PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. (continued 26)

In Lent, and penitential times, instead of these expressions of joy, strains of the deepest compunction and regret only are used. These being concluded, the book is removed to the other side of the altar, when all the people rise up, to show, by their postures of standing, their eagerness to hear the gospel; the priest also, as he passes from one side of the altar to the other, bows down in the middle, and the deacon prays on his knees that God would make him worthy to announce the gospel; and, after having received the priest’s blessing, proceeds to the place appointed for the solemn recitation of it accompanied by the acolytes, with lights and incense. As soon as the book of the Gospel appears, all rise up, and continue standing while it is read, to show their readiness to perform what is there taught. In naming the evangelist from which the Gospel is taken, the reader signs the cross upon his forehead, his mouth, and his breast. On his forehead, to show that he is not ashamed of Christ’s doctrine; on his mouth, to show his readiness to proclaim it to others; and on his breast, to show that he entertains a sincere affection for it in his heart. When the Gospel is finished, the book is conveyed to the priest, who kisses it as a token of respect. After the Gospel, follows the Nicene Creed, which is immediately recited at the altar, while it is sung by the choir; it is omitted on some days, particularly in masses for the dead. In low masses, the priest himself reads the Gospel. At this part of the mass, in parish churches, and sometimes in other places, a discourse, or exhortation, drawn from the Gospel, is delivered to the people. Here ends the first part of the mass.

The second part commences by the priest, from the altar, again saluting the people, and then making an oblation to God, of bread and wine, which are the matters of the sacrifice. The wine is first mixed with a little water, to represent the water which flowed, with blood, from the side of Christ,—to signify the union of the Divine and 482human nature in him, and of the faithful with Jesus Christ. Being now about to bless these offerings, the priest bows down his head, in a spirit of humility, then lifts up his hands to heaven, whence every blessing must come, and makes the sign of the cross upon the offerings, and says, “Come, thou Sanctifier, and bless this sacrifice, which is prepared for thy holy name.” The priest, in high masses, then incenses the oblation. After this he proceeds to receive the offerings of the people, where the custom of receiving offerings from them prevails: the priest then proceeds to wash his hands, begging of God the necessary purity. In this ceremony, the priest only washes the tips of his fingers, not his whole hands, to signify, that the purity with which he ought to approach the altar should be not only from larger and mortal sins, but even from the most trivial offences or affections to sin, which are properly enough represented by the extremities of the fingers; then, turning about, the priest recommends himself to the prayers of the people. This is the last time that the priest turns to the people, till the sacrifice is accomplished, and the communion received. The reason of this is, that he is now entering upon the most solemn part of the mass, which requires his utmost attention, which must not, henceforward, be distracted by turning away from the object; nor does the priest turn his back towards the altar, during the presence of the sacrament upon it, lest he might appear to act irreverently. After this follows the Secret, being one or more prayers, always said in silence, corresponding to the collect of the day, and which immediately precedes the preface, by which the second part of the mass ends, and the third begins. At this time is also rung a little bell, to give notice to all the people, that the priest is now reciting the Holy Canticle. It is usual also for the people, at this part of the mass, to bow down their heads and their breasts. With hearts thus prepared, and minds raised above earthly things, the priest, the ministers, and people, proceed to attend to the most awful part of the mass, in the Canon or rule for consecrating the eucharist, which is never materially changed, whatever be the office. It is said by the priest in a low voice, to express the silence of Christ in his passion, and that all may be impressed with reverence and awe for the sacred mysteries. It consists of five prayers. In the first, the priest prays for all the Church; and by name, for the pope, and the bishop of the diocese; for those whom he desires particularly to recommend, for all the assistants, their families, &c. He makes mention of the Blessed Virgin, the apostles, and some martyrs, in order to express the union between the Church militant and triumphant, and to obtain the assistance of their prayers. Then he stretches his hands over the oblation, begging that it may become acceptable to God, by becoming the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The third prayer contains the history of the institution and the consecration of the elements, by the priest’s pronouncing the words of Jesus Christ himself. We have already seen that the essence of the sacrifice is contained in the consecration. As soon as the words of the consecration are pronounced, the priest kneels down to adore Jesus Christ present; and immediately elevates first the host, and then the chalice, in memory of Christ’s being raised upon the cross, and that the people also may adore him. Having laid these down on the altar, the priest kneels again, and bows his head in a second act of adoration. During this ceremony, the server tinkles a little bell, to awaken the attention of the congregation. In the mean time, the people also bow down their heads, being already upon their knees, and strike their breasts. He then continues the third prayer, making a commemoration of the passion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, and beseeching God that he would vouchsafe to receive the sacrifice favourably, as he did those of Abel, Abraham, and Melchisedech, which were figures of it; and that those who partake of it may be replenished with every heavenly blessing. The attitude of the priest is changed when he comes to this part. Hitherto he has recited the prayers of the canon in an erect posture, with his hands mostly lifted up to heaven; but now he joins his hands before his breast, and bows down his head to the lowest degree that the altar will admit. In this posture of prostrate humility, he recites the prayer, till, towards the conclusion, he kisses the altar, and resumes his former upright posture. In the fourth prayer, the priest recommends to God the faithful departed in general, and those in particular for whom he intends to pray. “Be mindful, O Lord, of thy servants, men and women, who are gone before us in the sign of faith, and have rested in the sleep of peace.” Having said these words, the priest, joining his hands before his breast, prays a few moments for them, and mentions any names of persons for whom he particularly wishes to pray, or offer up the mass. Then, extending 483his hands again, he concludes his prayer in these words: “To these, O Lord, and to all the rest in Christ, grant, we beseech thee, a place of refreshment, light, and peace.” In the fifth, he mentions several saints, and beating his breast, begs that we sinners may have some part of their glory, through the mercy of God. In fine, he lifts the host over the chalice, honouring the Blessed Trinity, acknowledging the Divine goodness to us through Jesus Christ, and, through him, offering it all honour and glory. During the elevation, all the ministers kneel in profound adoration, and either themselves hold tapers, or others are introduced bearing lighted torches. Thus finishes the third part of the mass.

The fourth part begins by the priest’s breaking the long silence he has observed since the preface, by chanting, or reciting aloud, the Lord’s Prayer, which is followed up by a prayer for deliverance from evil, and for peace in our days. At the conclusion of this prayer, the priest kneels down to adore the Blessed Sacrament; he then breaks the host into three pieces, to imitate that done by Jesus Christ himself, at the last supper, and in remembrance of his body being broken on the cross: one of the parts he drops into the chalice, to signify that the body and blood of Christ are but one sacrament: he then once more begs for peace, concord, and charity, in order to approach the spotless Lamb. For a token of this peace, in solemn masses, the clergy embrace each other. After this follow three prayers, by way of preparation for receiving Jesus Christ. The priest, after striking his breast, and declaring himself unworthy, proceeds to communicate himself, in both kinds, in order to consume the sacrifice, and then administers the communion, in the species of bread, to such of the assistants as may be disposed to partake of the sacrifice. The prayer used by the priest is repeated three times, and at each repetition the little bell tinkles, to excite the attention of the congregation; and as a signal to the laity, who intend to communicate, to approach the sacred table. Having made the sign of the cross, the priest immediately receives the communion, and, with his hands joined before him, stands for a little while in deep but silent meditation upon what he has done. The priest then proceeds, by an ablution, first of wine, and then of water, to remove from the chalice and his own fingers all remains of the consecrated elements. The mass concludes with a versical thanksgiving out of the Scriptures, and some prayers for the same purpose, some of them bearing a reference to the office of the day, and analogous to the collect; after which the priest, or deacon in high masses, gives the people leave to depart. The priest gives them his blessing previous to their departure, and reads the first part of St. John’s Gospel, which bears such ample testimony to the Divinity and incarnation of the Son of God, as well as his goodness in regard to man. This constitutes the chief part, if not the whole, of the morning service of the Church: and, in all this, the congregation in general appear to be little interested or concerned; for though they are “taught to assist at mass, with the same disposition that a good Christian would have cherished at the foot of the cross,” they are left at liberty to accompany the priest through the different parts, according to the directions contained in their manuals, or “to exercise their souls in other corresponding prayers;” and the consequence is, that many, it is too apparent, do neither the one nor the other. And though the mass is thus celebrated, at least every Lord’s day, the present discipline of the Church requires her members to communicate only once a year; and while comparatively few receive much oftener, many, it is feared, are not even annual communicants. They are, indeed, instructed, “when they do not communicate in reality, to do so in spirit, by fervent desires of being made worthy to partake of the sacred mysteries, acknowledging their own unworthiness, and begging of God a share of those graces, which the sacrifice and sacrament so plentifully contain.”

In Picart’s “Religious Ceremonies” we have the following explanation of the mass, and its attendant mystical ceremonies, which is offered to the reader as an example of the awful departure of the apostate Church from the spirituality and simplicity of the Christian faith and worship.

1. The priest goes to the altar in reference to our Lord’s retreat with his apostles to the garden of Olives. 2. Before he begins mass, he says a preparatory prayer; he is there to look upon himself as one abandoned of God, and driven out of paradise for the sin of Adam. 3. The priest makes confession for himself and for the people, in which it is required that he be free from mortal and venial sin. 4. The priest kisses the altar, as a token of our reconciliation with God, and our Lord’s being betrayed with a kiss. 5. The priest goes to the opposite side of the 484altar, and thurifies or perfumes it with incense. Jesus Christ is now supposed to be taken and bound! 6. The introit is said or sung, applicable to the circumstances of our Lord’s being taken before Caiaphas. 7. The priest says the “Kyrie eleison,” (“Lord, have mercy upon us,”) in allusion to Peter’s denying our Lord thrice. 8. The priest, turning towards the altar, says, “Dominus vobiscum,” the people returning the salutation by “Et cum spiritu tuo,” and this means, Christ looking at Peter. 9. The priest reads the Epistle relative to Jesus being accused before Pilate. 10. The priest, bowing before the altar, says “Munda cor,” and the devotion is directed to our Saviour’s being brought before Pilate, and making no reply. 11. The priest reads the Gospel in which Jesus Christ is sent from Herod to Pilate; the Gospel is carried from the right of the altar to the left, to denote the tender of the gospel to the Gentiles, after the refusal of the Jews. 12. The priest uncovers the chalice, and this means the stripping of our Lord in order to be scourged. 13. The oblation of the host; the priest then kisses the altar and offers up the host, to represent the scourging of Christ. 14. The priest elevates the chalice and then covers; this means the crowning with thorns. 15. The priest washes his fingers, as Pilate washed his hands; declares Jesus innocent, blesses the bread and wine, blesses the frankincense, and perfumes the bread and wine.

Can it be necessary to go further into this singular detail to say, “that the priest, spreading out his arms on the altar, is the representation of the cross; that he lifts the host, to express the lifting of our Lord; that he adores (for such is the word, and the inconceivable fact) the wafer that he holds in his fingers as the very God; that he then mingles another adoration with this, and prays to the Virgin Mary and the saints for their mediation; that he breaks the wafer, to represent Christ’s giving up the ghost; that a fragment of this wafer put into the chalice figures our Lord’s descent into hell;” till the series of these representations, amounting in the whole to thirty-five, is closed by a benediction representing the blessings of the descent of the Holy Ghost.—O’Donoghue.

MASS, SACRIFICE OF THE. The following is the Romish doctrine on the subject: “I profess likewise, that in the mass there is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead: and that in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood, together with the soul and Divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood; which conversion the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation. I also confess, that, under either kind alone, Christ is received whole and entire, and a true sacrament.”—Pius’s Creed. “Whosoever shall say, that, in the holy sacrament of the eucharist, the substance of bread and wine remains together with the substance of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and shall deny that wonderful and singular change of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, the species of bread and wine still remaining, which change the Catholic Church very fitly calls transubstantiation, let him be accursed.”—Con. Trid. Sess. XIII. Can. 2.

It is, moreover, decreed, “that, after the consecration of the bread and wine, the true God and man is truly, really, and substantially contained under the appearance of the sensible elements.”—Id. c. 1. So that “the bread and wine which are placed on the altar are, after consecration, not only the sacrament, but also the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; and are, sensually, not only in sacrament, but in truth, handled and broken by the hands of the priests, and bruised by the teeth of the faithful.”—Con. Rom. apud Pop. Nichol. I. And the Fathers of the second Nicene Council pronounced, “that the eucharist is not the mere image of Christ’s body and blood, but that it is Christ’s body and blood, their own literal and proper physical selves.”—Labbe, Con. vol. vii. p. 448. “Nor in this is there any repugnance; that Christ, according to his natural manner of existence, should always remain in heaven, at the right hand of his Father; and that, at the same time, he should be present with us, in many places, really but sacramentally.”—Con. Trid. XIII. c. 1. And “if any one says, that a true and proper sacrifice is not offered up to God at the mass, or that to be offered is anything else than Jesus Christ given to be eaten, let him be anathema.”—Id. Sess. XXII. Can. 1. “And if any one says, that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, or a bare memorial of the sacrifice which was completed upon the cross, and that it is 485not propitiatory, nor profitable to any but him that receives it, and that it ought not to be offered for the living and for the dead, for their sins, their punishments, their satisfactions, and their other necessities, let him be accursed.” “For the holy synod teaches that this sacrifice is truly propitiatory, and that by it the sins we commit, however enormous they be, are remitted.”—Id. Can. 3. It was decreed by the Council of Constance, “that, whereas in several parts of the world, some have presumed rashly to assert, that all Christians ought to receive the holy sacrament of the eucharist under both species of bread and wine, and that, also, after supper, or not fasting, contrary to the laudable custom of the Church, justly approved of, which they damnably endeavour to reprobate as sacrilegious. Hence it is, that this holy general Council of Constance, assembled by the Holy Ghost to provide for the salvation of the faithful against this error, declares, decrees, and defines, that although Christ did after supper institute this holy sacrament, and administered it to his disciples in both kinds of bread and wine; yet this, notwithstanding the laudable authority of the sacred canons, and the approved custom of the Church, has fixed, and doth fix, that this sacrament ought not to be consecrated after supper, nor received by the faithful, except fasting. And as this custom, for the purpose of avoiding certain dangers and scandals, has been rationally introduced, and that although this sacrament was received by the faithful under both kinds in the primitive Church, it was afterwards received under both kinds by the officiating priest only, and by the people under the species of bread only, it being believed most certainly, and nothing doubted, that the entire body and blood of Christ are really contained as well under the species of bread as of wine: this, therefore, being approved, is now made a law. Likewise this holy synod decrees and declares, as to this matter, to the reverend fathers in Christ, patriarchs, lords, &c., that they must effectually punish all such as shall transgress this decree, or shall exhort the people to communicate in both kinds.”—Conc. Gen. XII. 100.

“The holy synod (of Trent) following the judgment of the Church, (as pronounced at Constance,) and its usage, declares and teaches, that neither laity nor unofficiating clergy are bound, by any Divine command, to receive the sacrament of the eucharist under both species; and that it cannot be doubted, without a breach of faith, that communion in either kind suffices for them. For though Christ, at his last supper, instituted this venerable sacrament under the forms of bread and wine, and then delivered it to his apostles, yet that institution, and that delivering, do not show that all the faithful, by the command of Christ, are bound to receive both kinds.”—Sess. XXI. c. 1. “And though, in the earlier ages, the use of both kinds was not unfrequent, yet the practice, in process of time, being widely changed, the Church, for weighty and just reasons, approved the change, and pronounced it to be a law, which no one, without the authority of that Church, is allowed to reject or alter.”—Id. c. 2. “It must be acknowledged, that the whole and entire Christ, and the true sacrament, are taken under either kind; and therefore, as to the fruit, that they who thus receive are deprived of no necessary grace.”—Id. c. 3. “And if any one shall say, that all Christians ought, by God’s command, or for the sake of salvation, to receive the most holy sacrament of the eucharist in both kinds, let him be accursed.”—Id.

By the 5th Canon, c. 8, Sess. XXII., of the Council of Trent, it is expressly declared, that “we are to offer up to the honour of saints and angels the sacrifice of the mass, in order to obtain their patronage and intercession with God.”

“If any one shall deny that the body and blood of Christ is really and substantially contained, together with his very soul and Divinity, in the sacrament of the eucharist, let him be accursed.”—Conc. Trid. Sess. XIII. Can. 1. Or, “If he shall say that there yet remains any substance of the bread and wine in conjunction with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the conversion is not real and total, let him be accursed.”—Id. Can. 2. “If any man shall deny that Christ is entirely contained under either species, and in every individual portion of that species,” (Id. Can. 3,) or “that Christ is only spiritually eaten, and not really and substantially, let him be accursed.”—Id. Can. 9.

Bishop Hall’s remarks on this doctrine are as follows:—It sounds not more prodigiously that a priest should every day make his God, than that he should sacrifice him.

Antiquity would have as much abhorred the sense, as it hath allowed the word. Nothing is more ordinary with the Fathers than to call God’s table an altar; the holy elements, an oblation; the act of celebration, an immolation; the actor, a priest.

486St. Chrysostom reckons ten kinds of sacrifice; and at last, as having forgotten it, adds the eleventh: all which we well allow. And, indeed, many sacrifices are offered to God in this one: but “a true, proper, propitiatory sacrifice for quick and dead,” which the Tridentine Fathers would force upon our belief, would have seemed no less strange a solecism to the ears of the ancients, than it doth to ours.

St. Augustine calls it a designation of Christ’s offering upon the cross; St. Chrysostom, and Theophylact after him, a remembrance of his sacrifice; Emissenus, a daily celebration in mystery of that which was once offered in payment; and Lombard himself, a memorial and representation of the true sacrifice upon the cross.

That which Cassander cites from St. Ambrose or Chrysostom may be instead of all. “In Christ, is the sacrifice once offered, able to give salvation. What do we, therefore? Do we not offer every day? Surely, if we offer daily, it is done for a recordation of his death.”

This is the language and meaning of antiquity; the very same which the Tridentine Synod condemneth in us: “If any man shall say that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, or a bare commemoration of the sacrifice offered upon the cross, let him be accursed.”

How plain is the Scripture, while it tells us that our High Priest “needeth not daily, as those high priests” under the law, “to offer up sacrifice; first, for his own sins, then for the people: for this he did once, when he offered up himself!”—Heb. vii. 27.

The contradiction of the Trent Fathers is here very remarkable. “Christ,” say they, “who, on the altar of the cross, offered himself in a bloody sacrifice, is now this true propitiatory sacrifice in the mass, made by himself. He is one and the same sacrifice; and one and the same offerer of that sacrifice, by the ministry of his priests, who then offered himself on the cross.” So then they say, that Christ offered up that sacrifice then, and this now; St. Paul says he offered up that sacrifice, and no more. St. Paul says our High Priest needs not to offer daily sacrifice; they say these daily sacrifices must be offered by him. St. Paul says, that he offered himself but once for the sins of the people; they say he offers himself daily for the sins of quick and dead. And if the apostle, in the spirit of prophecy, foresaw this error, and would purposely forestall it, he could not speak more directly than when he saith, “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. And every high priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies are made his footstool. For, by one offering, he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”—Heb. x. 10–14.

Now let the vain heads of men seek subtle evasions in the different manner of this offering; bloody then, unbloody now. The Holy Ghost speaks punctually of the very substance of the act, and tells us absolutely there is but one sacrifice once offered by him, in any kind; else the opposition that is there made betwixt the legal priesthood and his should not hold, if, as they, so he, had often properly and truly sacrificed.

That we may not say they build herein what they destroy, for an unbloody sacrifice, in this sense, can be no other than figurative and commemorative, is it really propitiatory? “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Heb. ix. 22.) If, therefore, sins be remitted by this sacrifice, it must be in relation to that blood, which was shed in his true personal sacrifice upon the cross: and what relation can be betwixt this and that but of representation and remembrance? in which their moderate Cassander fully resteth.

In reason there must be in every sacrifice, as Cardinal Bellarmine grants, a destruction of the thing offered: and shall we say that they make their Saviour to crucify him again? No; but to eat him: for, “consumptio seu manducatio, quæ fit à sacerdote,” &c.; “The consumption or manducation, which is done of the priest, is an essential part of this sacrifice,” saith the same author; “for, in the whole action of the mass, there is,” saith he, “no other real destruction but this.”

Suppose we, then, the true human flesh, blood, and bone of Christ, God and man, really and corporally made such by this transubstantiation, whether is more horrible, to crucify or to eat it?

By this rule, it is the priest’s teeth, and not his tongue, that makes Christ’s body a sacrifice.

By this rule it shall be hostia, “a host,” when it is not a sacrifice; and a reserved host is no sacrifice, howsoever consecrated. And what if a mouse, or other vermin, should eat the host, (it is a case put by themselves,) who then sacrificeth?

To stop all mouths, laics eat as well as 487the priest: there is no difference in their manducation: but laics sacrifice not. And, as Salmeron urges, the Scripture distinguisheth betwixt the sacrifice and the participation of it: “Are not they, which eat of the sacrifices, partakers of the altar?” (1 Cor. x. 18.) And, in the very canon of the mass, “Ut quotquot,” &c., the prayer is, “That all we, which, in the participation of the altar, have taken the sacred body and blood of thy Son,” &c. “Wherein it is plain,” saith he, “that there is a distinction betwixt the host and the eating of the host.”

Lastly, sacrificing is an act done to God: if, then, eating be sacrificing, the priest eats his God to his God: “Quorum Deus venter.”

While they, in vain, study to reconcile this new-made sacrifice of Christ already in heaven, with “Jube hæc perferri,” &c. “Command these to be carried by the hands of thy holy angels to thy high altar in heaven, in the sight of thy Divine Majesty,” we conclude that this proper and propitiatory sacrifice of the mass, as a new, unholy, unreasonable sacrifice, is justly abhorred by us; and we, for abhorring it, unjustly ejected.—Bp. Hall.

MASTER. The designation of all the heads of colleges at Cambridge, with the exception of two, and of some at Oxford. The heads of some ancient hospitals, as Sherburn, are so called. It is recognised by the 42nd and 43rd Canons, &c., as one of the names of governors of cathedral and collegiate churches.

MASTER OF ARTS. The highest degree in arts, signifying one who is competent to teach, answering to that of Doctor in other faculties; conferred in all universities, though in a few modern instances superseded by that of Doctor of Philosophy. In England, the Masters of Arts form the privileged body of the ancient universities there; and there are many offices in the Church to which none are eligible but those who have at least taken that degree. By Canon 128, surrogates must be M. A. at least; and by Canon 74, M. A., being beneficed, are enjoined to wear hoods or tippets of silk or sarcenet, and square caps.

MASTER OF THE CEREMONIES. An officer in many foreign cathedrals, whose business it is to see that all the ceremonies, vestments, &c., peculiar to each season and festival, are observed in the choir.—Jebb.

MASTER OF THE FACULTIES. The principal officer of the Court of Faculties. (See Faculties.)

MASTERS OF THE SCHOOLS. Three Masters of Arts, in the university of Oxford, annually elected, who preside over certain exercises of under-graduates. Before the ancient disputations and determinations were abolished, their office was much more onerous than at present.

MASTER OF THE SENTENCES. The name commonly given to the celebrated Peter Lombard, bishop of Paris, one of the founders of scholastic divinity; so called from his great work of the Sentences, divided into four books, illustrative of doctrines of the Churches, in sentences, or passages taken from the Fathers.—Dupin.

MASTER OF THE SONG. A name for the instructor of the choristers, or choir-master.

MASTER OF THE TEMPLE. The principal minister in the Temple Church, in London, styled also the Custos; who, since the time of Henry VIII., has been appointed by royal letters patent, without institution or induction. This is a post of great eminence, and has been held by many able divines, as Hooker, Bishop Sherlock, &c.

MATINS. The ancient name for early morning prayers, which usually began about day-break.

The hours of prayer in the Church of England, before the Reformation, were seven in number, viz. matins, the first or prime, the third, sixth, and ninth hours, vespers, and compline. The office of matins, or morning prayer, according to the Church of England, is a judicious abridgment of her ancient services for matins, lauds, and prime.

The office of matins, or morning prayer, according to the English ritual, may be divided into three principal parts. First, the introduction, which extends from the beginning of the office to the end of the Lord’s Prayer: secondly, the psalmody and reading, which extends to the end of the Apostles’ Creed: and, thirdly, the prayers and collects, which occupy the remainder of the service.—Palmer.

MATRIMONY. The nuptial state.

The State in England has declared that marriage may be henceforth regarded merely as a civil contract; and, so far as the effects of the law are concerned, they who contract marriage by a merely civil ceremony, will undergo no disabilities, their children will not be illegitimate, and they will themselves be regarded, to all intents and purposes, as man and wife. Yet, although this be the case, the Church, (in this respect opposed to the State, or 488rather the State having placed itself in opposition to the Church,) at the very commencement of the Marriage Service, declares that so many as are coupled together otherwise than God’s word doth allow, are not joined together by God, neither is their matrimony lawful: it is not lawful, that is to say, in the eyes of God,—for its legality in the eyes of the State cannot be questioned. The case is actually this: the State says, if you choose to consider matrimony to be a civil contract, the law of the land will permit you to enter into the marriage state by a civil ceremony: but the Church has not as yet been silenced, and she affirms, that though the State may permit this, the word of God instructs us otherwise, and marriage is a religious contract; therefore do not avail yourselves of the permission given by the State.

That such is the doctrine of the Church now, must at once be admitted; and equally admitted it will be, that it was so at the Reformation of the Church of England, and before the Reformation. But the question is, was it one of those dogmas introduced in the Middle Ages, such as transubstantiation, praying to the saints, worshipping images, and certain other superstitions which distinguish the Church of Rome from the Church of England? And we may answer at once in the negative, because we find allusion to the sacred nature of the marriage contract in the writings of the very earliest Christian authors. For instance, St. Ignatius, the disciple of St. John, (who was afterwards bishop of Ephesus, and died a blessed martyr,) waiting to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, says expressly: “It becomes those who marry, and those that are given in marriage, to take this yoke upon them with the consent or direction of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to the will of God, and not their own lusts.” Another early Father (Tertullian) exclaims, “How shall I sufficiently set forth the happiness of the marriage which the Church brings about by her procurement, which the eucharist confirms, which angels report when done, and the Father ratifies!”

In those days the members of the Church were in much the same situation as that in which we are ourselves now placed. The law of the land regarded marriage as a civil contract, and the Church did not annul or disallow the legality of such marriages, or solemnize them again, on the parties becoming converts: it admitted the validity of the act when done, though it declared it to be done unlawfully, according to God’s law, and severely censured the members of the Church whenever they were married without the sacerdotal benediction. The practice for Christians to be married in the Church appears at first to have been universal, except when a Christian was unequally yoked with an unbeliever; he was then obliged to have recourse to the civil authorities, because the Church, censuring the alliance, absolutely refused to solemnize the marriage.

When the Church, in the time of Constantine, became allied with the State, and religion began to cool, (the laws of the empire still remaining the same,) some Christians began to fall off from the primitive practice, some for one reason and some for another, and to contract marriages according to the civil form. To correct which abuse Charles the Great enacted in the eighth century for the Western empire, and Leo Sapiens in the tenth century for the Eastern empire, that marriages should be celebrated in no other way, except with the sacerdotal blessing and prayers, to be succeeded by the reception of the eucharist or Lord’s supper. And this continued to be the practice in our own country until the usurpation of Cromwell, when marriage was declared to be a merely civil contract. At the Restoration of Charles II. marriage was again regarded as a religious ordinance, though the Church no longer insisted that the parties married should receive the communion, (a regulation which had in practice been much disregarded,) but contented herself with remarking in the rubric succeeding the ordinance, that “it is expedient that the new-married couple should receive the holy communion at the time of their marriage, or at the first opportunity after their marriage,” declaring the duty, but not absolutely compelling its observance; and thus things continued till the present time. Of course, all churchmen must now adhere to their principle, that marriage is a religious contract, and that those marriages only are lawful in the sight of God which are contracted in his name and by his ordinance.

And for thus acting we have the highest authority which earth and heaven can afford, that of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ himself. When he was in the flesh, marriage was regarded by Jews and Gentiles as a mere civil contract, and that of no very binding nature. He did not on this account declare the offspring of such marriages to be illegitimate; and yet, when appealed to, he assumed the fact as one which the Scriptures plainly declared, that marriage was of Divine institution. (Matt. xix. 4–9.) The Pharisees 489came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” Now, this was a very natural question for those to ask who considered marriage as a mere civil contract. Wherever such is the case, one of two things in process of time is found to follow—polygamy, or the allowance of frequent divorce. Men soon came to reason thus: If marriage be merely a bargain between two parties for mutual convenience, why should not the bargain be dissolved when the convenience no longer exists? and why, if a man wishes for more wives than one, should he be prevented from having them, provided the parties making the contract agree that the first wife shall have the pre-eminence, and her children be the heirs of the family property? It is all a matter of mere civil convenience and expediency. The Jews thus arguing had permitted polygamy; they did possess many wives, and now they entertained the question, whether these wives might not be dismissed for almost any cause whatever. The subject being much under discussion, they appealed to our Lord, and how did he meet them? By arguments against the expediency of polygamy, or frequent divorce? No; but by assuming at once, that, according to Scripture, marriage is not a mere civil, but a religious contract. “Have ye not read,” he says, thus referring to Scripture, “that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What, therefore, God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” The permission of divorce is out of the jurisdiction of man, because the ordinance is of God. If the contract were merely a civil contract, man might legislate with respect to it; but man may not legislate for it, because it is an ordinance of God—a religious, and not a mere civil, contract.

And all this is the more remarkable, because our Lord, in his reply to the Herodians, carefully distinguishes between the things of Cæsar and the things of God, and on several occasions disclaims all intention to interfere with those things which had reference merely to the civil authority; yet, observe, when the Pharisees appeal to him on a doubtful disputation, growing out of their allowance of divorce, he does not, as on another occasion, put the question aside by asking who made him a judge in such matters, but he instantly exercises his judicial authority without reservation; thereby, in that very fact, declaring that God, not Cæsar, or the State, is the supreme authority, to whose tribunal the decision with respect to matrimony belongs. He pronounces the vital principle of marriage to be the making twain one flesh, and expressly declares that it is by God’s joining them together that this blending of their nature takes effect, and that the contract, once made, is on this account inviolable; nay, he declares it to be an exempt jurisdiction reserved by God exclusively to himself, and not to be modified, or in any respect invaded, by human authority. Man’s law indeed may couple male and female together; but as the Church declares, on the authority of our Lord, it is their being joined together by God, and as God’s law doth allow, that in his sight makes their matrimony lawful.

Indeed, the Scriptures from first to last envelope this union with a sacred and mysterious solemnity. The first marriage, that of Adam and Eve, God himself solemnized, even God, who, by that very act, instituted the ordinance, and stamped it as Divine, and not a mere human contract. The whole proceeding, with respect to the marriage of Adam and Eve, is related under circumstances calculated to awaken the most solemn attention. As to the other creatures of his hand, they were produced by a fiat of the Almighty will, (male and female of every species,) a corporeal and instinctive adaptation to herd together being the bounds of their perfection. But in the case of the human species, a very different course was observed. Man is first formed, a splendidly gifted creature, who soon is made to feel his social wants, (by a survey of all God’s creatures mated except himself,) and to express, by a plaintive reference to his own comparative destitution, how desolate he was even in Paradise, being alone in the garden of delights; and how hopeless was the search for a helpmeet for him throughout the whole compass of hitherto animated nature. Then it is that God puts his last finish to the visible universe by his own wonderful counsel for supplying the deficiency. He takes from man’s own substance the material from which his second self is to be formed; as the term employed by Moses imports, he works upon it with the skill of a profound artificer; and having framed and modelled out of it, after man’s own image, softened and refined, but still retaining its Divine similitude, the grace of social life, he himself brings her to him to be his bosom counsellor and partner of his joys, 490(for cares and sorrows he, as yet, had none,) knitting them together, and pouring on them the most precious benedictions. Thus was the marriage first solemnized by the great God himself. And even so do his ambassadors now; they, as an ancient writer observes, they, as the representatives of God, come forth to the persons who are to be joined together, to confirm this their sacred covenant by the offering up of holy prayers.

By Canon 62, it is enjoined that no minister shall join persons in marriage in any private place, but either in the churches or chapels where one of them dwelleth, and likewise in time of Divine service. (See Banns.)

An uniformity of principle prevails throughout the sacred Scriptures, and to the sacredness of the marriage contract frequent allusions are made. Thus Israel is said to have been married to the Lord; and idolatry (that is, the following of the gods of the heathens) is represented as adultery, a breach of the covenant between God and Israel. God’s reproofs to them for their infidelity are sharpened by the recollection of their marriage relation with him. The state of believers in this world is compared by the apostle Paul to the time that used to elapse between the betrothing and the actual marriage among the Jews; nay, St. Paul goes further, he alludes to this sacred contract as a type or representation of the mysterious love of Jesus to his Church. For our Lord forsook his heavenly Father, and did cleave unto our nature, becoming one flesh with us, giving to the Church his Spirit for a dowry, and heaven for a jointure, feeding her at his table, adorning her by his grace, and protecting her by his power; and from this love of Christ to his spouse, the Church, are many converts begotten unto God through the gospel, and (born again of water and the Holy Ghost) they become heirs of glory. Thus honoured is the marriage contract, by being made an emblem of so Divine and mysterious a mercy. It was indeed to hallow the rite by this application that St. Paul wrote, since in the passage referred to he was arguing against certain seducers who would have disfigured Christianity by imputing to it the forbidding of its disciples to marry. He shows, on the contrary, that marriage, so far from having any discredit cast upon it by the gospel, is advanced in honour. He describes, indeed, the ministerial office to consist in espousing the Church to Christ; and St. John, in the Apocalypse, depicts the consummation of all things as the marriage of the Lamb and his wife, the beatific union between Christ and his redeemed ones, between God and the Church, when the Church has been cleansed and sanctified, and become a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.

MATTHEW, ST., THE EVANGELIST’S DAY. A festival of the Christian Church, observed on the 21st of September.

St. Matthew, the son of Alpheus, was also called Levi. He was of Jewish original, as both his names discover, and probably a Galilean. Before his call to the apostolate, he was a publican or tollgatherer to the Romans; an office of bad repute among the Jews, on account of the covetousness and exaction of those who managed it. St. Matthew’s office particularly consisted in gathering the customs of all merchandise that came by the sea of Galilee, and the tribute that passengers were to pay who went by water. And here it was that Matthew sat at the “receipt of custom,” when our Saviour called him to be a disciple. It is probable, that, living at Capernaum, the place of Christ’s usual residence, he might have some knowledge of him before he was called.

Matthew immediately expressed his satisfaction, in being called to this high dignity, by entertaining our Saviour and his disciples at a great dinner at his own house, whither he invited all his friends, especially those of his own profession, hoping, probably, that they might be influenced by the company and conversation of Christ.

St. Matthew continued with the rest of the apostles till after our Lord’s ascension. For the first eight years afterwards he preached in Judea. Then he betook himself to propagating the gospel among the Gentiles, and chose Ethiopia as the scene of his apostolical ministry; where it is said he suffered martyrdom, but by what kind of death is altogether uncertain. It is pretended, but without any foundation, that Hyrtacus, king of Ethiopia, desiring to marry Iphigenia, the daughter of his brother and predecessor Æglippus, and the apostle having represented to him that he could not lawfully do it, the enraged prince ordered his head immediately to be cut off.

MATTHEW’S, ST., GOSPEL. A canonical book of the New Testament. (See the preceding article.)

St. Matthew wrote his Gospel in Judea, at the request of those he had converted. It is thought he began this work about 491the year 41, eight years after our Saviour’s resurrection. Irenæus thinks he wrote it whilst St. Peter and St. Paul were preaching at Rome. It was written (according to the testimony of all the ancients) in the Hebrew or Syriac language, which was then common in Judea.

The true Hebrew Gospel of St. Matthew is no longer in being anywhere, as far as can be discovered. Those printed by Sebastian Munster, and du Tillet, are modern, and translated into Hebrew from the Latin or Greek.

The Greek version of St. Matthew’s Gospel, and which at this day passes for the original, is as old as the apostolical times. The author is unknown. Some ascribe it to St. Matthew himself; others, to St. James the less, bishop of Jerusalem; others, to St. John the evangelist, or to St. Paul, or to St. Luke, or to St. Barnabas.

MATTHIAS’S, ST., DAY. A festival of the Christian Church, observed on the 24th of February.

St. Matthias was an apostle of Jesus Christ, but not of the number of the twelve, chosen by Christ himself. He obtained this high honour upon a vacancy, made in the college of the apostles by the treason and death of Judas Iscariot. The choice fell on Matthias by lot; his competitor being Joseph called Barsabas, and surnamed Justus.

Matthias was qualified for the apostleship, by having been a constant attendant upon our Saviour all the time of his ministry. He was, probably, one of the seventy disciples. After our Lord’s resurrection, he preached the gospel first in Judea. Afterwards it is probable he travelled eastward, his residence being principally near the irruption of the river Apsarus and the haven Hyssus. The barbarous people treated him with great rudeness and inhumanity; and, after many labours and sufferings in converting great numbers to Christianity, he obtained the crown of martyrdom; but by what kind of death is uncertain.

The observance of this festival among us has been attended with some confusion. The Common Prayer Book of Queen Elizabeth directs, that, in Leap-years, an intercalary or additional day shall be added between the 23rd and 24th days of February. Hence St. Matthias’s day, which, in common years, was observed on the 24th of February, was, in Leap-years, observed on the 25th. But, in the review of our liturgy, it was thought more proper to add a 29th day to February. So that now, there being no variation of the days, this festival must always keep to the 24th day. But, notwithstanding the case is so clear, some almanack-makers continued to follow the old custom, which occasioned the day to be variously observed. Archbishop Sancroft decided the matter by an injunction, Feb. 5, 1683, requiring “all vicars and curates to take notice, that the feast of St. Matthias is to be celebrated, not upon the 25th of February, (as the common almanack-makers boldly and erroneously set it,) but upon the 24th of February for ever, whether it be Leap-year or not, as the calendar in the liturgy, confirmed by act of uniformity, appoints and enjoins.”

MAUNDY THURSDAY. The Thursday before Easter, being the day on which our Lord instituted the holy sacrament of his body and blood. The name of Maundy, Maunday, or Mandate, (Dies Mandati,) is said to have allusion to the mandate or new commandment which, on this day, Christ gave to his disciples, that they should love one another, as he had loved them. It has also been supposed by others, that the name arose from the maunds, or baskets of gifts, which, at this time, it was an ancient custom for Christians to present one to another, in token of that mutual affection which our Lord so tenderly urged, at this period of his sufferings, and as a remembrancer of that “inestimable gift” of Christ, to be our spiritual food in the sacrament of his body and blood. Says a writer of the age of Wickliff, “Christ made his maundy and said, Take, eat,” &c.

On this day it was customary for bishops, sovereigns, and nobles, to wash the feet of the poor, a ceremony still observed in many places abroad. In the Hierurgice Anglicana (p. 282, 283) is given an account of the ceremonial observed by Queen Elizabeth. King James II. is said to have been the last of our sovereigns who performed it. It is still the custom on Maundy Thursday for the Lord Almoner to distribute certain royal donations to the poor in the Royal Chapel at Whitehall. This service consists of appropriate psalms, lessons, anthems, and special prayers. It is performed with great solemnity. For the full particulars see Stephens’s edition of the Common Prayer Book.

MAY, TWENTY-NINTH OF. (See Forms of Prayer.)

MEANS OF GRACE. (See Ordinances and Sacraments.) The sacraments and other ordinances of the Church, through which grace is conveyed to souls prepared by faith and penitence to receive it.

492MEDIATOR. (See Jesus, Lord, Christ, Messiah.) A person who intervenes between two parties at variance. Thus our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the Mediator between God and man.

This appears from 1 Tim. ii. 5, “For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” When we call him a Mediator, we call him so, not only as he is our Redeemer, but also as he is our Intercessor. “For, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John ii. 1.)—Archdeacon Welchman. It is to be remembered, however, that by a mediator here the Church means, not barely an intercessor or transactor of business between two parties, in which sense Moses was a mediator between God and the Israelites with respect to the ceremonial law; but such a mediator, intercessor, and transactor, as can plead the merit of his own blood, offered up in man’s stead, to reconcile an offended God to sinful man. In this sense Christ is the only mediator between God and man, being both God and man.—Dr. Bennet.

It has been already proved that Christ partook both of the Divine and human nature: and St. Paul expressly says, “There is one mediator,” &c. Christ is represented, both in the Old and New Testament, as the only redeemer of mankind, as the only sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. His merits will extend to all who lived before and after the promulgation of the gospel. “As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor. xv. 22.) “He is the Lamb which was slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. xiii. 8.)—Bp. Tomline.

MELCHITES. The name which is given to the Syriac, Egyptian, and other Christians of the Levant; who, though not Greeks, follow the doctrines and ceremonies of the Greek Church, and submit to the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon. The term Melchites is borrowed from the Hebrew or Syriac word Melec, which signifies king. So that Melchites is as much as to say Royalists, and is a term of reproach, given to the orthodox by the Eutychians, or Jacobites, on account of their implicit submission to the edicts of the emperors, for the publication and reception of the above-mentioned council.

The Melchites, excepting some few points of little or no importance, which relate only to their ceremonies and ecclesiastical discipline, are in every respect professed Greeks. They have translations, in the Arabian language, of the Greek rituals; but their versions are for the most part very incorrect. In general, the Christians of the Levant are so far from being just and correct in their translations of the Greek authors, that they imagine they have a right to make them speak according to their own sentiments. This is evident in the Arabic canons of the Council of Nice, in which the Melchites find sufficient arguments to justify their notions against those of the Jacobites; and the Jacobites, on the other hand, by the very same canons, vindicate their tenets against those of the Melchites.

The Melchites are governed by a particular patriarch, who resides at Damascus, and assumes the title of Patriarch of Antioch. The great difficulty they meet with in finding such ministers as can read Greek, is said to be the true reason why they celebrate mass in the Arabian language: and even those who are acquainted with the Greek tongue, yet read the Epistle and Gospel in Arabic.

The monks among the Melchites follow the rule of St. Basil, the common rule of all the Greek monks. They have four fine convents, distant about a day’s journey from Damascus. They never go out of the cloister.

MELETIANS. There were in the fourth century two schisms called Meletian.

1. The Meletians of Egypt had their name from Meletius, a bishop of Lycopolis, the second of the Egyptian sees in dignity. It has been most commonly supposed that Meletius sacrificed to the heathen gods in a persecution about the year 301, or perhaps in the last general persecution a few years later. But there seems to be reason for supposing that the occasion of his schism was of an opposite kind—that he objected to the lenity with which Peter, bishop of Alexandria, treated those who had lapsed in the persecution; and this explanation agrees better with the character of the sect, who rejected all from their communion, who in time of persecution fell from Christ, though they afterwards repented. Meletius proceeded to ordain bishops, and at one time had nearly thirty of these in his communion. He was prohibited for ever to ordain by the Council of Nice, but his followers were admitted to communion without re-ordination. He submitted to this at first, but afterwards resumed his practice of schismatical ordinations. The Arians attempted to draw the Meletians into a connexion with them, on the ground of their common enmity to the orthodox bishops of Alexandria; and thus the schismatics whose original difference 493with the Church had been limited to questions of discipline, became infected with heresy.

2. The Meletians of Antioch were so called from Meletius, who in 360 was appointed to the bishopric of that city. Although he owed his appointment to the Arians, he soon showed that he was orthodox; whereupon he was deposed and banished. He afterwards recovered his see, but the adherents of Eustathius, who had been deposed by the Arians many years before, refused to communicate with him; and Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, by ordaining Paulinus in opposition to him, contributed to exasperate the differences of the orthodox. The schism of Antioch was not finally healed until the year 415.

MENAION. The name which the Greeks give to the twelve volumes of their Church Service. These volumes answer to the twelve months in the year, each volume taking in a month. In this book is contained the offices for the saints of every day, methodically digested.

From the Menaion is drawn the Menologium, (Menology,) or Greek calendar, in which the lives of the saints in short, or their names only, are cited. The Menaion, therefore, of the Greek answers to the Breviary of the Latins, and the Menology to the Martyrology. (See Breviary and Martyrology.)

MENDICANTS, or BEGGING FRIARS. There are several orders of monks or friars, in Popish countries, who, having no income or revenues, are supported by the charitable contributions of others. These, from their manner of life, are called Mendicants.

This sort of friars began in the thirteenth century, when Dominic de Guzman, with nine more of his companions, founded the order of Preaching Friars, called from their founder Dominicans. The other three Mendicant orders are, the Franciscans, Augustines, and Carmelites.

These monks gave great disturbance to the secular clergy, by pretending to a right of taking confessions and granting absolution, without asking leave of the parochial priests, or even the bishops themselves. Pope Innocent IV. restrained this licence, and prohibited the Mendicants to confess the faithful without leave of the curé. Alexander IV. restored this privilege to them. And Martin IV., to accommodate the dispute, granted them a permission to receive confessions, upon condition that the penitents, who applied to them, should confess once a year to their proper pastor. However, this expedient falling short of full satisfaction, Boniface VIII. ordered that the superiors of religious houses should make application to the bishops, for their permission to such friars as should be commissioned by their respective abbots to administer the sacrament of penance. And upon the foot of this constitution the matter now rests.

MENGRELIANS. Christians of the Greek religion, converted by Cyrillus and Methodius. They baptize not their children till the eighth year, and enter not into the Church (the men especially) till the sixtieth (others say the fortieth) year, but hear Divine service standing without the temple.

MENNONITES. A sect of Anabaptists in Holland, so denominated from one Mennon Simonis of Frisia, who lived in the sixteenth century. The Protestants, as well as the Romanists, confuted them. Mr. Stoupp explains their doctrine thus: Mennon is not the first of the Anabaptists; but having rejected the enthusiasms and revelations of the first Anabaptists and their opinions, concerning the new kingdom of Jesus Christ, he set up other tenets, which his followers hold to this time. They believe that the New Testament is the only rule of our faith; that the terms Person and Trinity are not to be used in speaking of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; that the first men were not created just; that there is no original sin; that Jesus Christ had not his flesh from the substance of his mother Mary, but from the essence of his Father; that it is not lawful for Christians to swear, or exercise any office of magistracy, nor use the sword to punish evil-doers, nor to wage war upon any terms; that a Christian may attain to the height of perfection in this life; that the ministers of the gospel ought not to receive any salary; that children are not to be baptized; that the souls of men after death rest in an unknown place.

In the mean time these Mennonites broke into several divisions, for very inconsiderable reasons; many among them embraced the opinions of the Socinians, or rather of the Arians, touching the Deity of Christ; and they were all for moderation in religion, not thinking that they might lawfully debar from their assemblies any man leading a pious life, and that owned the Scriptures for the word of God. These were called Galenites, and borrowed their name from a physician of Amsterdam, called Galen. Some of them in Holland are called Collegiates, because they meet privately, and every one in their assembly hath the liberty to speak, to expound the 494Scriptures, to pray, and to sing: they that are truly Collegiates are Trinitarians: they never receive the communion in their college, but they meet twice a year, from all parts of Holland, at Rhinsburg, a village about two leagues from Leyden; there they receive the sacrament. The first that sits at table may distribute it to the rest; and all sects are admitted, even the Roman Catholics, if they would come.

MESSALIANS, or MASSALIANS. So called from a Chaldee word, which signifies to pray, as does the Greek εὐχομαι, from which these sectaries had also the name of Euchites, because they prayed continually, and held nothing necessary to salvation but prayer: they rejected preaching and the sacraments: they held that the supreme God was visible; and that Satan was to be worshipped that he might do no hurt: they pretended to cast out devils; and rejected almsgiving. This heresy prevailed under Valentinian and Valens, about A. D. 370.

MESSIAH signifies the anointed. (See Christ, Jesus, and Lord.) It is the title given by way of eminence to our blessed Saviour, meaning in Hebrew the same as Christ in Greek, and it alludes to the authority he possesses to assume the characters of prophet, priest, and king, and so of the Saviour of the world.

Christ the Messiah (“anointed”) was promised by God, (Gen. iii. 15; xxi. 12,) and foretold by the prophets, (Gen. xlix. 10; 1 Sam. ii. 10 and 35; Ps. ii. 2; xlv. 7; Micah v. 2, with John vii. 42; Mal. iii. 1,) as the “redeemer” of Israel, (Job xix. 25; Isa. lix. 20; Luke xxiv. 21,) and “the desire of all nations” (Haggai ii. 7). He who was born in the days of Herod, of a pure virgin, and called “Jesus,” according to prophecy, (Luke i. 31,) is that “Messiah,” “the Christ,” (John i. 41; Acts ii. 36,) as he declares himself to be, (John x. 24, 25,) whose coming was then expected (Matt. ii. 1, 2; John iv. 25, 29, 42). Who was “anointed,” not with any material and typifying “oil,” as were those who preceded him—his types—but with “the Spirit of God,” (Matt. iii. 16; John i. 32, 33,) “the Spirit of the Lord,” as promised, (Isa. xi. 2; xlii. 1; Matt. xii. 18,) a spiritual unction—“the oil of gladness, above his fellows” (Ps. xlv. 7); and thus was he consecrated to the three offices, divided in others, being the great Prophet predicted, (Deut. xviii. 15, 18,) and acknowledged, (John vi. 14; vii. 40,) the eternal High Priest, (Ps. cx. 4; Heb. viii. 1; x. 12, 14,) and universal King (Gen. xlix. 10; Num. xxiv. 17; Ps. ii. 6; Dan. vii. 14; Zech. xiv. 9; Matt. xxv. 34; Rev. xi. 15). And this Spirit he received as the head, (Heb. i. 9,) and conveys to the members of his body (2 Cor. i. 21; 1 John ii. 20).

MESSIANIC. A term invented by modern critics, to signify those Psalms or other portions of Scripture which specially relate to or personify the Messiah.

METHODISTS, POPISH. Polemical doctors, who arose in France about the middle of the seventeenth century, in opposition to the Huguenots, or French Protestants.

METHODISTS. This is the distinctive appellation of the followers of the late Mr. John Wesley, who was born in 1703, and died in 1791.

Under the general term of “Methodists” are comprehended two principal and several subordinate sections, having totally distinct ecclesiastical organizations. The two grand sections differ from each other upon points of doctrine; one professing Arminian, and the other Calvinistic, sentiments. The former are the followers of John Wesley, and from him are called “Wesleyan Methodists;”—the latter were originated by the labours of George Whitfield, but their founder’s name is not perpetuated in their title, which is generally that of “Calvinistic Methodists.” Each of the two grand sections is divided into several smaller sections, differing from each other upon points of Church government and discipline: the Wesleyan Methodists comprise the “Original Connexion,” the “New Connexion,” the “Primitive Methodists,” and the “Wesleyan Association”—the Calvinistic Methodists comprise the body bearing that specific name, and also the churches belonging to what is known as “The Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion.”

THE ORIGINAL CONNEXION.

As at present settled, the form of Church government somewhat resembles that of the Scottish Presbyterian Churches in the order of the courts, in the relation they bear to each other, and in their respective constitutions and functions. The difference is in the greater degree of authority in spiritual matters exercised by the Wesleyan ministers, who preside in their courts not as mere chairmen or moderators, but as pastors. This is said by them to secure an equitable balance of power between the two parties, lay and clerical, in these courts, and thus to provide against abuse on either side. How far this is the case will be more clearly seen by a description of these various courts, tracing 495them upwards from the lowest to the highest,—from the Class to the Conference.

The Classes were the very first of the arrangements introduced by Mr. Wesley. They consist, in general, of about 12 persons; each class having its appointed “leader,” (an experienced Christian layman, nominated by the superintendent of a circuit, and appointed by a leaders’ meeting,) whose duty is to meet his class once every week—converse with each class member, hear from him a statement of his spiritual condition, and give appropriate counsel. Every member of a class, except in cases of extreme poverty, is expected to contribute at least a penny per week towards the funds of the society. Out of the proceeds of this contribution, assisted by other funds, the stipends of the ministers are paid. The system of class meetings is justly considered the very life of Methodism.

The public worship of these societies is conducted in each circuit by two descriptions of preachers, one clerical, the other lay. The clerics are separated entirely to the work of the ministry—are members of, or in connexion with, or received as probationers by, the Conference—and are supported by funds raised for that purpose in the classes and congregations. From one to four of these, called “itinerant preachers,” are appointed annually for not exceeding three years in immediate succession to the same circuit. Their ministry is not confined to any particular chapel in the circuit, but they act interchangeably from place to place, seldom preaching in the same place more than one Sunday without a change, which is effected according to a plan generally re-made every quarter. Of itinerant preachers there are at present about 915 in Great Britain. The lay, or “local” preachers, as they are denominated, follow secular callings, like other of their fellow subjects, and preach on the sabbaths at the places appointed for them in the above-mentioned plan; as great an interval being observed between their appointments to the same place as can be conveniently arranged.

The public services of Methodists present a combination of the forms of the Church of England with the usual practice of Dissenting Churches. In the larger chapels, the Church Liturgy is used; and, in all, the sacrament is administered according to the Church of England rubric. Independently of sabbath worship, love feasts are occasionally celebrated; and a midnight meeting, on the last day of each year, is held as a solemn “watch night,” for the purpose of impressing on the mind a sense of the brevity and rapid flight of time.

At present there are 428 circuits in Great Britain. Besides preaching in the various chapels in their respective circuits, the itinerant preachers administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper. One or other of them, according to an arrangement amongst themselves, meets every class in his circuit once in every quarter, personally converses with every member, and distributes to all such as have throughout the past three months walked orderly a ticket, which authenticates their membership. One of the ministers in every circuit is called the “superintendent,” whose duties, in addition to his ordinary labours as a travelling preacher, are, to see that the Methodist discipline is properly maintained,—to admit candidates into membership, (subject to a veto by a leaders’ meeting,)—and to expel from the society any member whom a leaders’ meeting shall pronounce guilty of any particular offence. Appeal, however, lies from his decision to a District meeting, and ultimately to the Conference. There is also a “circuit steward,” whose duty is to receive from the society stewards the contributions of class members, and to superintend their application for the purposes of the circuit.

The Conference, the highest Wesleyan court, is composed exclusively of ministers. It derives its authority from a deed of declaration, executed by Mr. Wesley in 1784, by which it was provided that, after the decease of himself and his brother Charles, 100 persons, named in the deed, “being preachers and expounders of God’s holy word, under the care and in connexion with the said John Wesley,” should exercise the authority which Wesley himself possessed, to appoint preachers to the various chapels. Vacancies in the “hundred” were to be filled up by the remainder at an annual Conference. In pursuance of this deed, a Conference of 100 ministers meets yearly in July, with the addition of the representatives selected by the district meetings, and such other ministers as are appointed or permitted to attend by the district committees. The custom is, for all these ministers to share in the proceedings and to vote; though all the decisions thus arrived at must be sanctioned by the legal “hundred,” ere they can have binding force. The Conference must sit for at least five days, but not beyond three weeks. Its principal transactions are, to examine the moral and 496ministerial character of every preacher—to receive candidates on trial—to admit ministers into the connexion—and to appoint ministers to particular circuits or stations. Independently of its functions under this deed poll, the Conference exercises a general superintendence over the various institutions of the body; including the appointment of various committees, as, (1.) The Committee of Privileges for guarding the interests of the Wesleyan Connexion; (2.) The Committee for the management of Missions; (3.) The Committee for the management of Schools for educating the children of Wesleyan ministers; (4.) The General Book Committee (for superintending the publication and sale of Wesleyan works); (5.) The Chapel Building Committee (without whose previous consent in writing no chapel, whether large or small, is to be erected, purchased, or enlarged); (6.) The Chapel Relief Committee; (7.) The Contingent Fund Committee; (8.) The Committee of the Auxiliary Fund for worn-out ministers and ministers’ widows; and the committees for the various schools, theological institutions, &c.

The Conference has also assumed to itself the power of making new laws for the government of the Connexion: provided that, if any circuit meeting disapprove such law, it is not to be enforced in that circuit for the space of one year. Any circuit has the power of memorializing Conference on behalf of any change considered desirable, provided the June quarterly meeting should so determine.

The doctrines held by the Wesleyans are substantially accordant with the Articles of the Established Church, interpreted in their Arminian sense. In this they follow Mr. Wesley rather than Arminius; for although the writings of the latter are received with high respect, the first four volumes of Wesley’s Sermons, and his Notes on the New Testament, (which they hold to be “neither Calvinistic on the one hand nor Pelagian on the other,”) are referred to as the standard of their orthodoxy. The continued influence of their founder is manifested by the general adherence of the body to his opinions on the subject of attainment to Christian perfection in the present life—on the possibility of final ruin after the reception of Divine grace—and on the experience by every convert of a clear assurance of his acceptance with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Census Accounts show 6579 chapels in England and Wales, belonging to this Connexion in March 1851; containing (allowance being made for defective returns) accommodation for 1,447,580 persons. The number of attendants on the Census Sunday was: Morning, 492,714; Afternoon, 383,964; Evening, 667,850: including an estimate for 133 chapels, for which the number of attendants was not stated.

The following table shows the principal societies and institutions for religious objects supported by the Wesleyan Original Connexion. Others, in part supported by Wesleyans, are mentioned in the General List at page cxvii. of the Report.

Name of Society or Institution. Date of Foundation. Annual Income.

A.D. £

Contingent Fund 1756 10,065

Auxiliary Fund 1813 7,163

The Children’s Fund 1818 3,280

Wesleyan Theological Institution 1834 4,688

General Chapel Fund 1818 3,984

Wesleyan Seamen’s Mission 1843 160

Wesleyan Missionary Society 1817 105,370

Kingswood and Woodhouse Grove School 1748 1811 8,048

Education Fund 1837 2,800

In 1839 was celebrated the Centenary of the existence of Wesleyan Methodism; and the gratitude of the people towards the system under which they had derived so much advantage was displayed by contributions to the large amount of £216,000, which sum was appropriated to the establishment of theological institutions in Yorkshire and at Richmond—the purchase of the “Centenary Hall and Mission House” in Bishopsgate Street—the provision of a missionary ship—the discharge of chapel debts—and the augmentation of the incomes of the Methodist religious societies.

Of late years a considerable agitation (to be more particularly mentioned when 497describing “Wesleyan Reformers”) has diminished to a great extent the number of the members in connexion. It is stated that by this division the Original Connexion has sustained a loss of 100,000 members.

THE METHODIST NEW CONNEXION.

For some time after Mr. Wesley’s death in 1791, considerable agitation was observable throughout the numerous societies which, under his control, had rapidly sprung up in every part of England. The more immediate subjects of dispute had reference to, (1.) “the right of the people to hold their public religious worship at such hours as were most convenient, without being restricted to the mere intervals of the hours appointed for service in the Established Church;” and, (2.) “the right of the people to receive the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s supper from the hands of their own ministers, and in their own places of worship;” but the principal and fundamental question in dispute concerned the right of the laity to participate in the spiritual and secular government of the body. Wesley himself had, in his lifetime, always exercised an absolute authority; and after his decease the travelling preachers claimed the same extent of power. A vigorous opposition was, however, soon originated, which continued during several years; the Conference attempting various unsuccessful measures for restoring harmony. A “Plan of Pacification” was adopted by the Conference in 1795, and was received with general satisfaction so far as the ordinances were concerned; but the question of lay influence remained untouched till 1797, when the Conference conceded that the leaders’ meetings should have the right to exercise an absolute veto upon the admission of new members to the Society, and that no member should be expelled for immorality, “until such immorality had been proved at a leaders’ meeting.” Certain lesser rights were at the same time conceded to the quarterly meetings, in which the laity were represented by the presence of their stewards and class leaders. But this was the extent of the concessions made by the preachers; and all propositions for lay delegation to the Conference and the district meetings were conclusively rejected.

Foremost amongst many who remained unsatisfied by these concessions was the Rev. Alexander Kilham, who, singularly enough, was born at Epworth in Lincolnshire, the birth-place of the Wesleys. Mr. Kilham, first acquiring prominence as an assertor of the right of Methodists to meet for worship in church hours, and to receive the sacraments from their own ministers, was gradually led to take an active part in advocacy of the principle of lay participation in the government of the Connexion.

Originated by a movement for a certain and specific alteration in the constitution of Wesleyan Methodism, the New Connexion differs from the parent body only with respect to those ecclesiastical arrangements which were then the subjects of dispute. In doctrines, and in all the essential and distinctive features of Wesleyan Methodism, there is no divergence: the Arminian tenets are as firmly held by the New as by the Old Connexion; and the outline of ecclesiastical machinery—comprising classes, circuits, districts, and the Conference—is in both the same. The grand distinction rests upon the different degrees of power allowed in each communion to the laity. It has been shown that, in the “Original Connexion,” all authority is virtually vested in the preachers: they alone compose the Conference—their influence is paramount in the inferior courts—and even when, as in financial matters, laymen are appointed to committees, such appointments are entirely in the hands of Conference. The “New Connexion,” on the contrary, admits, in all its courts, the principle of lay participation in Church government: candidates for membership must be admitted by the voice of the existing members, not by the minister alone; offending members cannot be expelled but with the concurrence of a leaders’ meeting; officers of the body, whether leaders, ministers, or stewards, are elected by the Church and ministers conjointly; and in district meetings and the annual Conference lay delegates (as many in number as the ministers) are present, freely chosen by the members of the Churches.

The progress of the New Connexion since its origin has been as follows, in the aggregate, comprising England, Ireland, and the colonies:

Year. Members.

1797 5,000

1803 5,280

1813 8,067

1823 10,794

1833 14,784

1840 21,836

1846 20,002

1853 21,384

At present (1853) the state of the Connexion, 498In England and Wales, is reported to be as follows:

Chapels 301

Societies 298

Circuit preachers 95

Local preachers 814

Members 16,070

Sabbath schools 273

Sabbath-school teachers 7,335

Sabbath-school scholars 44,337

Returns have been received at the Census Office from 297 chapels and stations (mostly in the northern counties) belonging to this Connexion, containing accommodation, after an estimate for 16 defective returns, for 96,964 persons. The number of attendants on the Census Sunday was: Morning, 36,801; Afternoon, 22,620; Evening, 39,624: including an estimate for three chapels, the attendance in which was not stated.

In 1847 the Jubilee of the Connexion was celebrated, and it was resolved to raise a fund of £20,000, to be appropriated to the relief of distressed chapels, to the erection of a theological institution, the extension of home and foreign missions, and the provision for aged and retired ministers.

PRIMITIVE METHODISTS.

About the commencement of the present century, certain among the “Wesleyans (and conspicuously Hugh Bourne and William Clowes) began to put in practice a revival of those modes of operation, which had by that time been abandoned by the then consolidated body. The Conference of 1807 affirmed a resolution adverse to such unprescribed expedients; and the consequence of this disapprobation was the birth of the Primitive Methodist Connexion,—the first class being formed at Standley in Staffordshire in 1810. The following table, furnished by the Conference itself, will show the progress made by the Connexion since that period.

Period. Chapels. Preachers. Class Leaders. Members. Sabbath Schools.

Connexional. Rented Rooms, &c. Travelling. Local. Schools. Teachers. Scholars.

1810 10

1811 2 260

1820 202 1,435 7,842

1830 421 240 2,719 35,733

1840 1,149 487 6,550 73,990 11,968 60,508

1850 1,555 3,515 519 8,524 6,162 104,762 1,278 20,114 103,310

1853 1,789 3,565 568 9,594 6,767 108,926 1,535 22,792 121,394

These statistics refer as well to the foreign stations of the Connexion as to England and Wales; but the deduction to be made upon this account will not exceed two or three per cent. of the above figures. The number of chapels, &c. returned by the Census officers was only 2871, so that many of the above must probably be small rooms, which thus escaped the notice of the enumerators. The number of connexional circuits and missions is, altogether, 313, of which, 13 are in Canada, 2 in South Australia, 1 in New South Wales, 1 in Victoria, and 3 in New Zealand. The “Missions,” whether abroad or at home, are localities in which the labours of the preachers are remunerated not from local sources, but from the circuit contributions, or from the general funds of the Connexion appropriated to missions.

The doctrines held by the Primitive Methodists are precisely similar to those maintained by the Original Connexion, and the outline of their ecclesiastical polity is also similar, the chief distinction being the admission, by the former body, of lay representatives to the Conference, and the generally greater influence allowed, in all the various courts, to laymen.

Camp meetings, though occasionally held, are much less frequent now than formerly: the people, it is thought, are more accessible than 50 years ago to other agencies.

BIBLE CHRISTIANS.

The “Bible Christians” (sometimes called Bryanites) are included here among the Methodist communities, more from a reference to their sentiments and polity than to their origin. The body, indeed, was not the result of a secession from the Methodist Connexion, but was rather the origination of a new community, which, as it grew, adopted the essential principles of Methodism.

The founder of the body was Mr. William O’Bryan, a Wesleyan local preacher in Cornwall, who, in 1815, separated from 499the Wesleyans, and began himself to form societies upon the Methodist plan. In a very few years considerable advance was made, and throughout Devonshire and Cornwall many societies were established; so that, in 1819, there were nearly 30 itinerant preachers. In that year, the first Conference was held, when the Connexion was divided into 12 circuits. Mr. O’Bryan withdrew from the body in 1829.

In doctrinal profession there is no distinction between “Bible Christians” and the various bodies of Arminian Methodists.

The forms of public worship, too, are of the same simple character; but, in the administration of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, “it is usual to receive the elements in a sitting posture, as it is believed that that practice is more conformable to the posture of body in which it was at first received by Christ’s apostles, than kneeling; but persons are at liberty to kneel, if it be more suitable to their views and feelings to do so.”

According to the Census returns, the number of chapels belonging to the body in England and Wales in 1851 was 482; by far the greater number being situated in the south-western counties of England. The number of sittings, (after adding an estimate for 42 imperfect returns,) was 66,834. The attendance on the Census Sunday was: Morning, 14,902; Afternoon, 24,345; Evening, 34,612; an estimate being made for eight chapels the number of attendants at which was not stated in the returns. The Minutes of Conference for 1852 present the following view:—

In Circuits. In Home Missionary Stations. Total.

Chapels 293 110 403

Itinerant Ministers 61 52 113

Local Preachers 741 345 1,059

Members 10,146 3,716 13,862

THE WESLEYAN METHODIST ASSOCIATION.

In 1834 a controversy was originated as to the propriety of the proposed establishment of a Wesleyan Theological Institution; and a minister who disapproved of such a measure, and prepared and published some remarks against it, was expelled from the Connexion. Sympathizers with him were in similar manner expelled.

The “Association” differs from the “Old Connexion” only with regard to the specific subjects of dispute which caused the rupture. The only variations, therefore, are in constitutional arrangements, and the principal of these are as follows:—

The Annual Assembly (answering to the Old Wesleyan Conference) is distinguished by the introduction of the laity as representatives. It consists of such of the itinerant and local preachers, and other official or private members, as the circuits, societies, or churches in union with the Association (and contributing £50 to the support of the ministry) elect. The number of representatives is regulated by the number of constituents. Circuits with less than 500 members send one; those with more than 500 and less than 1,000 send two; and such as have more than 1,000 send three. The Annual Assembly admits persons on trial as preachers, examines them, receives them into full connexion, appoints them to their circuits, and excludes or censures them when necessary. It also directs the application of all General or Connexional Funds, and appoints a committee to represent it till the next Assembly. But it does not interfere with strictly local matters, for “each circuit has the right and power to govern itself by its local courts, without any interference as to the management of its internal affairs.”

As was to be expected from the reason of its origin, the Association gives more influence to the laity in matters of Church discipline than is permitted by the Old Connexion. Therefore it is provided, that “no member shall be expelled from the Association except by the direction of a majority of a leaders’ society or circuit quarterly meeting.”

According to the Minutes of the 17th Annual Assembly, the following was the state of the Association in England and Wales in 1852, no allowance having, however, been made for several incomplete returns:—

Itinerant preachers and missionaries 90

Local preachers 1,016

Class leaders 1,353

Members in society 19,411

Chapels 329

Preaching places, rooms, &c. 171

Sunday schools 322

Sunday-school teachers 6,842

Sunday-school scholars 43,389

500The Census Returns make mention of 419 chapels and preaching rooms, containing (after an estimate for the sittings in 34 cases of deficient information) accommodation for 98,813 persons. The attendance on the Census Sunday (making an allowance for five chapels, the returns from which are silent on this point) was: Morning, 32,308; Afternoon, 21,140; Evening, 40,655.

WESLEYAN METHODIST REFORMERS.

In 1840, another of the constantly recurring agitations with respect to ministerial authority in matters of Church discipline arose, and still continues. Some parties having circulated through the Connexion certain anonymous pamphlets called “Fly Sheets,” in which some points of Methodist procedure were attacked in a manner offensive to the Conference, that body, with a view to ascertain the secret authors, (suspected to be ministers,) adopted the expedient of tendering to every minister in the Connexion a “Declaration,” reprobating the obnoxious circulars, and repudiating all connexion with the authorship. Several ministers refused submission to this test, as being an unfair attempt to make the offending parties criminate themselves, and partaking of the nature of an Inquisition. The Conference, however, held that such a method of examination was both Scripturally proper, and accordant with the usages of Methodism; and the ministers persisting in their opposition were expelled. This stringent measure caused a great sensation through the various societies, and meetings were convened to sympathize with the excluded ministers. The Conference, however, steadily pursued its policy—considered all such meetings violations of Wesleyan order—and, acting through the superintendent ministers in all the circuits, punished by expulsion every member who attended them. In consequence of this proceeding, the important question was again, and with increased anxiety, debated,—whether the admission and excision of Church members is exclusively the duty of the minister, or whether, in the exercise of such momentous discipline, the other members of the Church have not a right to share.

The agitation on these questions (and on some collateral ones suggested naturally by these) is still prevailing, and has grown extremely formidable. It is calculated that the loss of the Old Connexion, by expulsions and withdrawals, now amounts to 100,000 members. The Reformers have not yet ostensibly seceded, and can therefore not be said to form a separate Connexion. They regard themselves as still Wesleyan Methodists, illegally expelled, and they demand the restoration of all preachers, officers, and members who have been excluded. In the mean time, they have set in operation a distinct machinery of Methodism, framed according to the plan which they consider ought to be adopted by the parent body. In their own returns it is represented that they had in 1852, 2000 chapels or preaching places, and 2800 preachers.

At the time of the Census, in March 1852, the movement was but in its infancy; so that the returns received, though possibly an accurate account of the then condition of the body, will fail to give an adequate idea of its present state. From these returns it seems there were at that time 339 chapels in connexion with the movement; having accommodation (after estimates for 51 defective schedules) for 67,814 persons. The attendance on the Census Sunday (making an allowance for five cases where the numbers were not given) was as follows: Morning, 30,470; Afternoon, 16,080; Evening, 44,953.

CALVINISTIC METHODISTS.

George Whitfield, born in 1714, the son of an innkeeper at Gloucester, where he acted as a common drawer, was admitted as a servitor in Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1732. Being then the subject of religious impressions, to which the evil character of his early youth lent force and poignancy, he naturally was attracted to those meetings for religious exercises which the brothers Wesley had a year or two before originated. After a long period of mental anguish, and the practice, for some time, of physical austerities, he ultimately found relief and comfort; and, resolving to devote himself to the labours of the ministry, was admitted into holy orders by the bishop of Gloucester. Preaching in various churches previous to his embarkation for Georgia, whither he had determined to follow Mr. Wesley, his uncommon force of oratory was at once discerned, and scenes of extraordinary popular commotion were displayed wherever he appeared. In 1737 he left for Georgia, just as Wesley had returned. He ministered with much success among the settlers for three months, and then came back to England, for the purpose of procuring aid towards the foundation of an orphan house for the colony. The same astonishing sensation was created by his preaching as before; the churches overflowed with eager auditors, 501and crowds would sometimes stand outside. Perceiving that no edifice was large enough to hold the numbers who desired and pressed to hear him, he began to entertain the thought of preaching in the open air; and when, on visiting Bristol shortly after, all the pulpits were denied to him. he carried his idea into practice, and commenced his great experiment by preaching to the colliers at Kingswood. His first audience numbered about 200; the second, 2000; the third, 4000; and so from ten to fourteen and to twenty thousand. Such success encouraged similar attempts in London; and accordingly, when the churchwardens of Islington forbade his entrance into the pulpit, which the vicar had offered him, he preached in the churchyard; and, deriving more and more encouragement from his success, he made Moorfields and Kennington Common the scenes of his impassioned eloquence, and there controlled, persuaded, and subdued assemblages of thirty and forty thousand of the rudest auditors. He again departed for Georgia in 1748, founded there the orphan house, and, requiring funds for its support, again returned to England in 1751.

Up to this period, Wesley and Whitfield had harmoniously laboured in conjunction; but there now arose a difference of sentiment between them on the doctrine of election, which resulted in their separation. Whitfield held the Calvinistic tenets, Wesley the Arminian; and their difference proving, after some discussion, to be quite irreconcilable, they thenceforth each pursued a different path. Mr. Wesley steadily and skilfully constructing the elaborate machinery of Wesleyan Methodism; and Whitfield following his plan of field itinerancy, with a constant and amazing popularity, but making no endeavour to originate a sect. He died in New England in 1769, at the age of 55.

His followers, however, and those of other eminent evangelicals who sympathized with his proceedings, gradually settled into separate religious bodies, principally under two distinctive appellations; one, the “Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion,” and the other, the “Welsh Calvinistic Methodists.” These, in fact, are now the only sections which survive as individual communities; for most of Whitfield’s congregations, not adopting any connexional bond, but existing as independent churches, gradually became absorbed into the Congregational body.

THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON’S CONNEXION.

Selina, daughter of the Earl of Ferrers, and widow of the Earl of Huntingdon, was one of those on whom the preaching of Whitfield made considerable impression. In 1748 he became her chaplain; and by his advice she assumed a kind of leadership over his followers, erected chapels, engaged ministers or laymen to officiate in them, and founded a college at Trevecca in South Wales, for the education of Calvinistic preachers. After her death, this college was, in 1792, transferred to Cheshunt, (Herts,) and there it still exists.

The doctrines of the Connexion are almost identical with those of the Church of England, and the form of worship does not materially vary; for the liturgy is generally employed, though extemporary prayer is frequent.