MASORA man martyrology; from this was made the little Roman one printed by Rosweyd; of this little Roman martyrology was formed that of Beda, augmented by Florus. Ado compiled his in the year 858. The martyrology of Nevelon, monk of Corbie, written about the year 1089, is little more than an abridgement of that of Ado: father Kircher also makes mention of a Coptic martyrology, preserved by the Maronites at Rome. We have also several Protestant martyrologies, containing the sufferings of the reformed under the Papists, viz. an English martyrology, by J. Fox; with others by Clark, Bray, &c. See PER SECUTION. Martyrology is also used in the Romish church for a roll or register kept in the vestry of each church, containing the names of all the saints and martyrs, both of the universal church and of the particular ones of that city or monastery. Martyrology is also applied to the painted or written catalogues in the Roman churches, containing the foundations, obits, prayers, and masses, to be said each day. MASORA, a term, in the Jewish theology, signifying a work on the Bible, performed by several learned rabbins, to secure it from any alterations which might otherwise happen. Their work regards merely the letter of the Hebrew text, in which they have first fixed the true reading by vowels and accents: they have, secondly, numbered not only the chapters and sections, but the verses, words, and letters of the text; and they find in the Pentateuch 5245 verses, and in the whole Bible 23,206. The masora is called by the Jews, the hedge or fence of the law, because this enumeration of the verses, &c., is a means of preserving it from being corrupted and altered. They have, thirdly, marked whatever irregularities occur in any of the letters of the Hebrew text; such as the different size of the letters, their various positions and inversions, &c.; and they have been fruitful in finding out reasons for these mysteries and irregularities in them. They are, fourthly, supposed to be the authors of the Keri and Chetibh, or the marginal corrections of the text in our Hebrew Bibles. The text of the sacred books, it is to be observed, was originally written without any breaks or divisions into chapters or verses, or even into words: so that a whole book, in the ancient manner, was but one continued word: of this kind we have still several ancient manuscripts, both Greek and Latin. In this regard, therefore, the sacred writings had undergone an infinite number of alterations; whence various readings had arisen, and the original was become much mangled and disguised. The Jews had recourse to a canon, which they judged infallible, to fix and ascertain the reading of the Hebrew text; and this rule they call masora, "tradition;" from 5, tradit, as if this critique were nothing but a tradition which they had received from their forefathers. Accordingly they say, that, when God gave the law to Moses at Mount Sinai, he taught him first the true reading of it: and, secondly, its true interpretation; and that both these were handed down by oral tradition from generation to generation, till at length they were committed to writing. The former of these, viz. the true reading, is the subject of the nasora; the latter, or true interpretation, that of the mish na and gemara, MASS According to Ehas Levita, they were the Jews of a famous school at Tiberias, about five hundred years after Christ, who composed, or at least began the masora; whence they are called masorites and masoretic doctors. Aben Ezra makes them the authors of the points and accents in the Hebrew text, as we now find it, and which serve for vowels. It is The age of the masorites has been much disputed. Archbishop Usher places them before Jerome; Capel, at the end of the fifth century; father Morin, in the tenth century. Basnage says, that they were not a society, but a succes. sion of men; and that the masora was the work of many grammarians, who, without associating and communicating their notions, composed this collection of criticisms on the Hebrew text. urged, that there were masorites from the time of Ezra and the men of the great synagogue, to about the year of Christ 1030; and that Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali, who were the best of the profession, and who, according to Basnage, were the inventors of the masora, flourished at this time. Each of these published a copy of the whole Hebrew text, as correct, says Dr. Prideaux, as they could make it. The eastern Jews have followed that of Ben Naphtali, and the western that of Ben Asher; and all that has been done since is to copy after them, without making any more corrections, or masoretical criticisms. The Arabs have done the same thing by their Koran that the masorites have done by the Bible; nor do the Jews deny having borrowed this expedient from the Arabs, who first put it in practice in the seventh century. There is a great and little masora printed at Venice and at Basil, with the Hebrew text in a different character. Buxtorf has written a masoretic commentary, which he calls Tiberias. MASS, Missa, in the church of Rome, the office or prayers used at the celebration of the eucharist; or, in other words, consecrating the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, and offering them, so transubstantiated, as an expiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead. As the mass is in general believed to be a representation of the passion of our blessed Saviour, so every action of the priest, and every particular part of the service, is supposed to allude to the particular circumstances of his passion and death. Nicod, after Baronius, observes, that the word comes from the Hebrew missach (oblatum;) or from the Latin missa, missorum; because in the former times the catechumens and excommuni cated were sent out of the church, when the deacons said, Ite, missa est, after sermon and reading of the epistle and Gospel; they not being allowed to assist at the consecration. Menage derives the word from missio, "dismissing;" others from missa, "mission, sending;" because in the mass the prayers of men on earth are sent up to heaven. The general division of masses consists in high and low. The first is that sung by the choristers, and celebrated with the assistance of a deacon and sub-deacon: low masses are those in which the prayers are barely rehearsed without singing. There are a great number of different or occasional masses in the Romish church, many of which have nothing peculiar but the name: such are the masses of the saints; that of St. Mary of MASTER MATERIALISTS the Snow, celebrated on the fifth of August; that | servants; to give particular instructions for what of St. Margaret, patroness of lying-in women; is to be done, and how it is to be done; to take that at the feast of St. John the Baptist, at which care that no more is required of servants than are said three masses; that of the Innocents, at they are equal to; to be gentle in our deportment which the gloria in excelsis and hallelujah are towards them; to reprove them when they do omitted, and, it being a day of mourning, the wrong, to commend them when they do right; to altar is of a violet colour. As to ordinary masses, make them an adequate recompense for their some are said for the dead, and, as is supposed, services, as to protection, maintenance, wages, contribute to fetch the soul out of purgatory. At and character.-2. As to the morals of servants. these masses the altar is put in mourning, and Masters must look well to their servants' charac the only decorations are a cross in the middle of ters before they hire them; instruct them in the six yellow wax lights; the dress of the celebrant, principles and confirm them in the habits of virand the very mass-book are black; many parts of tue; watch over their morals, and set them good the office are omitted, and the people are dismiss- examples.-3. As to their religious interests.ed without the benediction. If the mass be said They should instruct them in the knowledge of for a person distinguished by his rank or virtues, divine things, Gen. xiv. 14; xviii. 19. Pray it is followed with a funeral oration: they erect a with them and for them, Joshua xxiv. 15. Alchapelle ardente, that is, a representation of the low them time and leisure for religious services, deceased, with branches and tapers of yellow &c. Eph. vi. 9. See Stennett on Domestic wax, either in the middle of the church, or near Duties, ser. 8; Paley's Mor. Phil. vol. i. 233, the deceased's tomb, where the priest pronounces 235; Beattie's Elements of Moral Science, vol a solemn absolution of the deceased. There arei. 150, 153; Doddridge's Lec. vol. ii. 266. likewise private masses said for stolen or strayed MATERIALISTS, a sect in the ancient goods or cattle, for health, for travellers, &c., church, composed of persons, who, being prepos which go under the name of votive masses.—sessed with that maxim in philosophy, "ex niThere is still a further distinction of masses, denominated from the countries in which they were used: thus the Gothic mass, or missa mosarabum, is that used among the Goths when they were masters of Spain, and which is still kept up at Toledo and Salamanca; the Ambrosian mass is that composed by St. Ambrose, and used only at Milan, of which city he was bishop; the Gallic mass, used by the ancient Gauls; and the Roman mass, used by almost all the churches in the Romish communion. Mass of the presanctified (missa præsanctificatorum,) is a mass peculiar to the Greek church, in which there is no consecration of the elements; but, after singing some hymns, they receive the bread and wine which were before consecrated. This mass is performed all Lent, except on Saturdays, Sundays, and the Annunciation. The priest counts, upon his fingers, the days of the ensuing week on which it is to be celebrated; and cuts off as many pieces of bread at the altar as he is to say masses; and after having consecrated them, steeps them in wine, and puts them in a box; out of which, upon every occasion, he takes some of it with a spoon, and, putting it on a dish, sets it on the altar. MASSACRE, a term used to signify the sudden and promiscuous butchery of a multitude.See PERSECUTION. MASSALIANS, or MESSALIANS, a sect which sprung up about the year 361, in the reign of the emperor Constantius, who maintained that men have two souls, a celestial and a diabolical; and that the latter is driven out by prayer. From those words of our Lord, "Labour not for the meat that perisheth," it is said, that they concluded they ought not to do any work to get their bread. We may suppose, says Dr. Jortin, that this sect did not last long: that these sluggards were soon starved out of the world; or, rather, that cold and hunger sharpened their wits, and taught them to be better interpreters of Scripture. MASTER, a person who has servants under him; a ruler, or instructor. The duties of masters relate to the civil concerns of the family. To arrange the several businesses required of hilo nihil fit," out of nothing nothing can arise, had recourse to an eternal matter, on which they supposed God wrought in the creation, instead of admitting Him alone as the sole cause of the existence of all things. Tertullian vigorously opposed them in his treatise against Hermogenes, who was one of their number. Materialists are also those who maintain that the soul of man is material, or that the principle of perception and thought is not a substance dis tinct from the body, but the result of corporeal organization. There are others called by this name, who have maintained that there is nothing but matter in the universe. The followers of the late Dr. Priestley are considered as Materialists, or Philosophical Neces sarians. According to the doctor's writing, he believed, 1. That man is no more than what we now see of him: his being commences at the time of his conception, or perhaps at an earlier period. The corporeal and mental faculties, inhering in the same substance, grow, ripen, and decay together; and whenever the system is dissolved, it continues in a state of dissolution, till it shall please that Almighty Being, who called it into existence, to restore it to life again. For if the mental principle were, in its own nature, immaterial and immortal, all its peculiar faculties would be so too; whereas we see that every faculty of the mind, without exception, is liable to be impaired, and even to become wholly extinct, before death. Since, therefore, all the faculties of the mind, separately taken, appear to be mortal, the substance, or principle, in which they exist, must be pronounced mortal too. Thus we might conclude that the body was mortal, from observing that all the separate senses and limbs were liable to decay and perish. This system gives a real value to the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, which is peculiar to revelation; on which alone the sacred writers build all our hope of future life: and it explains the uniform language of the Scriptures, which speak of one day of judgment for all mankind; and represent all the rewards of virtue, and all the punishments of vice, as taking place at MATERIALISTS that awful day, and not before. In the Scriptures, the heathens are represented as without hope, and all mankind as perishing at death, if there be no resurrection of the dead. The apostle Paul asserts, in 1 Cor. xv. 16, that if the dead rise not, then is not Christ risen; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, we are yet in your sins: then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. And again, ver. 32, If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. In the whole discourse, he does not even mention the doctrine of happiness or misery without the body. If we search the Scriptures for pasages expressive of the state of man at death, we find such declarations as expressly exclude any trace of sense, thought, or enjoyment. See Fs. vi. 5; Job. xiv. 7, &c. MATERIALISTS tives, two different determinations, or volitions, be possible, it can be on no other principle, than that one of them should come under the description of an effect without a cause; just as if the beam of balance might incline either way, though loaded with equal weights. And if any thing whatever, even a thought in the mind of man, could arise without an adequate cause, any thing else, the mind itself, or the whole universe, might likewise exist without an adequate cause. This scheme of philosophical necessity is distinguished from the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination in the following particulars: This scheme of philosophical necessity implies a chain of causes and effects established by infinite wisdom, and terminating in the greatest good of the whole universe; evils of all kinds, natural and moral, being admitted, as far as they contribute to that end, or are in the nature of things inseparable from it. Vice is productive not of good, but of evil to us, both here and here2. That there is some fixed law of nature re- after, though good may result from it to the whole specting the will, as well as the other powers of system; and according to the fixed laws of nature, the mind, and every thing else in the constitution our present and future happiness necessarily deof nature; and consequently that it is never depend on our cultivating good dispositions.. termined without some real or apparent cause foreign to itself; i. e. without some motive of choice; or that motives influence us in some definite and invariable manner, so that every volition, or choice, is constantly regulated and determined by what precedes it; and this constant determination of mind, according to the motives presented to it, is what is meant by its necessary determination. This being admitted to be the fact, there will be a necessary connexion between all things past, present, and to come, in the way of proper cause and effect, as much in the intellectual as in the natural world; so that according to the established laws of nature, no event could have been otherwise than it has been or is to be, and therefore all things past, present, and to come, are precisely what the Author of Nature really intended them to be, and has made provision for. 1. No Necessarian supposes that any of the human race will suffer eternally; but that future punishments will answer the same purpose as temporal ones are found to do; all of which tend to good, and are evidently admitted for that purpose. Upon the doctrine of necessity, also, the most indifferent actions of men are equally necessary with the most important; since every volition, like any other effect, must have an adequate cause depending upon the previous state of the mind, and the influence to which it is exposed. 2. The Necessarian believes that his own dispositions and actions are the necessary and sole means of his present and future happiness; so that, in the most proper sense of the words, it depends entirely on himself whether he be virtuous or vicious, happy or miserable. 3. The Calvinistic system entirely excludes the popular notion of free-will, viz. the liberty or power of doing what we please, virtuous or vicious, as belonging to every person, in every situation; which is perfectly consistent with the doctrine of philosophical necessity, and indeed results from it. To establish this conclusion, nothing is necessary but that, throughout all nature, the same consequences should invariably result from the same circumstances. For if this be admitted, it will necessarily follow, that at the commencement of any system, since the several parts of it and their respective situations were appointed by the Deity, the first change would take place according to a certain rule established by himself, the result of which would be a new situation; 4. The Necessarian believes nothing of the after which the same laws continuing, another posterity of Adam's sinning in him, and of their change would succeed, according to the same being liable to the wrath of God on that account; rules, and so on for ever; every new situation in-or the necessity of an infinite Being making variably leading to another, and every event, from atonement for them by suffering in their stead, the commencement to the termination of the sys- and thus making the Deity propitious to them. tem, being strictly connected; so that unless the He believes nothing of all the actions of any man fundamental laws of the system were changed, it being necessarily sinful; but, on the contrary, would be impossible that any event should have thinks that the very worst of men are capable of been otherwise than it was. In all these cases, benevolent intentions in many things that they the circumstances preceding any change are called do; and likewise that very good men are capable the causes of that change: and since a determinate of falling from virtue, and consequently of sinkevent or effect, constantly follows certain circum-ing into final perdition. Upon the principles of stances, or causes, the connexion between cause the Necessarian, also, all lato repentance, and and effect is concluded to be invariable, and therefore necessary. It is universally acknowledged, that there can be no effect without an adequate cause. This is even the foundation on which the only proper argument for the being of a God rests. And the Necessarian asserts, that if, in any given state of mind, with respect both to dispositions and mo265 21 especially after long and confirmed habits of vice, is altogether and necessarily ineffectual; there not being sufficient time left to produce a change of disposition and character, which can only be done by a change of conduct of proportionably long continuance. In short, the three doctrines of Materialism, Philosophical Necessity, and Socinianism, are ecessity MEDIATOR MEDITATION considered as equally parts of one system. The the Mediator should be God and man in one scheme of Necessity is the immediate result of person. It was necessary that he should be man, the materiality of man; for mechanism is the un-1. That he might be related to those he was a doubted consequence of materialism, and that man is wholly material, is eminently subservient to the proper or mere humanity of Christ. For if no man have a soul distinct from his body, Christ, who in all other respects appeared as a man, could not have a soul which had existed before his body; and the whole doctrine of the pre-existence of souls, of which the opinion of the preexistence of Christ, is a branch, will be effectually overturned. Sec NECESSITY, PRE-EXISTENCE, SPINOSISM, SOUL, UNITARIAN, and books under those articles. MEANS OF GRACE denote those duties we perform for the purpose of improving our minds, affecting our hearts, and of obtaining spiritual blessings; such as hearing the Gospel, reading the Scriptures, seif-examination, meditation, prayer, praise, Christian conversation, &c. The means are to be used without any reference to merit, but solely with a dependence on the Divine Being; nor can we ever expect happiness in ourselves, nor be good exemplars to others, while we live in the neglect of them. It is in vain to argue that the divine decree supersedes the necessity of them, since God has as certainly appointed the means as the end. Besides, he himself generally works by them; and the more means he thinks proper to use, the more he displays his glorious perfections. Jesus Christ, when on earth, used means; he prayed, he exhorted, and did good, by going from place to place. Indeed, the systems of nature, providence, and grace, are all carried on by means. The Scriptures abound with exhortations to them, Matt. v.; Rom. xii.; and none but enthusiasts or immoral characters ever refuse to use them. Mediator and Redeemer of.-2. That sin might be satisfied for, and reconciliation be made for it, in the same nature which sinned.-3. It was proper that the Mediator should be capable of obeying the law broken by the sin of man, as a divine person could not he subject to the law, and yield obedience to it, Gal. iv. 4; Rom. v. 19.— 4. It was meet that the Mediator should be man, that he might be capable of suffering death; for, as God, he could not die, and without shedding of blood there was no remission, Heb. ii 10, 15, viii. 3.-5. It was fit he should be man, that he might be a faithful high priest, to sympathise with his people under all their trials, tempta tions, &c., Heb. ii. 17, 18; iv. 15.—6. It was fit that he should be a holy and righteous man, free from all sin, original and actual, that he might offer himself without spot to God, take away the sins of men, and be an advocate for them, Heb vii. 26, ix. 14; 1 John iii. 5. But it was not enough to be truly man, and an innocent person; he must be more than man: it was requisite that he should be God also, for, No mere man could have entered into a covenant with God to mediate between him and sinful men.-2. He must be God to give virtue and value to his obedience and sufferings; for the sufferings of men or angels would not have been sufficient.-3. Being thus God-man, we are encouraged to hope in him. In the person of Jesus Christ the object of trust is brought nearer to ourselves; and those wellknown tender affections which are only figura tively ascribed to the Deity, are, in our great Mediator, thoroughly realized. Further, were he God, and not man, we should approach him with fear and dread; were he man and not God MEDIATOR, a person that intervenes be- we should be guilty of idolatry to worship and tween two parties at variance, in order to recon- trust in him at all, Jer. xvii. 5. The plan of sal cile them. Thus Jesus Christ is the Mediator vation, therefore, by such a Mediator, is the most between an offended God and sinful man, 1 Tim. suitable to human beings that possibly could be; ii. 5. Both Jews and Gentiles have a notion of a | for here "Mercy and truth meet together, righMediator: the Jews call the Messiah, teousness and peace kiss each other." Ps. lxxxv. the Mediator or Middle One. The Persians 10. The properties of Christ as Mediator are call their God Mithras,, a Mediator; and these: 1. He is the only Mediator, 1 Tim. ii. 4. the dæmons, with the heathens, seem to be, ac- Praying, therefore, to saints and angels is an error cording to them, mediators between the superior of the church of Rome, and has no countenance gods and men. Indeed, the whole religion of from the Scripture.-2. Christ is a Mediator of Paganisin was a system of mediation and inter- men only, not of angels; good angels need not cession. The idea, therefore, of salvation by a any; and as for evil angels, none is provided nor Mediator, is not so novel or restricted as some admitted.-3. He is the Mediator both for Jews imagine; and the Scriptures of truth inform us, and Gentiles, Eph. ii. 18; 1 John ii. 2.—4. He that it is only by this way human beings can is Mediator both for Old and New Testament arrive to eternal felicity, Acts iv. 12; John xiv. 6. saints.-5. He is a suitable, constant, willing, and Man, in his state of innocence, was in friendship prevailing Mediator; his mediation always suc with God; but, by sinning against him, he ex-ceeds, and is infallible. Gill's Body of Dir. vol posed himself to his just displeasure; his powers i. oct. ed. p. 336; Witsii Econ. Fued. lib. ii. ch became enfeebled, and his heart filled with en-4; Fuller's Gospel its own Witness, ch. 4, p. 2; mity against him, Rom. viii. 6; he was driven Hurrion's Christ Crucified, p. 103, &c.; Dr. out of his paradisaical Eden, and totally incapable Owen on the Person of Christ; Dr. Goodwin's of returning to God, and making satisfaction to Works, b. iii. his justice. Jesus Christ, therefore, was the ap- MEDITATION is an act by which we con pointed Mediator to bring about reconciliation, sider any thing closely, or wherein the soul is Gen. iii. 12; Col. i. 21; and in the fulness of employed in the search or consideration of any time, he came into this world, obeyed the law, truth. In religion it is used to signify the se satisfied justice, and brought his people into a rious exercise of the understanding, whereby our state of grace and favour; yea, into a more ex-thoughts are fixed on the observation of spiritual alted state of friendship with God than was lost things, in order to practice. Mystic divines make by the fall, Eph. ii. 18. Now, in order to the a great difference between meditation and con accomplishing of this work, it was necessary that templation: the former consists in discursive acts MEEKNESS of the soul, considering methodically and with | attention the mysteries of faith and the precepts of morality; and is performed by reflections and reasonings which leave behind them manifest impressions on the brain. The pure contemplative, they say, have no need of meditation, as seeing all things in God at a glance, and without any reflection. See BEGUINES and QUIETISTS. come, MELCHITES Sermons on the Chris. Temper, ser. 29; Tillotson on 1 Pet. ii. 21; and on Matt. v. 44; Logan's Sermons, vol. i. ser. 10; and Jortin's Sermons, ser. 11. vol. iii. MEETING-HOUSE, a place appropriated by Dissenters to the purpose of public worship. Since the Act of Uniformity, passed 1662, by which so many hundreds of ministers were ejected from their livings, meeting-houses have become very numerous. For a considerable time, indeed, they were prohibited by the Conventicle Act; but, at last, toleration being granted to Dissenters, they enjoyed the privilege of meeting and worshipping God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and which they still possess to this day. The number of meeting-houses in London may, perhaps, amount to about 150, though some reckon upwards of 200. In all the respectable towns, and even in many villages of England, there are meeting-houses; and, within a few years, they have greatly increased. Prov. xvi. 32; that it is a beauty and an ornament to human beings, 1 Pet. iii. 4; that it is obedience to God's word, and conformity to the best patterns, Eph. v. 1, 2; Phil. iv. 8. It is productive of the highest peace to the possessor, Luke xxi. 19; Matt. xi. 28, 29. It fits us for any duty, instruction, relation, condition, or persecution, Phil. iv. 11, 12. To obtain this spirit, 1. Meditation is a duty which ought to be at- consider that it is a divine injunction, Zeph. ii. tended to by all who wish well to their spiritual 3; Col. iii. 12: 1 Tim. vi. 11. Observe the interests. It ought to be deliberate, close, and many examples of it. Jesus Christ, Matt. xi. 23; perpetual, Psal. cxix. 97; i. 2.-2. The sub- Abraham, Gen. xiii. xvi. 5, 6; Moses, Numb. jects which ought more especially to engage the xii. 3; David, Zech. xii. 8; 2 Sam. xvi. 10, 12; Christian mind are the works of creation, Psal. Psalm cxxxi. 2; Paul, 1 Cor. ix. 19. How rix.: the perfections of God, Deut. xxxii. 4; the lovely a spirit it is in itself, and how it secures us excellencies, offices, characters, and works of from a variety of evils. That peculiar promises Christ, Heb. xii. 2, 3; the offices and operations are made to such, Matt. v. 5; Isa. Ixvi. 2. That of the Holy Spirit, John xv. and xvi.; the va- such give evidence of their being under the inrious dispensations of Providence, Ps. xcvii. 1,2; fluence of divine grace, and shall enjoy the divine the precepts, declarations, promises, &c., of God's blessing, Isaiah Ivii. 15. See Henry on Meekword, Ps. cxix.; the value, powers, and immor-ness; Dunlop's Serm. vol. ii. p. 434; Erans's tality of the soul, Mark viii. 36; the noble, beautiful, and benevolent plan of the Gospel, 1 Tim. i. 11; the necessity of our personal interest in and experience of its power, John iii. 3; the depravity of our nature, and the freedom of divine grace in choosing, adopting, justifying, and sanctifying us, 1 Cor. vi. 11; the shortness, worth, and swiftness of time, James iv. 14; the certainty of death, Heb, ix. 27; the resurrection and judgment to 1 Cor. xv. 50, &c.; and the future state of eternal rewards and punishments, Matt. xxv. These are some of the most important subjects on which we should meditate.-3. To perform this duty aright, we should be much in prayer, Luke xviii. 1; avoid a worldly spirit, 1 John . 15; beware of sloth, Heb. vi. 11; take heed of sensual pleasures, James iv. 4; watch against the devices of Satan, 1 Pet. v. 8; be often in retirement, Ps. iv. 4; embrace the most favourable opportunities, the calmness of the morning, Ps. v. 1, 3; the solemnity of the evening, Gen. xxiv. 63; sabbath days, Psal. cxviii. 21; sacramental occasions, &c. 1 Cor. xi. 28.-4. The advantages resulting from this are, improvement of the faculties of the soul, Prov. xvi. 22; the affections are raised to God, Ps. xxxix. 1, 4; an enjoyment of divine peace and felicity, Phil. iv. 6,7; holiness of life is promoted, Psal. cxix. 59, 60; and we thereby experience a foretaste of eternal glory, Ps. lxxiii. 25, 26; 2 Cor. v. 1, &c. MEEKNESS, a temper of mind not easily provoked to resentment. In the Greek language it is -pos, quasi paos, facilis, easiness of spirit, and thus it may be justly called; for it accommodates the soul to every occurrence, and so makes a man easy to himself, and to all about him. The Latins call a meek man mansuetus, qu. mana assuetus, used to the hand; which alludes to the taming and reclaiming of creatures wild by nature, and bringing them to be tractable and familiar, James iii. 7, 8: so, where the grace of meckness reigns, it subdues the impetuous disposition, and learns it submission and forgiveness. It teaches us to govern our own anger whenever we are at any time provoked, and patiently to bear the anger of others, that it may not be a provocation to us. The former is its office, expecially in superiors; the latter in inferiors, and both in equals, James iii. 13. The excellency of uch a spirit appears, if we consider that it enables us to gain a victory over corrupt nature, MELANCHOLY, sadness, or gloom; arising either from the habit of body, or the state of the mind. To remove it, the following remedies may be applied. 1. Early rising. 2. Plain, nourishing food. 3. Exercise in the open air. Or if it arises particularly from the mind, 1. Associate with the cheerful. 2. Study the Scriptures. 3. Consider the amiable character of God. 4. Avoid sin. 5. Be much in prayer. See Burton, Baxter, and Rogers on Melancholy. MELATONI, so called from one Mileto who taught, that not the soul, but the body of man, was made after God's own image, MELCHIZEDIANS, a denomination which arose about the beginning of the third century. They affirmed that Melchizedek was not a man, but a heavenly power superior to Jesus Christ; for Melchizedek, they said, was the intercessor and mediator of the angels; and Jesus Christ was only so for man, and his priesthood only a copy of that of Melchizedek. MELCHITES, the name given to the Sy riac, Egyptian, and other Christians of the Levant. The Melchites, excepting some few points of little or no importance, which relate only to ceremonies, and ecclesiastical discipline, are, in every respect, professed Greeks; but they are governed by a particular patriarch, who assumes the title of Patriarch of Antioch. They celebrate mass in the Arabian language. The religious |