THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
character, hence the term is not to be construed as everywhere identical with stibium. Whether the Hebrew hashmal (Ezek. i. 4, 27; viii. 2) is' to be identified with the elektron, " amber," of the ancients, and whether "amber" is the designation of a metallic substance are matters of debate. Neither is it certain that the " fine brass " of Rev. i. 15, ii. 18, and the " burnished brass " of Ezek. i. 7; Dan. x. 6; the " bright brass " in Ezra viii. 27, should be interpreted to mean the " Corinthian brass," an alloy of gold, silver and copper, although in these instances the reference is to an alloy more valuable and finer than ordinary brass. I. Benzinger.
Bibliographt: K. C. W. Bahr, Symbolik des mosaischen Cultus, i. 258-295, Heidelberg, 1837; R. F. Burton, Gold Mines of Midian, London, 1878; Benzinger, Archaologie, pp. 148-149; Nowack, Archaologie, pp. 243 sqq.; J. P. A. Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt, New York, 1894; G. Maspero, Hist, ancienne des peuples de I'orient, i. 756-757, ii. 534, Paris, 1896, Eng. transl., Passing of the Empires, and Dawn of Civilization, London, 1899-1902; F. Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, part xxvi. columns 1045-47; idem, La Bible et leg decouvertes modernes, iv. 299-302, Paris, 1896; JE, viii. 513-515; the articles in DB and EB on the individual metals (gold, silver, iron, etc.), and EB, iii. 3097-98, with the references to other articles there indicated.
METCALFE, WILLIAM MUSHAM: Church of Scotland; b. at York, England, Sept. 14, 1840. He was educated at New College, London, and after being minister of Tigh-na-bruaich, Argyllshire, from 1873 to 1878, became minister of South Parish, Paisley, which position he still retains. He was likewise assessor to the lord rector of St. Andrews University from 1892 to 1898, and is chairman of the Local Endowment Educational Trust, and a governor of the Paisley Technical College and School of Arts. In theological position he is liberal.
Besides editing the quarterly Scottish Review from 1882 to 1900, he has written or edited The Natural Truth of Christianity (Paisley, 1880) ; The Reasonableness of Christianity (1882); Pinkerton's Vita Antique Sanctorum Scotia; (2 vols., 1889); Ancient Lives of Scottish Saints from the Latin and Icelandic (1895); Scottish Legends of the Saints (3 vols., Edinburgh, 1896); Charters and Documents relating to the Burgh of Paisley (Paisley, 1902) ; The Legends of Saints Ninian and Machor in the Scottish Dialect of the Fourteenth Century (1904); and History of the County of Renfrew (1905).
METEMPSYCHOSIS. See Comparative Religion, VI., 1, a, § 6.
METH, EZEKIEL: German mystic and leader of a band of enthusiasts; b. in Langensalza (19 m. n.w. of Erfurt) late in the sixteenth century; d. at Erfurt Oct. 26, 1640. The founder of the sect was Meth's uncle, Esaias Stiefel, but Meth appears to have been the real leader. For the characteristics of the sect, which entertained beliefs partaking of the peculiarities of those of the Quakers, Anabaptists, and Schwenckfeldians, see Stiefel, Esaias. Stiefel was supposed to be immortal, and after his death in 1627 proved this supposition to be mistaken, Meth returned to the Lutheran Church.
Bibliography: B. F. Goschel, Chronik der Stadt Langensalza, ii. 310, Leipsic, 1820; G. Arnold, Unparteyische Kirchen- und Ketzer-Historie, Theil III., cap. iv., 4 vols., Frankfort, 1700-15.
METHODIST NEW CONNECTION. See Methodists, L, 3.
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH. Methodists, IV., 3.
See
METHODISTS.
I. In England.
1. Wesleyan Methodists.
John Wesley; Early Life (§ 1).
Early Associations (§ 2).
Bands; Class Meetings (§ 3).
Love Feasts, Prayer-meetings, Lay Preaching (§ 4).
Origin of Conferences; George Bell (§5).
The Deed of Declaration (§ 6).
Events after Wesley's Death (§ 7).
Polity (| 8).
Eminent Officers and Representatives (§ 9).
Educational and Missionary Agencies (§ 10).
Wesleyan Methodism in Ireland (§ 11).
2. Calvinistic Methodists.
3. The Methodist New Connection.
4. Primitive Methodists.
5. The Protestant Methodists.
6. The Wesleyan Methodist Associa-
tion.
7. The United Free Churches.
I. In England. 1. Wesleyan Methodists
Wesley, in his Short History of Methodism, gives the names of four Oxford students who, in Nov., 1729, began to spend certain evenings in a week in reading together, chiefly the New Testament in Greek. The number slowly increased and, in 1735, George Whitefield affiliated with them. " The exact regularity of their lives and studies occasioned a gen-
8. Bible Christians.
9. The United Methodist Church. II. In Australasia.