LCitchell, William Luther, a Presbyterian min- ister, was born in Maur}' County, Tenn., July 11, 1828 ; was converted at the age of twelve ; graduated in 1854, with honor, at Jefferson College, Pa., and in 1857 at Princeton Theological Seminary; was licensed in 1857 by the presbytery of Lafayette, Mo. ; in 1857 and 1858 supplied the First Presbyterian Church, Burlington, Iowa ; and in 1859 was ordained and installed pastor of the church at Hillsborough, 111., where he died, Feb. 23, 1864. Mr. Mitchell was a minister of more than ordi- narj"- ability and attainments. As a Christian, his life was religion exemplified ; as a preacher, he was earnest and instructiv-e, and often eloquent and impi-essive. His sermons were doctrinal, and at the same time intensely practical. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1864, p. 102.
Mitchell, ■William W., a minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, was born in Virginia Feb. 16, 1815. He was educated with a view to the legal pro- fession, and was afforded the best advantages within reach. While a student at Yale he was converted, and he became convinced that his place was in the pulpit. After much opposition at home, he joined the Illinois Conference in 1834, and was appointed to Lebanon Cir- cuit, where he continued about six months, and was then removed to Vandalia Station. He afterwards filled many important appointments on circuits, stations, and dis- tricts, all in Illinois, except one year in Kentucky. Wil- liam W. Mitchell was a good rather than a great preach- er. His last appointment was to Edwardsville Station. During his second year in this station he became se- verely affiicted, so as to disqualify him for pulpit labors. He consequently resigned his charge and removed to Eichview, Illinois, where, after severe suffering for al- most a year, he died, ]\Iarch 7, 1869, See Minutes of Conferences, 1869, p. 204.
Mite is the rendering in the Auth. Vers. (Luke xii, 59 ; xxi, 2 ; Mark xii, 42) of the Greek term XtTrro^- (iliin, like a scale), a minute coin (Alciphr. i, 9 ; Pollux, On. ix, 92), of bronze or copper (see Smith's Diet, of Class. A n- tiq. s. V. ^s), two of which made a quadrans (Mark xii, 42), and which was, therefore, the eighth part of the Roman as, i. c. equal originally to a little over one mill, but in the time of Christ about half a mill. At Athens it was reckoned as one seventh of the xwAsove (Suidas, VI.— B B
s. v. ToKavTiov). From l\Iark's explanation, " two mites, which make a farthing" (XetttA cvo, o icrn KoSpdvTr]^, ver. 42), it may perhaps be inferred that the KoSpavrr](; or " farthing" was the commoner coin, for it can scarcely be supposed to be there spoken of as a money of account, though this might be the case in another passage (Matt. V, 26). See Fartiiixg.
Cavedoni (Bibl. Num. i, 76) has supposed that Mark meant to say " one lepton was of the value of one qua- drans," for had he intended to express that two of the small pieces of money were equal to a quadrans, then he must have written a ttrrt instead of b tan KoSpavTTjg ; and the Vulg. has also translated quod est, but not qum su7if. This argument, however, is too minute to be of much force. Another argument adduced is that (he words of our Lord in the parallel passages of Matthew (v, 26) and Luke (xii, 59) prove that the quadrans is the same as the lepton. In the former passage the words are tcrxaroi' KoSpdvnjv, and in the latter laxaTov XtTTTov. This argument, again, hardly merits an ob- servation, for we might as well assume that because we say such a thing is not worth a penny, or not worth a fai-thinf), therefore the j)enmj and the furthinr/ are the same coin. A third argument, deemed by Cavedoni to be conclusive, assumes that the quadrans only weighed 30 grains, and that if the quadrans equalled two lepta, there would be coins existing at the time of our Saviour of the weight of 15.44 grains. This argument is suffi- ciently answered by the fact that there are coins of the ethnarch Archelaus and of the emperor Augustus struck by the procurators weighing so low as 18 to 15 grains,
Copper Coin (XeTrrov or "mite") of Archelaus.
and by comparing them with others of the same period a result can be obtained proving the existence in Judiea of three denominations of coinage — the semis, the qua- drans, and the lepton. There is no doubt that the lepton was rarely struck at the time of the evangelists, yet it must have been a common coin from the time of Alex- ander II to the accession of Antigonus (B.C. 69^B.C. 40), and its circulation must have continued long in use. The extreme vicissitudes of the period may only have allowed these small copper coins to be struck. They were formerly attributed to Alexander Jannaeus, but are now given to Alexander 11. They average in weight from 20 to 15 grains. See JIoney.
It maj' be as well to notice that Schleusner (Lex. K. T. s. V. Ku^pdvTr}(^), after Fischer, considers the qva- drans of the N. T., of which the lejjfon was the lialf, not to have equalled the Eoman quadrans, but to have been the fourth of the Jewish as. The Jewish as is made to correspond with the half of the half-ounce Roman as, and as, according to Jewish writers, the n::p"lS or ni3l"iS was the eighth part of the assar, or Jewish as (Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. s. v. T^CS), and as the evangelists have understood this word rtUl^S to be the lepton, it follows that the quadrans equalled £vo \t7r-a. This theory, however, is quite out of the questi^on, and a comparison of the' coins of Judiea with those struck at Rome clearly proves that the quadi-ans in Jnda?a was the same as the quadrans in Rome. Moreover, as the Romans ordered that onlij Roman coins, 2cei>/lits, and measures should be used in all the provinces of the Ro- man empire (Dion. Cass, lii, 20), it is certain that there can have been no Jeicish as or Jewish quadrans, and that all the coins issued by the Jewish princes, and un- der the procurators, were struck upon a Roman stand- ard (F. W. Madden, I/ist. of Jeicish Coinage and of Money in 0. and N. T. p. 296-302).— Kitto, s. v.