from different parts of the country, who either take the whole duty, or assist the resident minister. Some of the congregations consist of several thousand hearers; and, by the blessing of God on the rousing and faithful sermons which are usually delivered to them, very extensive good is effected in the way of conversion. Most of the ministers now employed as supplies in this connexion, are of the Congregational order, to which of late years, there appears to be a gradual approximation; and it is not improbable that ere long both bodies will coalesce.

2. Lady Huntingdon's Connexion. For an account of the origin of this section of Calvinistic Methodists, see the article HUNTINGDON, COUNTESS OF.The number of chapels belonging to this body, at the present time, is about sixty, in all of which the liturgy of the Church of England is read, and most of her forms scrupulously kept up. The ministers, who used formerly to supply at different chapels in the course of the year, are now become more stationary, and have assumed more of the pastoral character. They have a respectable college at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire.

3. The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists.This body, which is now very numerous, takes its date from the year 1735, much about the time that Methodism began in England; and is to be traced to the zealous labours of Howel Harris, Esq. of Trevecca, in Brecknockshire, who had intended to take orders in the Church of England, but was so shocked at the impiety which he witnessed among the students at Oxford, that he abandoned his purpose; and, returning to his native place, began to exert himself for the salvation of sinners, both in his own parish and in those which adjoined it. A great revival was the result; and it being found necessary to have private conversations with such as were under concern about their souls, beyond what Mr. Harris could attend to, he formed societies in which they could be carried on by experienced individuals appointed for the purpose. Notwithstanding the opposition that he met with, he was so successful in his exertions, that in the course of four years, not fewer than three hundred societies were formed in South Wales. It was not long before this zealous servant of Christ was joined by several ministers who left the established

church, who became itinerants, and diffused the knowledge of the Gospel very widely in the principality.

The first association was held about the year 1743, since which time associations have been held quarterly; and the connexion continued to receive fresh accessions, both from among the ministers and members of the establishment, till the year 1785, when it was joined by the Rev. Thomas Charles, A.B. of Bala, who, in addition to other zealous labours in the Gospel, set himself to organize the body, according to a more regular plan; so that to him its members now look as the principal instrument in reducing them to their present order.

Their constitution consists of the following combinations:-1. Private Societies.

These include such, and such only, as discover some concern about their souls, their need of Christ, a diligent attendance on the means of grace, freedom from doctrinal errors, and an unblameable walk and conversation, together with their children; and who meet once every week privately, under the superintendence of two or more leaders. These societies are subject, as it regards subordination and government, to-2. The Monthly Societies, the members of which are exclusively preachers, or leaders of private societies within the county, and such of the officers from neighbouring counties as may conveniently attend. These take cognizance of the state of all the private societies within their bounds, particularly that there be nothing, either in doctrine or discipline, contrary to the word of God, or dissonant from the rules of the connexion. 3. The Quarterly Societies, or Associations, which are convened once every quarter of a year, both in South and North Wales. At every such association the whole connexion is supposed to be present, through its representatives, the preachers and leaders; and accordingly the decisions of this meeting are deemed of authority on every subject relating to the body through all its branches.

The number of Calvinistic Methodists in Wales is very great, and is increasing from year to year. Their chapels more than treble the churches. In almost every village neat stone buildings, built expressly for places of dissenting worship, are to be met with, and most of these belong to this body; and had it

not been for their exertions and those of the Independents, &c., the inhabitants of most parts of the principality must have remained in the grossest state of ignorance; the Gospel being very seldom preached in the pulpits of the establishment.

They are high in their Calvinistic sentiments, taking the strictly commercial view of the atonement of Christ, and regarding the work of redemption as possessing no aspect or bearing but what regards the elect. See History of Methodism; Gillies's Life of Whitfield, and Works; Coke's Life of Wesley; Macgowan's Shaver; Wesley's Works; Benson's Vindication and Apology for the Methodists; Fletcher's Works; Bogue and Bennett's History of the Dissenters, vol. iii.; Walker's Address to the Methodists; The History, Constitution, Rules of Discipline, and Confession of Faith of the Calvinistic Methodists in Wales.

METROPOLITAN, a bishop of a mother-church, or of the chief church in the chief city. See articles BISHOP, EPISCOPACY.

MICHAELIS, JOHN HENRY, a learned divine and oriental scholar, was born at Kettenberg, in Germany, in 1668. He studied at the University of Leipsic, and afterwards at Halle, where he became professor of Greek literature in 1699. He subsequently obtained the office of librarian to the university, and at length was appointed to the chair of divinity and the oriental languages. In 1720 he published, at Halle, a valuable edition of the Hebrew Bible, with various readings from manuscripts and printed editions, and the masoretic commentary and annotations of the Rabbins. A kind of appendix to this work at the same time appeared under the title of "Annotationes Philologico-Exegetica in Hagiographiis," Halle, 1720, in three vols. 4to. He was also the author of a Hebrew Grammar, and other works. He died in 1738.

MICHAELIS, SIR JOHN DAVID, son of Christian Benedict, and nephew of John Henry Michaelis, was born at Halle in 1717. He was educated at the university of his native place, and devoted himself to the clerical profession. Having visited England, he became acquainted with Bishop Lowth, and other learned men, and for a while officiated as minister at the German Chapel, St. James's Pa

lace. Returning to Germany, he was made professor of theology and oriental literature at the University of Gottingen, of which he was also librarian. He was appointed director of the Royal Society of Gottingen; and by his writings and lectures he contributed greatly to the celebrity of that university as a school of theological literature. The Order of the Polar Star was conferred upon Professor Michaelis in 1775, by the king of Sweden; and in 1786 he was made an aulic counsellor of Hanover. He died in 1791, at the age of seventy-five. His works are very numerous, amounting to about fifty different publications, mostly relating to Scripture criticism, and the oriental languages and literature. Among the most valued are his "Introduction to the New Testament," which has been translated into English by Bishop Marsh; his "Commentaries on the Law of Moses," of which there is an English version by Dr. Smith, a clergyman of the Church of Scotland; his "Spicilegium Geographia Hebræorum ;' his Supplementa ad Lexica Hebraica; his 66 Biblical and Oriental Library;" and his "Translation of the Bible, with Notes, for the Unlearned."

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The adherence of Michaelis to the established system of Lutheranism, and his outward respect for the Christian religion, have principally been attributed to the impressions made upon his mind by the intercourse of the Pietists, and especially by the education which he received from his excellent father. Too light-minded, as he himself acknowledges, to adopt their tone of pious feeling, he nevertheless retained a certain conviction of the truth of Christianity; endeavoured, by new and singularly ingenious theories, to remove objections to it; and, much to the surprise of his younger contemporaries, whose rationalistic views were ripening apace, he held, to the last, many parts of the older system, which they had either modified or thrown aside. The melancholy consequences, however, of this merely natural persuasion, are abundantly manifest. Destitute of that conviction which can alone give a comprehensive insight into the real character of revelation, and the harmonious relation of its several parts, he had no guide to enable him to perceive what might be safely admitted without detriment to the system itself; he consequently, according to the usual

custom of persons taking only a partial view of subjects, frequently opposed the objection, instead of the principle on which the objection was founded; endeavoured to remove it by theories in conformity with mere human systems, and strengthened it equally by his con'cessions and by his own inadequate and arbitrary defences. Possessed of no settled principles, every minute difficulty presented itself with intrinsic force and perplexity to his mind; his belief was a reed ready to be shaken by every fresh breeze; all that he had previously gained seemed again staked on the issue of each petty skirmish; and, in the very descriptive comparison of Lessing, he was like the timid soldier who loses his life before an outpost, without once seeing the country of which he would gain possession. The theological opinions of this celebrated man are never to be trusted; and, indeed, the serious student cannot but be disgusted with the levity which too frequently appears in his writings, and the gross obscenity which occasionally defiles them (as it did much more offensively his oral lectures); the result of his intemperate habits and low moral character.

MILITANT, from militans, fighting; a term applied to the Church on earth, as engaged in a warfare with the world, sin, and the devil; in distinction from the church triumphant in heaven.

MILLENARIANS, OR CHILIASTS, a name given to those who believe that the saints will reign on earth with Christ a thousand years. See next article.

MILLENNIUM, "a thousand years;" generally employed to denote the thousand years during which, according to an ancient tradition in the church, grounded on some doubtful texts in the Apocalypse and other Scriptures, our blessed Saviour shall reign with the faithful upon earth after the first resurrection, before the final completion of beatitude.

Though there has been no age of the church in which such views of the millennium were not admitted by individual divines, it is yet evident, from the writings of Eusebius, Irenæus, Origen, and others, among the ancients, as well as from the histories of Dupin, Mosheim, and all the moderns, that they were never adopted by the whole church, or made an article of the established creed in any nation.

About the middle of the fourth cen

tury, the millenarians held the following tenets:

1. That the city of Jerusalem should be rebuilt, and that the land of Judea should be the habitation of those who were to reign on the earth a thousand years.

2. That the first resurrection was not to be confined to the martyrs, but that, after the fall of Antichrist, all the just were to rise, and all that were on the earth were to continue for that space of time.

3. That Christ shall then come down from heaven, and be seen on earth, and reign there with his servants.

4. That the saints, during this period, shall enjoy all the delights of a terrestrial paradise.

These opinions were derived from several passages in Scripture, which the millenarians, among the fathers, understood in no other than a literal sense; but which the moderns, who hold that opinion, consider as partly literal and partly metaphorical. Of these passages, that upon which the greatest stress has been laid, we believe to be the following:

"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand; and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and, after that, he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, nor in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." Rev. xx. 1—6. This passage all the ancient millenarians took in a sense grossly literal, and taught that, during the millennium, the saints on earth were to enjoy every bodily delight. The moderns, on the other hand, consider the power and pleasures of this kingdom as wholly spiritual; and they represent them as not to commence till after the conflagration of the present

earth. But that this last supposition is a mistake, the very next verse but one assures us; for we are there told, that, "when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth;" and we have no reason to believe that he will have such power or such liberty in "the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous

ness."

These views have recently been revived in this country by Mr. Irving, and a party who arrogate to themselves the exclusive epithet of "The Students of Prophecy and partly in consequence of the wild and fanatical manner in which they have been propounded,partly owing to the absurd notions and practices, such as the gift of tongues, the working of miracles, &c., which have been connected with them, have produced a considerable impression, principally on clergymen and laymen of the Church of England. The few Dissenters that have been led away by them, are such as originally attended Mr. Irving's ministry.

We may observe the following things respecting the millennium:-). That the Scriptures afford us ground to believe that the church will arrive to a state of prosperity which it never has yet enjoyed, Rev. xx. 4, 7; Ps. lxxii, 11; Is. ii. 2, 4; xi. 9; xlix. 23; lx.; Dan. vii. 27.-2. That this will continue at least a thousand years, or a considerable space of time, in which the work of salvation may be fully accomplished in the utmost extent and glory of it. In this time, in which the world will soon be filled with real Christians, and continue full by constant propagation to supply the place of those who leave the world, there will be many thousands born and live on the earth, to each one that has been born and lived in the preceding six thousand years; so that, if they who shall be born in that thousand years shall be all, or most of them saved (as they will be), there will, on the whole, be many thousands of mankind saved to one that shall be lost.-3. This will be a state of great happiness and glory. The Jews shall be converted, genuine Christianity be diffused through all nations, and Christ shall reign, by his spiritual presence, in a glorious manner. It will be a time of eminent holiness, clear light and knowledge, love, peace,

and friendship, agreement in doctrine and worship. Human life, perhaps, will rarely be endangered by the poisons of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. Beasts of prey, perhaps, will be extirpated or tamed by the power of man. The inhabitants of every place will rest secure from fear of robbery and murder. War shall be entirely ended. Capital crimes and punishments be heard of no more. Governments placed on fair, just, and humane foundations. The torch of civil discord will be extinguished. Perhaps Pagans, Turks, Deists, and Jews, will be as few in number as Christians are now. Kings, nobles, magistrates, and rulers in churches, shall act with principle, and be forward to promote the best interests of men: tyranny, oppres sion, persecution, bigotry, and cruelty, shall cease. Business will be attended to without contention, dishonesty, and covetousness. Trades and manufactures will be carried on with a design to promote the general good of mankind, and not with selfish interests, as now. Merchandise between distant countries will be conducted without fear of an enemy; and works of ornament and beauty, perhaps, shall not be wanting in those days. Learning, which has always flourished in proportion as religion has spread, shall then greatly increase, and be employed for the best of purposes. Astronomy, geography, natural history, metaphysics, and all the useful sciences, will be better understood, and consecrated to the service of God; and by the improvements which have been made, and are making, in ship-building, navigation, electricity, medicine, &c., "the tempest will lose half its force, the lightning lose half its terrors," and the human frame not be nearly so much exposed to danger. Above all, the Bible will be more highly appreciated, its harmony perceived, its superiority owned, and its energy felt by millions of human beings. In fact, the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.-4. The time when the millennium will commence cannot be fully ascertained; but the common idea is, that it will be in the seven thousandth year of the world. It will, most probably, come on by degrees, and be in a manner introduced years before that time. And who knows but the present convulsions among different nations, the overthrow which popery has had in places where it has been so dominant for

hundreds of years, the fulfilment of prophecy respecting infidels, and the falling away of many in the last times; and yet, in the midst of all, the number of missionaries sent into different parts of the world, together with the increase of gospel ministers; the thousands of ignorant children that have been taught to read the Bible, and the vast number of different societies that have been lately instituted for the benevolent purpose of informing the minds and impressing the hearts of the ignorant; who knows but that these things are the forerunners of events of the most delightful nature, and which may usher in the happy morn of that bright and glorious day when the whole world shall be filled with his glory, and all the ends of the earth see the salvation of our God? See Hopkins on the Millennium; Whitby's Treatise on it, at the end of the second vol. of his Annotations on the New Testament; Robert Gray's Discourses, dis. 10.; Bishop Newton's Twenty-fifth Discourse on the Prophecies; Bellamy's Treatise on the Millennium. There are four admirable papers of Mr. Shrubsole's on the subject, in the 6th vol. of the Theol. Misc.; Lardner's Cred.; 4th, 5th, 7th, and 9th vol.; Mosheim's Eccl. History, cent. 3, p. 11, ch. 12; Taylor's Sermons on the Millennium; Illustrations of Prophecy, ch.31; Bogue on the Millennium; Wardlaw's Sermon on the Millennium.

MILLENARIANS, GERMAN, in Georgia, settlers consisting principally of emigrants from Wurtemberg, Baden, and the country of the Upper Rhine. They left Germany in the years 1816 and 1817, and went by way of the Danube and the Black Sea to Odessa, where they were joined by many other Germans, who had for many years been settled in the vicinity of that town, but now went with the new colonists to Georgia, for the sake of enjoying their society, and with a view to the spiritual advantage of themselves and their children. They expect the descent of Christ somewhere in those regions, where they believe they shall be provided with a town called Solyma, where they shall be defended against the last attacks of Antichrist.

MIND, a thinking, intelligent being; otherwise called spirit, or soul. See SOUL. Dr. Watts has given us some admirable thoughts as to the improvement of the mind. "There are five eminent means or methods," he observes, "whereby the mind is improved in the knowledge of

things; and these are, observation, reading, instruction by lectures, conversation, and meditation; which last, in a most peculiar manner, is called study. See Watts on the Mind; a book which no student should be without.

MINIMS, a religious order in the · Church of Rome, founded by St. Francis de Paula, towards the end of the fifteenth century. Their habit is a coarse black woollen stuff, with a woollen girdle of the same colour, tied in five knots. They are not permitted to quit their habit and girdle night nor day. Formerly they went barefooted, but are now allowed the use of shoes.

MINISTER, a name applied to those who are pastors of a congregation, or preachers of God's word. They are also called divines, and may be distinguished into polemic, or those who possess controversial talents; casuistic, or those who resolve cases of conscience; experimental, those who address themselves to the feelings, cases, and circumstances of their hearers and lastly, practical, those who insist upon the performance of all those duties which the word of God enjoins. An able minister will have something of all these united in him, though he may not excel in all; and it becomes every one who is a candidate for the ministry to get a clear idea of each, that he may not be deficient in the discharge of that work which is the most important that can be sustained by mortal beings. Many volumes have been written on this subject, but we must be content in this place to offer only a few remarks relative to it. In the first place, then, it must be observed, that ministers of the Gospel ought to be sound as to their principles. They must be men whose hearts are renovated by divine grace, and whose sentiments are derived from the sacred oracles of divine truth. A minister without principles will never do any good; and he who professes to believe in a system, should see to it that it accords with the word of God. His mind should clearly perceive the beauty, harmony, and utility of the doctrines, while his heart should be deeply impressed with a sense of their value and importance.-2. They should be mild and affable as to their dispositions and deportment.-A haughty, imperious spirit is a disgrace to the ministerial character, and generally brings contempt. They should learn to bear injuries with patience, and be ready to