(3.) Quarterly Meeting, among the Society of Friends, is an assembly composed of several monthly meetings. At the quarterly meeting are produced written answers from the monthly meetings to certain (lueries respect- ing the conduct of their members, and the meetings' care over them. The accounts thus received are di- gested into one, which is sent, also in the form of an- swers to queries, by representatives to the yearly meet- ing. Appeals from the judgment of monthly meetings are brought to the quarterly meetings, whose business also is to assist in any difficult case, or ^vhere remissness appears in the care of the monthly meetings over the individuals who compose them. See Quakteely Meet- ing.
(4.) Yearly Jfeeting, an annual meeting of the Society of Friends. '-The yearly meeting has the general su- perintendence of the society in the country in which it is established; and therefore, as the accounts which it re- ceives discover the state of inferior meetings, as particu- lar exigencies require, or as the meeting is impressed with a sense of duty, it gives forth its advice, makes such regulations as appear to be requisite, or excites to the observance of those already made, and sometimes appoints committees to visit those quarterly meetings which appear to be in need of immediate advice." At the yearly meeting another meeting (a sort of sub- committee) is appointed, bearing the name of the morn- ing meeting, for the purpose of revising the denomina- tional manuscripts previous to publication ; and also the granting, in the intervals of the yearly meeting, of cer- tificates of approbation to such ministers as are con- cerned to travel in the work of the ministry in foreign parts, in addition to those granted by their monthly and quarterly meetings. When a visit of this kind does not extend beyond Great Britain, a certificate from the monthly meeting of which the minister is a member is sufficient. If to Ireland, the concurrence of the quar- terly meeting is also re(|uired, Kegulations of similar tendency obtain in other yearly meetings. The "stock" of the yearly meeting consists of occasional voluntary contributions, which is expended in printing-books, sal- ary of a clerk for keeping records, the jiassage of minis- ters who visit their brethren beyond sea, and some small incidental charges; but not, as has been falsely sup- posed, the reimbursement of those who suffer distraint ibr tithes and other demands with which they scruple to comply. Ajjpeals from the quarterly meetings arc heard at the yearly meetings. There are ten yearly meetings — namely, one in l,iindon, to wliiclv rejiresenta- tives from Ireland are received; one in Dublin; one in New Kngland : one in New York ; one in Pennsylvania ; one in Maryland ; one in Virginia ; one in the Carolinas;
MEETING-HOUSE
43
MEGAPOLENSIS
one in Ohio ; and one in Indiana. — Eadie, Eccles. Cyclop. s. V.
INIEETING, Quarterly, Among the Methodists, the quarterly meeting is a general meeting of the stew- ards, leaders, and other officers, for the purpose of trans- acting the general business of the " circuit" or " dis- trict ;" in the Methodist Episcopal Church presided over by the " presiding elder,'' or the minister in charge. Its special object is, besides the celebration of the Love-feast (q. v.), to examine the spiritual and financial conditions of the Church. See Discipline, chap, ii, sect, i, 3. See Conference, Quarterly.
Meeting-house, a place appropriated for the purpose of public Christian worship. In England the churches of Dissenters are so called by the Anglican communicants, and in the United States the Quakers thus name their places of public worship. See Church ; Chapel.
Meganck, FRANgois Dominique, a noted Dutch theologian and valiant defender of the cause of the Jan- sonists, was born at Menin about 1G83 ; studied at the University of Louvain, and then devoted himself wholly to the polemical field of theology. At first he wielded his pen only, but after a time he entered the pulpit also, determined to combat the Romanism of the Ultramon- tanes. He was a member at the council, in 17G3, at Utrecht. He died at Leyden, Oct. 12, 1775. His prin- cipal works are, Refutation abregee du Traite du ScMsme (1718, 12mo; Paris, 1791, 8vo) : — Defense des contrats de rente rachetables des deux cotes (1730, 4to) : — Primaute de Saint Pierre et de ses Successeuis (1763 and 1772, r2mo). In the last-named work he questions the pope's suprem- acy over a council. See Diet, des Heresies, ii, 654.
Megander (also known under the name of Gros- manu), Caspar, was born at Ziirich in 1495. He was educated at the University of Basle, where he secured the degree of M.A. in 1518, and soon after was appointed chaplain of the hospital at Ziirich. Here he early es- poused the doctrines of Zwingle, and with him, in 1525, publicly demanded the suppression of the mass and the evangelical celebration of the Lord's Supper. After the Berne disputation, in 1528, he was called as professor of theology to Berne, where he soon obtained the first po- sition among the leading personalities, and zealously labored in this place for the advance of Zwinglian doc- trines. In 1532, at Zofingen, he took part in the delib- erations of the Anabaptists; and again, as deputy of the council, at the disputes at Lausanne in 1536, and of the synod at the same place in 1537. He also compiled the Berne Catechism in 1536. His Zwinglianism involved him in many serious disputes with Bucer in the latter's attempts at union. As one of the originators of the Helvetic Confession of 1536, he successfully defended the Wittenberg Formula of Concord at the convent at Bern^ Oct. 19, 1536, and in consequence Bucer was dismissed. In 1537, however, Bucer's justification of his conduct was finally accepted, and Megander was charged to modify his Catechism in conformity with the Formula of Con- cord. Megander no longer opposed the alteration, the revised Catechism was at once prepared by Bucer, and was accepted by the Council of Berne in 1537. Megan- der, however, refusing" to be governed by these altera- tions, was deposed from office, and returning to Ziirich was there reappointed archdeacon at the cathedral, and in this position he arduously labored to oppose the efforts of Bucer. Megander died in 1545. Of his works, the AnmerLungen to Genesis and Exodus, Hebrews and Epis- tles of John, deserve special mention. See Hundeshagen, Conflicte des Zwinc/l., Luterth., mid Call', in Berne (Berne, 1842). — Herzog, Real-Encyklopddie, s. v.