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

M E
Methodifts. rents, even the wiJdeit
enthuiiarts among
under the general name of Methodijls, and fo bring
a fcandal upon thofe with whom they have no con¬
nexion.
At prefent, thofe who remain with Mr Wefley
are moilly Church of England men. They love her
articles, her homilies, her liturgy, her difeipline, and
unwillingly vary from it in any inftance. Mean time, all
who preach among them declare, we are all by nature
children ofwrath, but by grace we are faved through faith:
faved from both the guilt and from the power of fin.
They endeavour to live according to what they preach,
to be plain Bible Chrillians; and they meet toge¬
ther at convenient times, to encourage one another
therein They tenderly love many that are Calvinifts,
though they do not love their opinions. Yea, they
love the Antinomians themfelves j but it is with a love
of compaflion only, for they hate their doflrines with
a perfect hatred ; they abhor them as they do hell fire :
being convinced nothing can fo effe&ually deftroy all
faith, all holinefs, and all good works.
We fhall conclude this article with the words of Mr
Hampfon, which muft certainly be accounted juft, what¬
ever objections may be made to fome parts of the prin¬
ciples or behaviour of the Methodifts. “ If they pof-
fefs not much knowledge, which, however, we do not
know to be the cafe, it is at lead certain, they are not
deficient in zeal: and without any paflionate defire to
imitate their example, we may at leaft commend their
endeavours for the general good. Every good man
•will contemplate with pleafure the operation of the
fpirit of reformation, whether foreign or domeftic ;
and will rejoice in every attempt to propagate Chri-
ftianity in the barbarous parts of the world. An at¬
tempt which, if in any tolerable degree fuccefsful, will
do infinitely more for their civilization and happinefs,
than all the united energies of thofe boafted benefac¬
tors of mankind, the philofophic infidels.”
The minutes of the conference of the Methodifts
held at Leeds in Auguft, 1806, reprefent the numbers
of that fociety to be as follows :
In Great Britain, - - 110,803
In Ireland, - - 23>773
Gibraltar, - - 40
Nova Scotia, New Brunfwick, and Newfound¬
land, - - 1418
Weft Indies, whites 1775, coloured people
I3>l65> - " I4>94°
United States, whites qc,628, coloured people
24,316, - - H9,945
Total, 270,919
Methodists (Methodici), in the hiftory of medi¬
cine, a fed of ancient phyficians, who reduced the
whole art of healing to a few common principles or ap¬
pearances. The Methodifts were the followers of
Theffalus j whence they were alfo called Thejfalict.
They were ftrenuoufly oppofed by Galen in feveral of
his writings ; who fcrupled not to affert, that the me¬
thodical herefy ruined every thing that was good in the
art. According to Ouincy, the Methodifts (Methodici')
are thofe phyficians who adhere to the doflrine of
Galen, and the fchools ', and who cure with bleeding,
purges, &c, duly applied according to the fymptojus,
[ 743 ] M E T
them, go circumftances, &c. in oppofition to empirics and che- MethodiHs
mills, who ufe violent medicines, and pretended fecret*
or noftrums.
METHUSELAH, the fon of Enoch and father of
Lamech, was born in the year of the world 687, begat
Lamech in 874, and died in 1656, being the very year
of the deluge, at the age of 969, which is the greateft
age that has been attained to by any mortal man upon
earth (Gen. v. 21, 22, &c.). According to the text
of the feptuagint, Methufelah muft have lived 14 years
after the deluge ; and according to other copies, he
died fix years before it: but it is generally agreed on,
that thefe copies, as well as the feptuagint, are cor¬
rupted in this place.
METHYMNA, in Ancient Geography, a town ot
the ifland of Lelbos. It was the fecond city of the
ifland in greatnefs, population, and opulence. Its terri¬
tory was fruitful, and the wines it produced excellent.
It was the native place of Theophraftus, and of Arion
the mufician. When the whole ifland of Lelbos revolt¬
ed from the power of the Athenians, Methymna alon®
remained firm to its ancient allies.
METOECI, a name given by the Athenians tofuch
as had their fixed habitations in Attica, though fo¬
reigners by birth. The metccci were admitted by th«
council of Areopagus, and entered in the public re-
gifter. They differed both from the and
becaufe the politce or “ citizens” were freemen of A-
thens, and the xeni or “ ftrangers” had lodgings only
for a Ihort time ; whereas the metceci though not free¬
men of Athens, conftantly refided upon the fpot whi¬
ther they had removed.
METONYMY, in Rhetoric, is a trope in which on®
name is put for another, on account of the near relation
there is between them. See Oratory, N° 51.
METOPE, in ArchiteBure, is the interval or fquare
fpace between the triglyphs of the Doric frieze, which
among the ancients ufed to be painted or adorned with
carved work, reprefenting the heads of oxen or utenfils
ufed in facrifices.
METOPOSCOPY, the pretended art of knowing
a perfon’s difpofitions and manners by viewing the
traces and lines in the face. Giro Spontoni, who has
written exprefsly on metopofeopy, fays, that feven lines
are examined in the forehead, and that each line is
confidered as having its particular planet : the firft is
the line of Saturn, the fecond of Jupiter, the third of
Mars, &c. Metopofeopy is only a branch of phy-
fiognomy, which founds its conjeftures on all the parts
of the body.
METRE, ftsrgne, in Poetry, a fyftem of feet of a
juft length.
The different metres in poetry, are the different
manners of ordering and combining the quantities, or
the long and ftiort fyllables •, thus hexameter, pentame¬
ter, iambic, fapphic verfes, &c. confift of different me¬
tres or meafures. See Hexameter.
In Englilh verfes, the metres are extremely various
and arbitrary, e ■ ery poet being at liberty to introduce
any new form that he pleafes. The moft ufual are the
heroic, generally confifting of five long and five Ihort
fyllables, and verfes of four feet, and of three feet, and
a caefura or Angle fyllable.
The ancients, by varioufly combining and tranfpof-
ing their quantities, made a vaft variety of different
meafures,.
Metre.
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