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 Chapel, Camberwell, London; in 1843 he was made principal of East India College, Haileybury ; in 1846 he accepted the appointment as chaplain to the Tower of London, and incumbent of the church within its pre- cincts; about 1848 he was elected to the Golden Lect- ureship of St. Margaret's, Lothbury ; in 1853 he became chaplain to the queen, and in 1856 canon of St. Paul's ; in 1863 rector of Barnes and rural dean. He died in London Feb. 9, 1871. A number of Mr. Melville's Lect- ures and Sermons were published, manv of them Avith- out his consent (1845, 1846, 1850, 1851, 1853) ; they have also been several times republished in this country. Also Voices of the Year: Readings for the Sundays and Holi- days through the Year (1856, 2 vols.) -.—Golden Counsels : Persuasions to a Christian Life (1857) ; and other works. " No other clergyman of the English Church during the present century has had the reputation for eloquence and rhetorical finish in his discourses which Mr. Mel- ville retained to the last. His sermons were very care- fully and elaborately written, and delivered with great earnestness and fervor. If there was faidt anywhere, it was in the superabundance of his imagery, and his more than Oriental wealth of style." — Nnc A mer. A n. Cyclop. 1871, p. 495; AUibone's Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Au- thors, ii, 1262 ; English Iincyclop. vol. ii, s. v.
Melville, James, an eminent Scotch scholar and divine, was born in 1556. He was professor of Hebrew and Oriental languages in the University of St. Andrew's in 1580, minister of Anstrutherwerter in 1596, and sub- sequently of Kilrenny. He died in 1614. Mr. Melville was a zealous advocate of Presbj'terian discipline. He was the author of A d Jacobum I Ecclesice Scotianm Li- bellus supplex (1645), and his Autobiography and Diary (1556-1610). See Dr. M'Crie's Life of A ndreio Melville ; Black-wood's Magazine, xvi, 256.
Mel'zar {Heh.meltsa?-', 'i:sbp,prob.from the Pers. master ofivine, i. e. chief butler; so Bohlen, Symbol, p. 22; others, ti-easiti-er), the title rather than the name of an officer in the Babylonian court (as in the margin, "steward," but Sept. 'Aficpaap, on account of the Heb. art., Vulg. Malasar'), being that of the person who had charge of the diet of the Hebrew youths in training for promotion as magi (Dan. i, 11, 16; comp. Lengerke, Stuart, Comment, ad loc). " The melzar was subordi- nate to the ' master of the eunuchs ;' his office was to superintend the nurture and education of the young; he thus combined the duties of the Greek Trai^aywyoQ and Tpocpevc, and more nearly resembles our 'tutor' than any other officer. As to the origin of the term, there is some doubt ; it is generally regarded as of Persian origin, the words mal f «?-a giving the sense of ' head cup-bearer;' Fiirst {Lex. s. v.) suggests its connection with the Hebrew nazar, ' to guard' " (Smith).
Member (in the plur. tu'^'l'.i'^, yetsii-im', forms, Job xvii,7; fiiXt], parts, i. e. limbs) properly denotes a part of the natural body (1 Cor. xii, 12-25); figuratively, sensual affection, like a body consisting of many mem- bers (Rom. vii, 23); also true believers, members of
MElilENTO MORI 1
Christ's mystical body, as forming one society or body, of which Christ is the head (Eph. iv, 25).
Memento Mori — remember death. It was God himself wlio first gave this admonition to fallen Adam (Gen. iii, 19). Such admonitions we find in the Old and New Testament, and that very frequently, no doubt with intent to remind us constantly of the final day, of the end of life. Philip, king of Macedon, it is said, crdered his attendant to remind him of his death every monitng by saying, " King, thou art a mortal being; live in the thought of death." Human beings are but too apt to forget the " Memento mori" when called to high places of honor. An exception, however, was a certain gen- eral who, when holding his triumphal processions, had a servant advance to him and cry out repeatedly, " Do not forget tliat you are a mortal man." We shoidd be mindful that every one of us is but a mortal being. Even to this day the sinister thought of this is impressed upon the pope at his coronation, when the master of the cere- mony advances toward the holy father with a silver staff", on which is fastened a tuft of oakum ; this is light- ed by a candle borne by a clerical, who bends his knee, and, holding up the burning oakum, exclaims, " Holy father, be reminded that all earthly existence will be extinguished like this tuft of oakum." Another occa- sion the Romanists furnish in their liturgy, so especially solemn on Ash Wednesday, where the sentence occurs, " Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem revert e- ris." There are two ecclesiastical onlers, the Carthusi- ans and Trappists, whose members, on meeting a per- son, utter aloud the words " Memento mori." The Trap- pists always keep in their gardens an open grave, surely a good warning and constant reainder of the uncertainty ol earthly existence. See Dkatii.