RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Merodach Merseburg
MERRICK, JAMES: Church of England Biblical scholar and poet; b. at Reading Jan. 8, 1720; d. there Jan. 5, 1769. He was graduated from the University of Oxford (B.A., 1739; M.A., 1742); became a fellow, 1745; was ordained, but owing to ill-health never took a charge. His earlier productions were on the Greek classics. He issued among other works a Dissertation on Proverbs ix. 1-6 (Oxford, 1744) ; Poems on Sacred Subjects (1763) ; Annotations, Critical and Grammatical, on John i. 1-14 (Reading, 1764); and on John i. 15-iii (1767); The Psalms Translated or Paraphrased in English Verse (1765); Annotations on the Psalms (1768). His paraphrases of the Psalms were often reproduced, and some of them are found in modern hymn-books, though in general his poetical work is severely criticized as too verbose for profitable employment in church hymnody.
Bibliography: S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp. 576- 578, New York, 1886; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 725-726; DNB, xxxvii. 289-291.
MERRILL, SELAH: Congregationalist ; b. at Cantfon Center, Conn., May 2, 1837; d. at Fruitvale, Cal., Jan. 22, 1909. He was educated at Yale College, but left before graduation. He then studied at Yale Divinity School, from which he was graduated in 1864; chaplain of the Forty-ninth (colored) Infantry at Vicksburg, Miss., 1864-65; pastor at Chester, Mass., 1865-66; First Congregational Church, Le Roy, N. Y., 1867; and stated supply at the Third Congregational Church, San Francisco, Cal., 1867-68. In 1868-70 he studied in Germany, and was pastor at Salmon Falls, N. H., in 1871-72, and taught Hebrew at Andover Theological Seminary in 1872 and again in 1879. He was archeologist of the American Palestine Exploration Society from 1875 to 1877 He was United States consul at Jerusalem in 1882-86, 1891-94, and 1898-1907, and honorary curator of the Biblical museum of Andover Theological Seminary. He was well and favorably known for his contributions to Biblical archeology, especially in connection with excavations in and about Jerusalem, especially those which disclosed the second wall. He made collections dealing with the coins, implements, and fauna of Palestine. In theology he was orthodox and approved critical methods so long as they remained reverent. In addition to a large number of contributions to theological and Oriental periodicals, he wrote East of the Jordan: A Record of Exploration carried on in 1875-77 (New York, 1881); Galilee in the Time of Christ (Boston, 1881); Greek Inscriptions collected in the Years 1875-77 in the Country east of the Jordan (New York, 1885) ; The Site of Calvary (Jerusalem, 1885); and Ancient Jerusalem, Topography and Archaeology (New York, 1908).
MERRY, WILLIAM WALTER: Church of England; b. at Evesham (15 m. s.e. of Worcester), Worcestershire, Sept. 6, 1835. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford (B.A. 1857; M.A., Lincoln College, 1860), and was ordered deacon in 1860 and ordained priest in the following year. He was a fellow and lecturer in Lincoln College from 1859 to 1884, and was also vicar of All Souls, Ox-
ford, from 1862 to the same year. He was classical moderator at Oxford in 1863-64, 1869-71, 1874 1877, and 1883-84, select preacher at the university in 1878-79 and 1889-90, and Whitehall preacher in 1883-84. He was likewise a member of the Hebdomadal Council, pro- vice-chancellor in 1902-1904, and vice-chancellor in 1904-06. His literary work has dealt with editions of classical authors: the "Odyssey" (2 vols., Oxford, 1870-78); Specimens of Greek Dialects (London, 1875); the " Clouds " (Oxford, 1879), " Acharnians " (1880), " Frogs " (1884), "Knights" (1887), "Birds" (1889), " Wasps " (1893), and " Peace " (1900) of Aristophanes; and Selected Fragments of Roman Poetry (1891).
MERRY DEL VAL, RAPHAEL: Cardinal; b. in London (of a Spanish father and an English mother) Oct. 10, 1865. He was educated successively at Brussels, St. Cuthbert's, England, and the Accademia dei nobili ecclesiastici, Rome, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1889, after having already been made privy chamberlain to the pope in the previous year. In 1892 he became " guardaroba " to the pope, and in 1897 was appointed domestic prelate. He was then entrusted with a mission to Canada, and on his return was made president of the Accademia dei nobili ecclesiastici in 1899. In the following year he was consecrated titular archbishop of Nicea. He was the envoy of Leo XIII. to congratulate King Edward on his accession to the English throne, and was also secretary of the conclave which elected the present pope. On the accession of Pius X., Merry del Val was appointed pro-secretary of state, and in 1903 was created cardinal priest of Santa Prasede, his promotion to full secretary of state following two days later.
MERSEBURG, mer'se-burg, BISHOPRIC OF:
A former episcopal see in Saxony, founded at the same time and in the same manner as those of Meissen and Zeitz, as part of the plan for binding more closely to the empire the territory of the Wends on the right bank of the Saale (967). The first bishop was Boso, a monk of Ratisbon, distinguished by his missionary labors among the Wends. His successor Gisiler procured the suppression of the see through Otto II. 's power over Benedict VII. in 981; but this step was so clearly against the interests of the Church that it was revoked in 998 or early in 999 at a Roman synod. The diocese did not, however, recover all its former territory, and was now almost exclusively a missionary jurisdiction among the Wends, who were not wholly converted to Christianity until the middle of the twelfth century (see Wends,Conversion of). (A. Hauck.) The Reformation was forcibly established here during the episcopate of Sigismund von Lindenau (d. 1544) after his protector, Henry of Brunswick- Wolfenbiittel, had been driven out by the Schmalkald League in 1542. The electors of Saxony thereafter put in members of their own house with the title of administrator, and from 1652 to 1738 with that of duke of Saxony-Merseburg. By the decision of the Congress of Vienna three-fourths of the diocesan territory was assigned to Prussia, the rest re-
Merswin Mesrob