nate event, or effect, constantly follows certain circumstances, or causes, the connexion between cause and effect is concluded to be invariable, and therefore necessary. It is universally acknowledged, that there can be no effect without an adequate cause. This is even the foundation on which the only proper argument for the being of a God rests. And the Necessarian asserts, that if, in any given state of mind, with respect both to dispositions and motives, two different determinations, or volitions, be possible, it can be on no other principle than that one of them should come under the description of an effect without a cause; just as if the beam of a balance might incline either way, though loaded with equal weights. And if any thing whatever, even a thought in the mind of man, could arise without an adequate cause, any thing else, the mind itself, or the whole universe, might likewise exist without an adequate cause. This scheme of philosophi cal necessity implies a chain of causes and effects, established by infinite wisdom, and terminating in the greatest good of the whole universe; evils of all kinds, natural and moral, being admitted, as far as they contribute to that end, or are in the nature of things inscparable from it.* Vice is productive not of good, but of evil to us, both here and hereafter, though good may result from it to the whole system: and, according to the fixed laws of nature, our present and future happiness necessarily depend on our cultivating good dispositions.† Our learned author distinguishes this scheme of philosophical necessity from the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination, in the following particulars : 1. No Necessarian supposes that any of the human race will suffer eternally : but that future punishments will answer the same purpose as temporal ones are found to do; all of which tend to good, Dr. Priestley says, "The doctrine of necessity contains all that the heart of man can wish it leads us to consider ourselves and every thing else as at the uncontrolled disposal of the greatest and best of Beings; that, strictly speaking, nothing does or can go wrong; and that all retrograde motions in the moral as well as in the natural world, are apparent, not real." By our being liable to punishment for our actions, and accountable for them, is meant, that it is wise and good in the supreme Being, to appoint that certain sufferings should follow certain actions, provided they be voluntary, though necessary ones: a course of voluntary actions and sufferings being calculated to promo te the greatest ultimate good. and are evidently admitted for that purpose.-Upon the doctrine of necessity also, the most indifferent actions of men are equally necessary with the most important; since every volition, like any other effect, must have an adequate cause depending upon the previous state of the mind, and the influence to which it is exposed. 2. The Necessarian believes that his own dispositions and actions are the necessary and sole means of his present and future happiness; so that, in the most proper sense of the words, it depends entirely on himself, whether he be virtuous or vicious, happy or miserable. 3. The Calvinistic system entirely excludes the popular notion of free-will; viz. the liberty or power of doing please, virtuous or vicious, as belonging to every person, in every situation ; which is perfectly consistent with the doctrine of philosophical necessity, and indeed results from it. 4. The Necessarian believes nothing of the posterity of Adam's sinning in him, and of their being liable to the wrath of God on that account; or the necessity of au infinite Being making atonement for them, by suffering in their stead, and thus making the Deity propitious to them. He believes nothing of all the actions of any man being necessarily sinful: but, on the contrary, thinks that the very worst of men are capable of benevolent intentions in many things that they do; and likewise that very good men are capable of falling from virtue, and consequently of sinking into final perdition. Upon the principles of the Necessarian also, all late repentance, and especially after long and confirmed habits of vice, is altogether and necessarily ineffectual; there not being sufficient time left to produce a change of disposition and character, which can only be done by a change of conduct of proportionably long continuance. In short, the three doctrines of Materialism, Philosophical Necessity, and Socinianism, are considered as equally parts of one system. The scheme of necessity is the immediate result of the materiality of man; for mechanism is the undoubted consequence of materialism: and that man is wholly material, is eminently subservient to the proper, or mere humanity of Christ. For if no man have a soul-distinct from his body, Christ, who in all other respects appeared as a man, could not have a soul which had existed before The Melecians fastened lit-` his body: and the whole doctrine of the pre-existence of tle bells to the bottom of souls, of which the opinion of their garments, and sung their the pre-existence of Christ is prayers, dancing all the time; a branch, will be effectually and this they thought a sure overturned.* See Unitarians. mean to appease the wrath of MELCHITES. The Syrian, God.‡ Egyptian, and other eastern christians in the Levant, who, though they are not Greeks, follow the doctrines of the Greek church, except in some points which relate only to ceremonies and ecclesiastical discipline. They were called Melchites, i. e. Royalists, by their adversaries, by way of reproach, on account of their implicit submission to the edict of the emperor Marcion, in favour of the council of Chalcedon.+ MELECIANS, a denomination in the fourth century; so called from their leader, Melecias, bishop of Lycopolis, in Egypt. This prelate declared with great zeal against those christians, who, having apostatized, desired to be reconciled to the church; and would not have those admitted to repentance who fell into sin, though their contrition were ever so great. MELCHIZEDICHIANS, a denomination which arose about the beginning of the third century. They affirmed that Melchizedek was not a man, but a heavenly power superior to Jesus Christ: for Melchizedek, they said, was the intercessor and mediator of the angels; and Jesus Christ was only so for men, and his priesthood only a copy of that of Melchizedek. This denomination was revived in Egypt by one Hierax.§ See Hieracies. MELATONI, so called from one Mileto, who taught, that not the soul, but the body of man, was made after God's image. MENANDERIANS, a denomination in the first century, from Menander, a disciple of Simon Magus. He pretended to be one of the aions sent from the pleroma, or celestial regions, to succour *Priestley's Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit, vol. i. pp. 4--163. vol. ii. on Philosophical Necessity, pp. 8-193. History of Early Opinions, vol. i. pp. 211, 212. Correspondence between Priestley and Price, pp. 118 359. † Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. p. 31, Collier's Hist. Dict. vol. ii. the souls that lay groaning under bodily oppression and servitude, and to maintain them against the violence and stratagems of the demons that hold the reins of empire in this sublunary world. He baptized his disciples in his own name; and promised them after this baptism a more easy victory over the evil spirits, and that after this life they should become partakers of the resurrection of the dead and of immortality.* in speaking of the Father, Son, and holy Ghost. The Mennonites meet privately, and every one in the assembly has the liberty to speak, to expound the scriptures, to pray, and sing. They assemble twice every year from all parts of Holland, at Rynsbourg, a village about two leagues from Leyden, at which time they receive the communion, sitting at a table, where the first distributes to the rest. All denominations are admitted, even the Roman Catholics, if they please to come. The ancient Mennonites professed a contempt of crudition and science; and excluded all from their communion who deviated in the least from the most rigorous rules of simplicity and gravity, in their looks, their gesturcs, their clothing, or their table. But this primitive austerity is greatly diminished in the most considerable denomiuations of the Mennonites. Those who adhere to their ancient discipline are called Flemings, or Flandrians. MENNONITÉS, a society of Baptists in Holland; so called from Mennon Simonis, of Friesland, who lived in the sixteenth century. It is a universal maxim of this denomination that practical piety is the essence of religion, and that the surest mark of the true church is the sanctity of its members. They all unite in pleading for toleration in religion; and debar none from their assemblies who lead pious lives, and own the scriptures for the word of God. They teach that infants are not the proper subjects of baptism; that ministers of the gospel ought to receive no salary; and that it is not law-sylvania do not baptize by ful to swear or wage war upon immersion, though they adany occasion. They also main- minister the ordinance to none tain, that the terms person but adult persons. Their comand trinity are not to be used mon method is this: The per The Mennonites in Penn * Mosheim, vol. i. p. 116. Formey's Eccles. Hist, vol. i. p. 21. son to be baptized kneels; the minister holds his hands over him, into which the deacon pours water, and through which it runs on the crown of the kneeling person's head; after which follow imposition of hands and prayer.* MEN OF UNDERSTANDING. This title distinguished a denomination which appeared in Flanders and Brussels in the year 1511. They owed their origin to an illiterate man, whose name was Egidius Cantor, and to William of Hildenison, a Carmelite monk. They pretended to be honoured with celestial visions; denied that any could arrive at perfect knowledge of the holy scriptures, without the extraordinary succours of a divine illumination; and declared the approach of a new revelation from heaven, more perfect than the gospel of Christ. They said that the resurrection was accomplished in the person of Jesus, and no other was to be expected; that the inward man was not defiled by the outward actions, whatever they were; that the pains of hell were to have an end; and not only all mankind, but even the devils themselves, were to return to God, and be made partakers of eternal felicity. They also taught, among other things, that Christ alone had merited eternal life and felicity for the human race; and that therefore men could not acquire this inestimable privilege by their own actions alone that the priests, to whom the people confessed their transgressions, had not the power of absolving them; but this authority was vested in Christ alone--that voluntary penance and mortification was not necessary to salvation. This denomination appear to have been a branch of the Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit.+ METHODISTS, a name given in the seventeenth century to a new species of polemic doctors, who distinguished themselves by their zeal and dexterity in defending the Roman Catholic church against the attacks of the Protestants. METHODISTS, FROTESTANT. [This denomination was founded in the year 1729, by a Mr. Morgan, and Messrs. Charles and John Wesley. In the month of November, that year, the latter, being then fellow of Lincoln College, Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. iv. pp. 151–162. Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, vol. iii. p. 2037. Edwards's History of the American Baptists, vol. i, p. 94. † Mosheim, vol. iii. p, 276. Ibid, vol. iv. p. 307, CC |