188 M E S 
to the court, and Meflenius an aflefl'or in the Swedilh 
court of juftice at Stockholm. Being accufed of holding 
a private correfpondence with Sigifmund III. king of 
Poland, he was arrefted in 1616, with his wife and chil¬ 
dren, and condemned to perpetual imprifonment in the 
cafrle of Cajaneborg, in Finland, where he remained till 
the year 1635. He employed his time in prifon'in the 
compofition of a very extenfive hiftory of the whole 
North, under the title of “ Scandia illuftrata, five Chrono- 
logia de rebus Scanicis, hoc eft Svecia:, Danias, Norvegiae, 
Illandiae, et Gronlandiae, a mundi cataclyfmo, ad annum 
Chrilti 1612,” See. which was publilhed by John Pe- 
ringlkiold, with annotations, at Stockholm, between 
the years 1700 and 1705, in 15 vols. folio. He was at 
length releafed, and died at Uloea in 1637. Meflenius 
had an inveterate enemy in Eric Joranfen Tegel, who 
delineated his character in the biackeft colours ; but, 
notwithftanding all the accufations brought againft him, 
he muft be allowed the merit of having, by his numerous 
writings, thrown great light on the hiftory of Sweden. 
In regard to the times of paganifm, he has followed, in¬ 
deed, with too much credulity, John Magnus; but in the 
more modern part of the hiftory he is entitled to every 
degree of credit. The moft important of his other works 
are, 2. Genealogia Sigifmundi et Caroli regum, 1610. 
.3 . Dele&io fraudis Jefuiticas contra Carol urn IX. 1610. 
4.. Chronicon Epifcoporum per Sveciam Gothiam et 
Finlandiam, 1611. 5. Tumbas five Infcriptiones fepul- 
crales extantes in Svecia, i6ii. 6. Theatrum Nobilitatis 
Svecanre, 1616. 7. Hiftoria Rerum in Svecia fub Erico 
XIV. geftarum. Gezelii Biographi/ka Lexicon. Gen. Biog. 
MESS'ERAG, a town of the duchy of Courland : 
thirty-eight miles eaft of Goldingen. 
MESS'EROF, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 
Braclaw : forty miles north-weft of Braclaw. 
MESS'ERSBURGH, a poft town of Franklin-county, 
Pennfylvania: fixteen miles fouth-weft of Chamberlburgh, 
and 160 fouth-weft from Philadelphia. 
MESSERSCHMID'IA, f. [fo named from Linnaeus, in 
honour of Daniel Theophilus Meflerchmid, a German 
botanift who was fent out by the Ruflian government to 
explore the natural hiftory of Siberia, prior to the expe¬ 
dition under Pallas. He was born in the year 1685, and 
died about the age of thirty. His refearches were never 
publiftied; and lie is only known as an author by an 
account of the Cameius Baftrianus, publilhed in the 
fourteenth volume of the Tran faff ion's of the Peterfburg 
Academy.] In botany, a genus of the clafs pentandrja, 
order monogynia, natural order of alperifolhe, (borra- 
ginere, Jaff.) Generic characters—Calyx; perianthium 
one-leafed, five-parted; fegments fublinear; ereCt, per¬ 
manent. Corolla : one-petalled, funnel-form ; tube cy- 
lindric, rude, longer than the calyx, globular pt the 
bafe ; border five-cleft, plaited, membranaceous at the 
fides ; throat naked. Stamina: filaments five, minute, 
in the lower part of the tube 5 antheras awl-ftiaped, up¬ 
right, within the middle of the tube. Piftillum : germ 
fubo.vate; ftyle cylindric, very fliort, permanent; ltigma 
capitate, ovate. Pericarpium : berry dry, fuberous, cy- 
lindric-rounded with a retule umbilicus, iurrounded with 
four blunt teeth, bipartite. Seeds: two within each 
part of the pericarp, oblong, bony, incurved, outwardly 
rounded,inwardly angular.— Ejjhitia! Charailer. Corolla : 
funnel-form with a naked throat; berry fuberous, bipar- 
tile, each two-feeded. There are three fpecies. 
1. Mefl'erlchmidja fruticofa: ftem flirubby, leaves pe- 
tioled, corollas falver-fliaped. This .is a tall, rugged, 
rough-haired, branching ftirub, with the branches pa- 
nicled at the top. Leaves alternate, on long petioles, 
lanceolate, entire, veined. Spikes compound, directed 
one way, dichotomous, at the ends of the twigs on the 
top of the ftem. Calyx very Ihort; corolla fmall, glo¬ 
bular, inflated towards the border, which is fmall and 
flat. Berry deprefted, rounded, Iurrounded.by four teeth 
..prominent in a circle, longitudinally twp-parted. It 
M E S 
has the corolla of Tournefortia with the fruit of Mef- 
ferfehmidia. It differs from the next fpecies, which it 
otherwife much refembles, in its flirubby ftem, petioled 
leaves, fliorter calyx, and fmaller falver-fliaped corollas 
with a flat border. Native of the Canary iflands, where 
it was found by Mafl'on. Introduced in 1799 at Keiv, 
where it flowers from June to OCtober. 
2. Meflerfchmidia arguzia: ftem herbaceous, leaves 
feflile, corollas funnel-lhaped. Root creeping. Stem 
upright, a ipan high. Branches and leaves alternate, 
veined, tomentofe, hoary. Corymbs or bunches of flow¬ 
ers often two; corolla white, larger than in the preceding, 
with the throat naked and pervious, the border plaited, 
and the fides membranaceous. Berry juicelefs, globulaj;, 
umbilicate, obfeurely ftriated, brown-afh-coloured, hav¬ 
ing twoftonesin it, bipartite: feeds four, oblong, flight!/ 
attenuated upwards, fo obfcureLy angular as to be in a. 
manner round. Native of Siberia. Introduced in 1780, 
by Peter Simon Pallas, M. D. 
3. Meflerfchmidia cancellata: leaves feflile, linear, 
obtufe, hifpid ; capfules reticulated. Adopted on the 
authority of Wildenow. Sterna foot high, hairy, branched. 
Flowers on ftalks, in clufters, of.a blue colour. A native 
of Spain. 
MESS'EY, a town of France, in the department of the 
Orne : feven miles north of Domfront. 
MESS'I, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in Natolia, built 
on the fite of Halicai-riaJJus, a city of Alia Minor, and 
capital of Caria, poflefled by the Dorians. It was famous 
for a tomb built by Artemifia in honour of her hulband 
Maufolus, which the ancients confidered as one of the 
wonders of the world. This queen having aflifted the 
Perfians in their war againft the Greeks, the city was 
befieged by Alexander the Great, taken, and demolilhed. 
It is now a fmall place : fifty miles fouth-weft of Mogla. 
Lat. 37.46. N. Ion. 27. 22. E. 
MESSI'AH,/ [from the Hebrew.] The Anointed ; the 
Chrift; the Saviour of the World; the Prince of Peace.— 
Great and public oppofition the magiftrates made againft 
Jefus, the man of Nazareth, when he appeared as the 
MelJiah. Watts. 
Messiah has the fame fignification in Hebrew that 
Christ has in Greek; namely Anointed; and the name 
Messiah, Anointed, or Chrift, w-as given to the kings and 
bigh priefts of the Jews: the patriarchs and prophets 
are alfo called by the name of Meft'iahs, or the Lord's 
Anointed. See 1 Sam.xii. 3,5. 1 Chron.xvi. 22. Pf. cv. 15. 
But this name Messiah was principally, and by way of 
eminence, given by the Jews to their expedted great De¬ 
liverer, whole coming they ftill vainly expedl; and is a 
name the Chriftians apply to Jesus Christ, in whom 
the prophecies relating to the Mefliah were accom- 
plilhed. The fum of thele prophecies is, That there 
lhould be a glorious perfon named Mefliah, defeended 
from Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, who lhould be born at 
Bethlehem, of a virgin of the family of David, then in 
its decline, before the Jews ceafed to be a people, while 
the fecond temple was Handing, and about five hundred 
years after Ezra’s time ; who, though appearing in mean 
circumftances, lhould be introduced by a remarkable 
forerunner, whofe bufinefs it fhould be to awaken the 
attention and expedition of the people. That this Mef- 
fiah lhould himfelf be eminent for the piety, wifdom, 
and benevolence, of his character, and the miraculous 
works he lhould perform : yet that, notwithftanding all 
this, he lhould be rejedled and put to death by the Jews ; 
but lhould afterwards be raifed from the dead, and ex¬ 
alted to a glorious throne, on which he lhould through 
all generations continue to rule, at the fame time making- 
interceflion for finners. That great calamities lhould for 
the prelent be brought on the Jews for rejecting him ; 
whereas the kingdom of God lhould by his means be 
erefted among the Gentiles, and difperfe itfelf even unto 
the ends .of the earth ; wherever it came, deftroyiog 
idolatry, and eftablilhing true religion and righteoulnefs. 
Ja 
