Mabon, John Scott, an eminent educator of the (Dutch) Reformed Church, was born in Scotland in 1784 ; came to this country with his parents in 1796 ; gradu- ated with Iiigh honors at Union College (1806), and at the theological seminary in New Brunswick (1812); was tutor in Union College 1814-15 ; rector of the gram- mar school of Rutgers College 1815-25 ; temporary pro- fessor of Hebrew in the theological seminary at New Brunswick 1818-19. From this time until his death he taught privately, the last fourteen years at Hacken- sack, N. J. Mr. Mabon was an exact scholar and a pro- found thinker, a rigid disciplinarian, and a skilful and enthusiastic instructor. His life was a battle with ill health and adversity. There was something tridy he- roic in his indepenilent spirit, ever struggling for the mastery of unusual difficulties, and for the accomplish- ment of his life-work. His piety was chastened by al- most continual trials. His religious life was one of pro- found convictions and broad and deep experience. Small of stature, with an intellectual head, and a frail, bent frame, courtly in his demeanor, and retiring in disposi- tion, he was an old-fashioned Christian gentleman, and a teacher to ^vhom many a minister of the Gospel and men of other professions still look up with veneration and thankfulness for their thorough training and ability. He died April 27, 1849. See Sprague's Annals, vol. ix ; Corwin's Jfanual ; Personal Recollections of J. S. Mabon, (W.J.R.T.)
Maboul, Jacques, a French pulpit orator, born of a distinguished family in Paris in 1650, was a long time grand vicar of Poitiers, and from 1708 until his death in May, 1722, bishop of Alert. His works are Oraisons funebres (1749, 12mo) — very eloquent : — Memoires (on constitution Unigenitus} (1749, 4to). See Hoefer, A'ouy. Biog. Generale, s. v.
Mac-, a frequent initial of Scotch and Irish names, being the G.tHc for son. Those in which it is tluis written in full are given below in order. For others, see under the abbreviated form M'- or Mc-.
Mac'alon (MaieaXoi)'), a place whose natives to the number of 122 returned from the captivity (1 Esdr. V, 21) ; evidently the Michmasii (q. v.) of the Hebrew lists (Ezra ii, 27 ; Neh. vii, 31).
Macarius is the name of several distinguished
MACARIUS
596
MACCABEE
Christians of the early centuries. Among them the most imjiortant arc,
1. Macarius ^GYPTirs, or, as he is sometimes sur- namcd, the G?'eaf, or the Elder, was bom, according to Eusobius, in Upper Egypt, about the year 300. He was a disci |)le of St. Antonius (some sa}^ of St. Ephrem), and while yet a youth was distinguished for his asceticism, which won for him the surname of iraivapioyipwv. At the age of thirty he entered upon a life of asceticism, in the wilderness of Scete or Scetis, a part of the great Libyan desert, and there he remained until about 340, when he was ordained priest. He died about 390. Pal- ladius relates several extraordinary miracles said to have been performed by this saint ; among others, a resurrec- tion which he accomplished for the pur|5ose of confound- ing a heretic. During the persecution of the Egyptian monks by the Arian bishop Lucius of Alexandria, in the reign of Valens, INIacarius was banished to an island of the Nile, but allowed to return after\vards. There is yet in Libya, according to Tischendorf (Beise in d. Ori- ent), a convent which bears his name. He left 50 hom- ilies (Greek edit. Morel, Paris, 1559 ; J. G. Pritius, Leipz. 1G98), seven ascetic treatises, together with a number of apophthegmata (J. G. Pritius, Leipzig, 1G99). Both these works have been translated into German by G. Arnold, under the title Ein Denhnal d. alt. Christentfmms (Gosl. 1702), and by N. Casseder (Banb. 1819). H. J. Floss has published a very able criticism on them, to- gether with several formerly unknoAvn letters and frag- ments (Col. 1850). J. Hamberger gives a selection from them in his Stimmen aus d.Ileilif/tlmm d.cliristl.Mystik u. Theosophie.
2. Macauius of Alexandria, also called ttoXitiicoc, the tovmsman, a contemporary of the preceding, was by trade a baker, but became subsequently a disciple of St. Antonius, having been baptized when about forty years of age. He also embraced an ascetic life, and became the spiritual adviser of over 5000 monks. Palladius re- lates a number of miracles said to have been wrought by him. He was likewise one of the victims of the per- secution instituted by Yalens, and died, according to Til- lemont {Memoires, viii, 626), in 894, but according to Fa- bricius (Biblioth. Grceca, viii, 365), in 404, aged nearly a hundred years. He is said to have been the author of some regulations for monks contained in the Codex reg- ularum, coUectus a sancto Benedicto A naniensi, auctits a Holstenio (Rome, 1661, 2 vols. 4to) ; and a homily, irtpi i^oSov ipvx>ic StKaiuJv Kcti ctf-iapraiXM' (J. Tollius, /^««- era7: Itul. Traj. 1696 ; Cave, Hist. Lit. i ; Gallandi, vii), which latter, however, is by some ascribed to a monk called Alexander. INIoshcim {Ecdes. Hist, book ii, cent. iv, pt. ii, chap, iii) says of him and his work : '' Perhaps, before all others who wrote on practical piety, the pref- erence IS due to Macarius, the Egyptian monk; from whom, after deducting some superstitious notions, and what savors too much of Origenism, we may collect a beautiful i)icture of real piety." He is commemorated by the Poniish Church Jan. 12, and by the Greek Jan. 19. See Smith, Diet, of Greek and Rom. Biog. and Mij- thol. vol. ii, s. V. ; Ceillier, ^1 uteurs sacrer, vii, 709, 712.