, who ivas averse to a residence at court, and preferred an academic life. He was early gratified in this wish, for, having taught for a short time …
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MELVILLE G8 MELVILLE divine service, and he also took a share of the other min- isterial duties of the parish. His gratuitous labors were highly gratifying to the people in general, but the free- dom and litifclity with which he reproved vice ex[)osed him to the resentment of several leading individuals, and the mos…
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James's accession to the English throne brought to ^lelville a permit enlarging his circle of activity to within six miles of the college, and three congratu- latory poems, which he had written for the occasion, seemed even to have established peace between the two combatants. In 1G06, however, the war broke out anew, …
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Melville, Henry, B.D., an eminent English di- vine and pulpit orator, was bom at Pendennis Castle. Cornwall, Sept. 14, 1800; was educated at St. Peter's College, Cambridge, graduated B.A. in 1821, and soon after became a fellow and tutor ; later he determined to take holy orders, and was appointed minister of Camden Ch…
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Memling, Hans or Jan, a celebrated Flemish painter, was born at Constanz in 1439, according to Dr. Boisseree, but other authorities, among whom may be cited Mrs. Heaton, assert positively that his birthplace was Bruges, and that he was born in 1430. There was for a long time a fierce controversy as to this painter's na…
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Memory, that faculty of the mind which enables us to recall past impressions, whether of external facts or internal consciousness. It applies to sensations, percep- tions, creations of the fancy, matters actpiired by learn- ing, in short, to anything, actual or imaginary, which has previously occupied the mind. It is t…
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The sacred name of Memphis was ha-ptah, pa- PTAH, or HA-PTAH-KA, or HA-KA-PTAH, " the abode of Ptah." or " of the being of Ptah" (Brugsch, i, 235, 236, Nos. 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, tab. xlii). II. Geog7-aphical Position. — Memphis was well chosen as the capital city of all Egypt. It stood just above the ancient point …
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ni. Illotory.—l. The foundation of the city is assigned to Menes, the first king of Egypt, head of the first dy- nasty (Herod, ii, 99). The situation, as already ob- served, is admirai)le for a cajiital of the whole country, and it was probably chosen willi that object. It would at once command the Delta and hold the k…
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The mythological system of the time of Menes is as- cribed by Bunsen to " the amalgamation of the religion of Upper and Lower Egj'pt ;" religion having " already united the two provinces before the power of the race of This in the Thebaid extended itself to Memphis, and before the giant work of Menes converted the Delt…
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1. Herodotus states, on the authority of the priests, that Menes "built the temple of Hephasstus, which stands within the city, a vast edifice, well worthy of mention" (ii, 99). The divinity whom Herodotus thus identifies with Hephsestus was Ptah, "the creative power, the maker of all material things" (Wilkinson, in Ra…
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3. At Mem|)his was the reputed burial-place of Isis (Diod. Sic. i, 22) ; it had also a temple to that " m\Tiad- named" divinity, which Herodotus (ii, 176) describes as " a vast structure, well worthy of notice," but inferior to that consecrated to her iu Busiris, a chief city of her worship (ii, 59). Herodotus describ…
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It was in the time of the decline of the Israelitish kingdom, and during the subsequent existence of that of Judah, that Memphis became important to the He- brews. The Ethiopians of the 2oth dynasty, or their Egyptian vassals of the2.>d and 24th, proljably, and the Saitesof the 26th, certaiuly, nri.lc ^leniphis the pol…
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Memu'can (Heb. Memukan', 'S^^?, of unknown but prob, Persian origin ; Sept. MonxnTof, Vulg, Mamu- chan), the last named of the seven satraps or royal coun- sellors at the court of Xerxes, and the one at whose suggestion Vashti was divorced (Esth. i, 14, IG, 21), B,C. 483, "They were 'wise men who knew the times' (skill…
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Menage, iNIatthieu, a French theologian, was bom about loS.'^. in Maine, near Angers. He studied at the University of Paris, and there received the degree of iNI.A. in 1408, and was called to the chair of philosophy after 1413. The success he obtained caused him to be elected vice-chancellor in 1416, and rector of the …
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Menahem (bp:x-Zerach) of Estella, a Jewish savant, was born in 1306 at Estella, whither his father had rted after the expulsion of the Jews from France. In 1328, six years after his marriage to the daughter of Benjamin Abiz, the rabbi of Estella, the Navarresc mas- •sacre occurred, in which his father, mother, and four…
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MEXARD IS MEXART manuscript which he had found at LasaL He added different Latin treatises of the same age, and notes, in which he showed much judgment and erudition. Me- nard's edition served as a basis for that of Ducange, in which tlie notes and observations of the former are up- held : — Ilinerarium B. A ntonini…
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Menart, Qlestin, a French prelate, was born at Flavigny, diocese of Autun, about the bcginninj; of the 15th century. He was successively treasurer to the chapel of Dijon, provost of St. Omer, counsellor to the duke Philippe de Bourgogne, and his ambassador to the kings of France, England, and Germany. The letters of po…
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litical philosophy, and good government — one to whonj youthful and perplexed inquirers resorted for coimsel and encouragement. In the times of Confucius and Mencius, China was not a consolidated empire as at present, but consisted of a number of states or provinces under independent chieftains or kings. To the court o…
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Legge linds fault with Confucius and Mencius be- cause their views were so human — both said so little of (rod and heaven. To these influential teachers he attributes the gross materialism of the Chinese literati to-day. We have no apology to offer for their athe- ism. Mencius is an object of reverence, but he does not…
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MEND^ANS 81 MEND^ANS all kinds of screen^, and amulets for sickness and other misfortunes which evil spirits may bring ; these charms are to be worn on the breast. Those used against in- curable diseases are called X'^H'S]?, those against cura- ble disorders X^TCQ. According to Ignatius a Jesu, the}' also possess an…
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MEND JEANS 82 MEXD^ANS into the heavens; the first seven are the seven planets, one for each of the seven heavens ; the sun, as the great- est, stands in the central or fourth heaven ; the twelve became the signs of the zodiac; the fate of the remain- ing five is unknown. They are intended to be service- able to man…
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Nouses of ]Vorshiji. — The churches, which are only intended for the use of tlie priests and their assistants, the laymen remaining in the entry, are so s^maW that only two persons can stand in them at the same time. They are built from west to east, and are distinguished by gable-roofs. 'J"hey have no altar and no orn…
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His entrance upon his glorious career as a composer of sacred music may be ascribed to the committee of the Birmingham Festival, which called forth the orato- rio of St. Paul for its festival of 1837. The impression which this composition made at Bu'mingham is de- scribed by those present as truly grand. In 1840 Men- d…
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struction ia general literature and philosophy. Chance favored him v.ith the acquaintance of a Polish .lew who possessed a profound knowledge of m.athematics. The Bole became his instructor in Euclid, wliich he studied from a copy of the work in Hebrew, this being the only language understood by his teacher. Be- sides …
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defined the universe as a creation out of the divine substance, a view involving the main principle of Spi- nozism, and directly opposed to the notions of deity and creation prevalent in his day. He now attempted, by concessions and modifications, to get rid of the eth- ical objections usually brought against kindred t…
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the Evidences of Christianity, with the request that he would refute it in case he should find the argument untenable ; and that, if it should seem to him con- clusive, he would " do what policy, love of truth, and probity demanded — what Socrates doubtless would have done, had he read the work and found it unanswerabl…
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more powerfully affected the Orientalism of his coun- trymen than these elforts of Mendelssohn for Biblical criticism from a modern Platonic stand-point. The new HKulium of vision broiij^ht new insight; critical inquiry took the place of fanaticism; the divergences of Shemitic and European thought proved not so irrecon…
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I was doomed to experience another trial of his sensibil- ity in an attack on his deceased friend Lessing by I Jacobi (q. v.), who published Jirifjh an Mendelssohn I iiber die Lehre des Spinoza, in which he charged Les- j sing with being an "im|)licit Si)inozist" — a charge then much severer than at present, when many …
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Mendez, Alphonso, a noted missionary of the Roman Catholic Church, flourished in Abyssinia in the early part of the 17th century. lie was a Portuguese by birth, but we know little of his personal history dis- connected from his labors in the East. He belonged to the Society of Jesus, and was created patriarch of the Ab…
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Mendicants, Order of, also known as Begging Friars, is the name of several religious organizations within the boundaries of the Roman Catholic Church, intended to depend for support on the voluntary contri- butions of the laity. This sort- of society began in the 13th century, and the members of it, by the tenor of the…
1,021 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain 19th-century biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical reference work; OCR text from Internet Archive. Historical scholarship and terminology reflect its era; OCR may contain errors. Verify quotations and current scholarly claims independently.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.