Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 13, MAT-MIC

Meffenia
MelTiah.
M E .s [ 54+ ]
£»ut he, corrupted by the Lacedaemonians, royal un£lion.
Meffenia
_ perluaded them that it was too'late j that the Meffe-
nians were all cut off; and that fuch a ftep would only
expofe them to the fury of the conquerors. When
the thing appeared to be otherwife, and it was known
that Ariftomenes was on the frontiers of Arcadia,
they went hi crowds to carry him provifions, and to
teility their readmels to afford him and thofc under
his command all the afiiftance in their power. Ari¬
ftomenes defired to be heard before a general affembly j
which being accordingly convoked, he there opened
one of the boldeft and belt laid fchemes recorded in
hiftory : he faid, that he had yet 500 undaunted
foldiers, who, at his command, would undertake any
thing 5 that it was very probable moft of the Spar¬
tans were employed in pillaging Era, and that there¬
fore he determined to march and furprife Sparta 5
which appeared fo fenfible, that all, the affembly loud¬
ly commended his great capacity and unfhaken cour¬
age. Ariftocrates, however, took care to betrav
him ; having, by various pretences, retarded the exe¬
cution of the projedt. The Arcadians, who began to
fufpedl him, waited for and furprifed the meffengers
as they came back. They took the letters from them,
and read them openly in the affembly. The purport
of them was, that they acknowledged his great kind-
nefs both now and in the battle 5 and promifed, that
the Lacedaemonians would be grateful. As foon as
the. letters were read, the Arcadians fell to Honing
their king, frequently calling upon the Meffenians to
affift them •, "which, however, they did not, waiting
for Ariftomenes’s order ; who, far from triumphing
in this fpe&acle, flood ftill, with his eyes fixed on
the ground, which he wet with his tears, his foul
pierced with forrow to fee a crowned head fo fhame-
fully and fo defervedly put to death. The Arcadians
afterwards eretted a monument over him, with an in-
feription to perpetuate his infamy. As for the Mef¬
fenians under the command of Gorgus and Manticlus,
they paffed over into Sicily 5 where they founded the
city of Meffene, one of the moft famous in the ifland.
Ariftomenes remained, however, in Greece ; where
he married all his daughters, except the youngeft, to
perfons of great rank. A prince of Rhodes, inquiring
of the oracle at Delphi whom he fliould efpoufe, that
his fubjedts might be happy under his pofterity, -was
diredted to marry the daughter of the moft worthy of
the Greeks 5 which anfwer was immediately under-
ftood to point at the virgin daughter of Ariftomenes.
Her therefore he demanded, and received ; Ariftome¬
nes accompanying him back to his dominions, where
lie formed a fcheme of uniting the Lydians and Medes
againft the Spartans, refolving with this view to go
into Media, and to the court of Sardis 5 but while he
meditated thefe great things, death furprifed him, and
thereby freed Lacedaemon from the moft formidable
enemy flic ever had.
MESSIAH, a word fignifying one anointed, or in-
ftalled into an office by undlion. It was ufual among
the Jews to anoint kings, high priefts, and fometimes
prophets, at the defignation or inftallment of them,
to fignify emblematically the mental qualifications ne-
ceffary for difeharging thefe offices. Saul, David,
Solomon, and Joafti, kings of Judah, received the
M E S
Aaron and his fons received the facer-
dotal, and Elitha the difciple of Elijah received the '
prophetic undlion.—The name Messiah, Anointed
or. C/inj? (Xg<c«0, was given to the kings and high
priefts of the Jews. The patriarchs and prophets
are alfo called by the name of MeJJiahs, 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 expedf-
ed. great deliverer, whofe coming they ftill vainly
v ait ; and is a name the Chriftians apply to Jesvs
Chrijl, in whom the prophecies relating to the Mef-
ffall.were accompliflied. The fum of thefe prophecies
is, I hat there fliould be a glorious perfon named
MeJJiah, defeended from Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob,
who fliould be born at Bethlehem, of a virgin of the
family of David, then in its decline, before the Jews
ceafcd to be a people, ivliile the fecond temple was
Handing, and about 500 years after Ezra’s time ;
who, though appearing in mean circumftances, fliould
be introduced by a remarkable forerunner, whofe bu-
finefs it fliould be to awaken the attention and ex¬
pectation of the people. That this illuftrious perfon
called MeJJiah fliould himfelf be eminent for the piety,
wifdom, and benevolence of his charadter, and the
miraculous works he fliould perform : yet that, not-
withftanding all this, he fliould be rejedted and put to
death by the Jews 5 but fliould afterwards be raifed
irom the dead, and exalted to a glorious throne, on
which he ihould through all generations continue to
rule, at the fame time making interccflion for finners.
That great calamities fliould for the prefent be brought
on the Jews for rejedling him 5 whereas the kingdom
of God fliould by his means be eredled among the
Gentiles, and difperfe itfelf even unto the ends of the
earth ; wherever it came, deftroying idolatry, and
eftablifiling true religion and righteoufnefs. In a
word, That this glorious perfon fliould be regarded
by all who believed in him as a divine teacher, an
atoning facnfice, and a royal governor ? by means of
whom God would make a covenant with his people,
very different from that made with Ifrael of old ; in
confequence. of which they fliould be reftored to, and
eftabliflied in, the divine favour, and fixed in a ftate
of perpetual happinefs. See Jesus Chriji, and Chris¬
tianity.
I.he Jews, as was already obferved, ftill wait for the*
coming of the MeJJiah, being impreffed with the no¬
tion of a temporal MeJJiah, who is to be a mighty
conqueror, and to fubdue all the world. Moft of the
modern rabbins, according to Buxtorf, believe that
the MeJJiah is already come, but that he keeps him¬
felf concealed, and will not manifeft himfelf becaufe of
the fins of the Jew’s. Some of the Jews, how'ever, in
order to reconcile thofe prophecies that feem to con-
tradidl each other as to the charadler and condition of
the MeJJiah, have had recourfe to the hypothefis of
two MeJJiahs, who are yet to fucceed each other 5 one
in a ftate of humiliation and fuffering •, the ether of
glory, fplendor, and power. The firft, they fay, is
to proceed from the tribe of Ephraim, who is to
fight againft Gog, and to be flain by Annillus, Zech.
xii. 10. The fecond is to be of the tribe of Judah,
and
Mefliab,