METHODISTS METZ. 



793 



constitution, which was modelled on the plan of the 

 Moravian Brothers, but divided into two distinct 

 parties, the Wesleyans, or Anninians, and the White- 

 fieldians, or Calvinists. Their liturgy was that of 

 the established church, with some alterations. It 

 appears, from the Sunday service of the Methodists 

 of 1826, that the offices for the ordination of priests 

 and deacons, and for the consecration of bishops, are 

 altered into forms for the ordination of deacons, 

 elders, and superintendents; the thirty-nine articles 

 are, by omissions, reduced to twenty-five ; theNicene 

 and Athanasian creeds are rejected, the apostles' 

 creed only being retained ; and the apocryphal 

 books of the Old Testament are rejected. In 1797, the 

 New Connexion, as it is called, arose out of a separa- 

 tion from the Wesleyan establishment, on grounds 

 of church discipline and government, and not of 

 doctrine. Alexander Kilham was their head and 

 founder. The steps by which the Wesleyan Metho- 

 dists became a distinct religious body might have 

 been anticipated. The societies collected in London 

 and other places were divided into little companies 

 of from ten to twenty persons, called classes, and 

 given in charge to a leader. The leader presided in 

 a weekly meeting of his class for spiritual conversation 

 and prayer, and received their contributions. Gen- 

 eral meetings of the society were called body bands ; 

 and, as the persons who were employed to preach 

 to them soon became regular preachers, the country 

 was divided into circuits, consisting of the societies 

 of a certain district. These circuits were under two 

 or more preachers, one of whom was at the head of the 

 circuit, with the name of superintendent. The con- 

 ference consists of a certain number of the preachers, 

 who meet annually to discuss the affairs of the con- 

 nexion. The distinctive character of Methodism is 

 to be sought for, not so much in its doctrines as in 

 the application of them, which it endeavours to make 

 for the purpose of producing strong excitement ; and 

 those whom it has awakened to a sense of their sins, 

 it subjects to a course of discipline intended to unite 

 them closely with the connexion. The fruits of 

 Whitfield's preaching were, perhaps, not less than 

 those of Wesley's, his followers being about as nu- 

 merous in England as those of the great patriarch of 

 Methodism. The rise of Methodism, though it can- 

 not be denied to have been attended with some 

 irregularities and extravagances, was a revival of 

 religion in England. Since the reformation there had 

 been no such efforts made in the cause of religion ; 

 no preaching so awakening, so little sectarian ; no 

 preachers with more zeal, singleness of purpose, and 

 power of exhortation. It awoke the slumbering 

 church from its lukewarmness, and dissenters to more 

 bold and united efforts of Christian zeal. It addressed 

 the ignorant, the poor, the hardened, in such a man- 

 ner as to interest their feelings and command their at- 

 tention. It has done, and is doing, much to instruct as 

 well as to excite them. It made its way at first through 

 persecution and outrage, and, after spreading over 

 its native country, it has established missions in the 

 most distant parts of the old and new world, among 

 the slaves of the West Indies and the savages of the 

 South sea. See Southey's and Moore's Life of Wes- 

 ley ', Crowther's Portraiture of Methodism ; Gillie's 

 Life of fVhitfield ; the works of Wesley and Whit- 

 field. 



At an early period of the history of the connexion, 

 the attention of Mr Wesley was directed to the Brit- 

 ish colonies of North America. In the Southern and 

 Middle States, where sufficient provision had not been 

 made to supply the spiritual wants of an increasing 

 population, Methodism was particularly calculated to 

 be eminently useful. It was introduced into those 

 parts by preachers ordained by Wesley, and has 



spread extensively. Some difference in discipline and 

 government was introduced into the American con- 

 nexion, among which that of the Episcopal govern- 

 ment was the principal. The first Methodist society 

 was established at New York, in 1 766, by preachers 

 Tom Ireland, and after the revolution, the first bishop 

 was consecrated. There are, however, some modi- 

 fications in the church discipline of the Methodists 

 in different parts of the Union. 



METIS (Greek, puns, wisdom); the mother of 

 Minerva, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, the wis- 

 est of gods and men. (See Jupiter and Minerva.) 

 Ritter thinks that the name of the Palus Moeotis is 

 derived from her, and places her sanctuary at the 

 mouth of the Borysthenes, where she was worship- 

 ped as the great mother. 



METO or METON, was a celebrated mathema- 

 tician of Athens, who flourished 432 years B. C. 

 In the first year of the eighty-seventh Olympiad, he 

 observed the solstice at Athens, and published his 

 cycle of nineteen years, by which he endeavoured to 

 adjust the course of the sun and moon, and to make 

 the lunar and solar years begin at the same point of 

 time. This is called the golden number, from its 

 great use in the calendar. Melon was living about 

 412 B. C., for, when the Athenian fleet was sent to 

 Sicily, he escaped a share in that disastrous expedi- 

 tion by counterfeiting insanity. 



METONYMY ; a figure in rhetoric, by which the 

 name of an idea or thing is substituted for that of 

 another, to which it has a certain relation. Such 

 relations are substance and quality, cause and effect, 

 precedence and subsequence, &c. ; thus if we say, the 

 tears of "joy," instead of the "joyous person," or 

 respect for " gray hair," instead of " old age," or 

 " olive-branch" for " peace," " stage" for the whole 

 establishment connected with theatrical perform- 

 ances, &c. It is one of the most common figures in 

 rhetoric. 



METOPE (pira, between, and eVi, a hole), in 

 architecture; the interval or square space between the 

 triglyphs, in the Doric frieze. The ancients were in 

 the habit of ornamenting these parts of their build- 

 ings with carved works, or with paintings represent- 

 ing the heads of oxen, vessels, and other articles 

 used in heathen sacrifices. The difficulty of disposing 

 the triglyphs and metopes in symmetrical proportion 

 may have been the cause of their omission in the Ionic 

 and Corinthian orders. 



METOPOSCOPY (from the Greek pi, the 

 forehead, and <rxciritv, I observe); the pretended art of 

 divining from the wrinkles of the forehead. The 

 Romans, believing in every kind of divination, prac- 

 tised this, but not so much as the people of the mid- 

 dle ages. It seems singular that metoposcopy never 

 was so much in vogue as chiromancy iq. v.), though 

 there might be some possibility of* divining, in part, 

 the character of a man from his forehead and its 

 wrinkles, while the lines in the hand have no connex- 

 ion with it. 



METRE ; the French unit of measure. See 

 France, division Decimal System. 



METRE, in versification. See Prosody and 

 Rhythm. 



METROPOLITAN is the Greek name of an arch- 

 bishop. The chief place of a province is called, in 

 Greek, metropolis, and, as the bishops of the chief 

 places, or capitals, were distinguished by superior 

 rank (see Bishop), they also received a distinguished 

 title. The metropolitan is above the bishop, but be- 

 low the patriarch. The title of patriarch, however, 

 is in use only in the Eastern churches. Metropolitan 

 church is the archiepiscopal church. 



METZ (anciently Divodurum ; later, Mediomatrici, 

 and Meltee); a strongly fortified city, in the western 



