or 3 P.M. In the Middle Ages the nightly celebrations were permitted on Christmas eve, on Easter eve, on St. John Baptist's, principally in France, and Saturdays in Ember weeks, when ordinations were held; and Easter and Pentecost on the hallowing of the candle. In 1483 archbishop Bourchier, from regard to his infirmity, received permission to celebrate in the afternoon. Belith says each day had its mass, commencing on Sunday; those of Holy Trinity, Charity, Wisdom, the Holy Ghost, Angels, Holy Cross, and St. Mary, and that at Rome. In the province of Ravenna the mass of Easter eve was not said until after midnight. He adds that the Greek Church excommunicated all who failed to partake of the Eucharist for three Sundays. See INVITATORY. Literature. The most noted writers on this subject are Bona, Gerbert, Gavanti, Binterim, Augusti. Besides these, see Bochart, Traité de sacrifice de la Messe; Derodon, Le Tombeau de la Messe; Du Moulin, Pratique des cérémonies de la Messe; Fechtius, De orig. et superstitione Missarum; Jaeger, Suppositio missæ sacrificio; Killian, Tract. de sacrificio missatico (Roman Cath.); Kösling, Lithurg. Vorles. ü. d. heil. Messe (2d ed.); Michaelis, Frohnleichnahm u. Messopfer; Gräser, Die rom.-Kathol. Lit. (Halle, 1829); Hirscher, Missa genuina notio (Tüb. 1821); Mornay, De doctrine de l'Eucharistie quand et par quels degrés la messe s'est introduite à sa place; Bauer, Prüfung der Gründe; Baur, Gegensatz des Katholicismus u. Protestantismus (Tub. 1836, 2d edit.); Baier, Symbolik der röm.-Kathol. Kirche (Leipsic, 1854); Anderson, The Mass (Lond. 1851, 12mo); Maguire, One Hundred Defects of the Mass; Meager, Popish Mass celebrated by Heathen Priests; Whitby, Absurdity and Idolatry of the Mass; Bible and Missal, ch. iv; Bossuet's Variations, vol. i; Siegel, Christliche Alterthümer (see Index in vol. iv, s. v. Messe); Riddle, Christian Antiquities; Walcott, Sac. Archæol. s. v.; Coleman, Christ. Antiq.; Willet, Synop. Pap. (ed. Cumming, Lond. 1852); Forbes, Considerations, ii, 562; English Rev. x,344; Retrospective Rev. xii, 70; Westm. Rev. 1866 (July), p. 95; Christian Ch. Rev. 1866 (April), p. 15 sq.; Evangel. Qu. Rev. 1869 (Jan.), p. 86; Christian Remembrancer, 1866 (Jan.), p. 63; New Englander, 1869, p. 525; Haag, Les Dogmes Chrétiennes (see Index); Hagenbach, Hist. of Doctrines (see Index, vol. ii); Cramp, Text-Book of Popery; Blunt, Dict. of Hist. and Doctr. Theol. s. v.; Eadie, Ecclesiast. Dict. s. v.; Aschbach, Kirchen-Lexikon, 8. v. Messe. (J. H. W.) | Massa Candida, the name given to 300 Christians who, during the persecution of Valerian, and in the time of bishop Cyprian, were put to death by being burned in a lime-kiln. The name Massa, says Angustine, was given them "ob numeri multitudinem," and that of candida "ob causæ fulgorem." Baronius remarks: "Dicti sunt hi Massa candida, eo quod in fornace calcaria martyrium consumarint." Vincentius Bellovacensis, on the other hand, designates the Masss candida as “locus apud Carthaginem, in quo sub Imperatoribus gentilibus et in Christianos sævientibus fovea erat calce plena, in quam Christiani gentilium Diis secrificare renuentes pæcipitabantur." Augustine also uses the expression, "Uticensis Massa candida," which Barenius explains: "Utica præcipue agebatur horum solemnitas, atque ea de causa S. Augustinus Massam candidam Uticensem dictam esse refert." Aurelius Prudentius Clemens refers to the Massa candida in his hymn on St. Cyprian (Lib. Persistephanon, Hymn xiii) in the following glowing description: "Fama refert foveam campi in medio patere jussam, The festival is commemorated Aug. 24.-Herzog, Real- Massagětæ, an ancient nomadic people, "who inhabited the broad steppes on the north-east of the Caspian Sea, to the northward of the river Araxes or Jaxartes. Herodotus says that they had a community of wives; that they sacrificed and devoured their aged people; that they worshipped the sun, and offered horses to him; that they lived on the milk and flesh of their herds, and on fish; and fought on horseback and on foot with lance, bow, and double-edged axe. Cyrus is said to have lost his life in fighting against them, B.C. 589. Niebuhr and Böckh are of opinion that they belonged to the Mongolian, but Humboldt and others, to the IndoGermanic or Aryan family.-Chambers, Cyclop, s. V. Mas'sah (Heb. Massah', o, trial, as often; Sept. Tεipаoμós, Tεiρa; Vulg. tentatio), a name given to the Mass Penny, a conventional name for the offering spot in Rephidim where the Israelites provoked Jebomade by a chief mourner at a funeral. Mass Priests, mercenaries hired at a certain sum, who undertook an immoderate number of annals or trentals, and were unable to say them, and sold them to be offered by others. This abuse was forbidden in 1236 by archbishop Edmund's Constitutions (2). In 960 the mass priest was the secular, and the minister priest the conventual, and this is the earliest meaning of the term. -Walcott, Sac. Archæol. s. v. Mas'sa (Heb. Massa',, a lifting up, as often; Sept. Maron), one of the sons of Ishmael (B.C. post 2061), who became the progenitor of an Arabian clan (Gen. xxv, 14; 1 Chron. i, 30). The tribe is usually, and not improbably, compared with the Masani (Macavoi, Ptol. v, 19, 2), inhabiting the Arabian desert towards Babylonia, doubtless the same as the Masai, a nomad tribe of Mesopotamia (Pliny, H. N. vi, 30). This would confirm Forster's theory that the twelve sons of Ishmael peopled the whole of the Arabian peninsula (Geogr. of Arabia, i, 284). As Dumah is named in connection with Seir (Isa. xxi, 11), there is some foundation for the opinion that Massa was a kingdom of considerable size, possibly reigned over by king Lemuel (Prov. xxx, 1, 2, "the prophecy"). See LEMUEL. Hitzig arbitrarily locates Dumah in wady el-Kora, about fifty miles south-east of Akabah, and then places Massa between it and Mount Seir (Zeller's Jahrbuch, 1844, p. 288). See DUMAH. vah by murmuring for want of water; otherwise called MERIBAH (Exod. xvii, 7; Deut. vi, 16; ix, 22; xxvül, 8). The name also occurs (in the Heb.), with mention of the circumstances which occasioned it, in Psa. xcv, &, 9, and its Greek equivalent in Heb. iii, 8. Massalians (from 1") or Messalians, alsə called Enthusiasts, were a sect which sprung up about the year A.D. 360, in the reign of the emperor Constan tius. They were mainly roaming mendicant monks and flourished in Mesopotamia and Syria. They maintained that men have two souls, a celestial and a disbolical; and that the latter is driven out by prayer. They consequently conceived the Christian life as an unintermitted prayer, despised the moral law and the sacraments, and claimed to enjoy perfection. The Gopel history they declared a mere allegory. But ther concealed their pantheistic mysticism and antinomianism under external conformity to the Catholic Church. From those words of our Lord, "Labor not for the mest that perisheth," it is said that they concluded they ought not to do any work to get their bread. We may sup pose, says Dr. Jortin, that this sect did not last long; that these sluggards were soon starved out of the world: or, rather, that cold and hunger sharpened their wits and taught them to be better interpreters of Scripture. Towards the close of the 4th century the Church dis covered the real tendency of the Massalians, and thự were sorely persecuted; but, notwithstanding all oppe sition, they perpetuated themselves to the 7th century, | Grâces, Les Hesperides, Les Boucliers votifs, Les Serand reappeared in the Euchites and Bogomiles (q. v.) of the Middle Ages. See Buck, Theol. Dict. s. v.; Neander, Ch. Hist. ii, 240-247; Schaff, Ch. Hist. ii, 199. Massarius, a chamberlain of the massa communis, which was the common fund of a cathedral. Masseketh. See TALMUD. ments chez les Anciens, and a Parallèle entre Homère et Platon. His most valuable work is L'Histoire de la Poésie Françoise, à partir du onzième siècle. Massieu was one of the many distinguished literary men who are obliged all through life to maintain an incessant struggle with poverty. In his old age he suffered many bodily grievances, and two cataracts deprived him of his sight. He rendered valuable service to Biblical litHeb.erature by his edition of the New Testament in Greek (printed at Paris, 1715, in 2 vols. 12mo). He died Sept. 26, 1722, at Paris. - Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Générale, vol. xxxiv, s. v. Massi'as (Maociaç v. r. 'Aooɛíaç), given (1 Esdr. ix, 22) in place of the MAASSELAH (q. v.) of the list (Ezra x, 22). Massie, JAMES WILLIAM, D.D., LL.D., a minister of the English Independents, for some time engaged in the missionary field, was born in Ireland in 1799. He was educated for the ministry by Dr. Bogue, and went out as a missionary to India. After laboring there a few years he returned to Great Britain, was pastor for a time at Perth, Scotland, and subsequently at Dublin, Ireland, and Salford, England, from which latter place he removed to London, to act as secretary of the Home Missionary Society. Deeply interested in all the public movements of the day, he took a prominent part in the anti-slavery movement, and was an active member of the Union and Emancipation societies formed during the late war in the United States. He visited this country several times, and was twice delegated from the Independents to our Congregationalists and Presbyterians. He died at Kingston, Ireland, May 8, 1869. Dr. Massie was the author of several works, among which were Continental India (1839, 2 vols. 8vo; 1840, 2 vols. vo):-Recollections, illustrating the Religion, etc., of the Hindus (2 vols.):-The Nonconformists' Plea for Freedom of Education (1847):-The Evangelical Alliance, its Origin and Development (1847):—Liberty of Conscience illustrated, etc. (1847):-Social Improvement among the Working Classes affecting the entire Body Politic (1849): -Slavery the Crime and Curse of America (1852) : The Contrast-War and Christianity: Martial Evils and their Remedy (1855):—Christ a Learner (1858):Revivals in Ireland: Facts, Documents, and Correspondence (1859-60):-Revival Work (1860) :-The American Crisis in Relation to the Anti-slavery Cause (1862):America, the Origin of her present Conflict; her Prospect for the Slave, and her Claim for Anti-slavery Sympathy, illustrated by Incidents of Travel during a Tour in the Summer of 1863 throughout the United States (1864); etc. Massieu, GUILLAUME, a learned French writer, was born April 13, 1665, at Caen, where he finished his classical studies. At sixteen he began a course of philosophy at the college of the Jesuits. As he proved himself an apt pupil, the Jesuits desired to attach him to their order, and sent him to Rennes to teach rhetoric, designing him ultimately for the professorship of theology; but his studies were not congenial to his tastes, and, his love for belles-lettres far exceeding that for theology, he forsook the society after he had actually joined it, and returned to the world. His remarkable gifts soon gained him friends, and he found work as an instructor. While at Paris he made the acquaintance of the abbot De Tourreil, whom he aided in translating the works of Demosthenes; through his influence also he became a pensioner of the Academy of Inscriptions in 1705, and in the same year was elected professor royal of the Greek language in the College of France, where he distinguished himself during the twelve years that he held the position by his profound knowledge and a pure and delicate taste. In 1714 the French Academy was opened to him. His oration delivered on this occasion is printed in the collections of the academy. Having translated Pindar, he naturally defended the writers of antiquity against the attacks of Perrault and of Lamothe. The Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions (vol. i, ii, and ii) contain a great number of dissertations from the abbé Massieu. They are still read with pleasure, although they are more distinguished for delicacy of finish than for profound erudition; the principal are, Les Massilians, a school of theologians in Southern Gaul, who, about the year 425, with John Cassian of Marseilles (Massilia), a pupil of Chrysostom, at their head, asserted the necessity of the co-operation of divine grace and the human will, maintained that God works differently in different men, and rejected the doctrine of predestination as a vain speculation of mischievous tendency. They were called at first Massilians; afterwards, by scholastic writers, Semi-Pelagians; although, far from taking that name themselves, they rejected all connection with Pelagianism. Cassian recognised the universal corruption of human nature as a consequence of the first transgression, and recognised grace as well as justification in the sense of St. Augustine, whom he opposed on the question of election. See Riddle, Eccl. Chron.; Eden, Theol. Dict.; Neander, Hist. of the Christian Religion and Church, ii. 261, 627-630; Schaff, Ch. Hist. iii, 859 sq.; Wiggers, Gesch. des Semi-Pelagianismus, ii, 7 sq.; Guericke, Ch. Hist. i, 391 sq.; Neander, Hist. of Christian Dogmas, ii, 375; Hagenbach, Hist. of Doctr. vol. i. See SEMI-PELAGIANS and CASSIANUS. Massillon, JEAN BAPTISTE, prominent among the most eloquent divines of the French Roman Catholic Church, was born at Hières, in Provence, June 24, 1663. His father was a notary in moderate circumstances, and at first intended his son for the same profession, but subsequently allowed him to receive the instructions of the Fathers of the Oratory, and when eighteen years of age the young man joined that order. Soon after, forsaking the world altogether, he entered an abbey under the rule of La Trappe. Here, however, his talents attracted the attention of the bishop, afterwards cardinal de Noailles, who induced him to re-enter the Oratory, in which he soon achieved great eminence. Yet his success was more the fruit of labor than of spontaneous genius, and his last efforts are much superior to his first. In 1696 he went to Paris as principal of the Seminary of St. Magloire, the renowned school of the Oratory. Here, in the midst of the prevailing laxity of morals, he commenced his career as a pulpit orator, the delivery of his "Ecclesiastical conferences" to ecclesiastical students affording him an opportunity of developing his talent. He admired the austere eloquence of Bourdaloue, but chose for himself a different style, characterized by profound pathos, and an insight into the most secret motives of the human heart. He was shortly noted as the preacher of repentance and penitence; and it was declared by able contemporaries of his sermons that "they reach the heart, and produce their due effects with much more certainty than all the logic of Bourdaloue." He delivered the customary Lent sermons at Montpellier in 1698, and the following year at Paris. The latter were warmly applauded, and induced the king to invite Massillon to preach the "Advent" at court. On this occasion king Louis XIV paid him the highest compliments. He said, "I have heard many talented preachers in my chapel before, and was much pleased with them; but every time I hear you, I feel much displeased with myself." He again preached the Lent sermons before the court during the years 1701 to 1704, but afterwards he received no calls to appear before them until the death of the king: so fearless and plain-spoken a preacher would have been ill suited to Masson, John, a minister of the Reformed Church. who was a native of France, whence he emigrated to England after the revocation of the Edict of Nance He then settled in Holland, and assisted in a critical journal entitled Histoire Critique de la Republique Lettres from 1712 to 1721. He also wrote lives of Herace, Ovid, and Pliny the Younger, in Latin; and His¦ toire de Pierre Huyle et de ses Ouvrages (12mo). He died in England about 1760. the gallant and profligate court of "the great king." At | lxxxix, 47, translated (T.Wimbolt, Sermons) :— Ecclesthe death of Louis XIV, Massillon was requested to astical Conferences, Synodical Discourses, and Episcopo! preach his funeral sermon; in other words, to pronounce Mandates, etc., translated by C. H. Boylan, of Maya eulogy of this prince. This was an arduous task for nooth College (1825, 2 vols. 8vo). See La Harpe, Cory the uncourtierlike preacher; yet he undertook it, and in de Littérat.; Maury, Eloquence de la Chaire; F. There his discourse lauded the fame and piety of the king, yet min, Demosthenes und Massillon (1845); D'Alembert deplored the evils suffered by the nation in consequence Éloge de Massillon; Sainte-Beuve, Causeries de Luna. of the wars and the looseness of morals. Invited now Talbert, Éloge de Massillon (1773); Hoefer, Nour, Big to preach the Lent sermons before the young king, Générale, s. v.; Christian Remembrancer, 1854 (Jan.), p. Louis XV, then but eight years of age, he took advan- 104; Presb. Rev. 1868 (April), p. 295. (J. H. W.) tage of the occasion to censure the manners of the court; and morality, rather than the passion of Christ, formed the subject of his sermons. These are ten in number, and being short, to accommodate them to the youth of his royal hearer, are known under the name of Le petite carême. In 1717 Massillon became bishop of Clermont, and in 1719 member of the French Academy. Two years after he preached at St. Denis the funeral sermon of the duchess Elizabeth Charlotte of Orleans, daughter of the elector of Palatinate, and mother of the regent. This is considered one of the best of his six Oraisons Funebres. Thereafter he remained quietly in his diocese, diligently fulfilling his pastoral duties until his death, Less ambitious than Bossuet, he did not wish to remain connected with the court, or in any way to take part in temporal affairs. His life was a model of Christian virtue and gentleness; he never disputed against any but infidels, and the Roman Catholics will not forgive him for having, in his eulogy of Louis XIV, after praising this monarch for his efforts to destroy heresy, alluded to the massacre of St. Bartholomew's eve and pronounced it a bloody wrong, to be ever condemned in the name of religion as well as of humanity. Preaching from the fulness of his heart, he did not consider the rank of those he addressed, but spoke to them with nobleness of purpose in all simplicity and fervor. He carefully instructed the clergy of his diocese by holding numerous conferences and by synodal discourses. He died Sept. 18, 1742. D'Alembert pronounced his eulogy before the French Academy. assisted in the same journal, and was also the author of Masson, Philip, a relative of the preceding, wh a critical dissertation designed to show the utility of the Chinese language in explaining various passages of the Old Testament. Masson, Samuel, brother of John, was pastor of the English Church at Dort, and conductor of the above journal. Massorah. See MASORAH. Massuet, RENÉ, a French Benedictine monk of the Congregation of St. Maur, was born at St. Ouen, in Notmandy, in 1665. He studied philosophy and theology in different Benedictine convents; was made licentia: juris at Caen; and came to the abbey of St. Germain des Près, at Paris, in 1703. Here he commenced his sciertific labors, which secured him a distinguished place in that learned congregation. After the death of Ruinar Massuet was intrusted with the continuation of the anals of the order, and he furnished the fifth volume. works of Irenæus, published under the title Santi Ire The principal work from his pen is an edition of the næi, episcopi Lugdunensis, contra Hareses Libri v (Paris, 1710, fol.); considered as having been the best edition of this Church father that had appeared up to Massuet's time. He prefaced the works of Irenæus by three di sertations, which give good proof of the editor's pene tration and judgment. In the first dissertation the person, character, and condition of Irenæus are considered encountered; in the second, the life, actions, martyrdom, setting forth particularly the writings and heretics be and writings of this saint are treated of; and in the third his sentiments and doctrines are reviewed. Massuet took an active part in the Jansenistic controversies Having undertaken to defend the edition of the works of St. Augustine against the attacks of the Jesuit Lar glois, he wrote Lettre d'un Ecclesiastique au R. P. E.L sur celle qu'il a écrite aux R. P. Bénédictins de la Com de Saint-Maur (Osnabruck, 1699). He is also the s thor of a Lettre à M. l'évêque de Bayeux, sur son mar ment du 5 Mai 1707 (La Haye, 1708, 12mo); and a book entitled Augustinus Græcus, in which he defends the opinions of his order on grace and free agency. which was never published. He died at Paris, Jan.!! 1716. See Hist. Littér, de la Cong, de St. Maur, par Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Générale, xxxiv, 217; Herzog, RealEncyklop. ix, 145. The fame of this celebrated man stands perhaps higher than that of any preacher who has preceded or followed him, by the number, variety, and excellence of his productions, and their eloquent and harmonious style. Grace, dignity, and force, and an inexhaustible fecundity of resources, particularly characterize his works. His Avent et Carême, consisting of six volumes, may be justly considered as so many "chef-d'œuvres." His mode of delivery contributed not a little to his success. "We seem to behold him still in imagination," said they who had been fortunate enough to attend his discourses, "with that simple air, that modest carriage, those eyes so humbly directed downwards, that unstudied gesture, that touching tone of voice, that look of a man fully impressed with the truths which he enforced, conveying the most brilliant instruction to the mind, and the most pathetic movements to the heart." The famous actor, Baron, after hearing him, told him to continue as he had begun. "You," said he, "have a manner of your own; leave the rules to others." At another time he said to an actor who was with him, "My friend, this is the true orator; we are mere playVoltaire is said to have kept a volume of Massillon's sermons constantly on his desk, as a model of eloHe thought him "the preacher who best unquence. derstood the world-whose eloquence savored of the courtier, the academician, the wit, and the philosopher." Massillon's works, consisting mainly of sermons, have Mast is the rendering in the Auth.Vers, of two Hea been collected and published under the title Euvres words. (chibbel', so called from the ropes and stays complètes (Paris, 1776, 15 vols. 12mo). In English we with which it is fastened), occurs only in Prov. xxi, have, Sermons on the Duties of the Great, translated 34, "Thou (that tarriest long at the wine) shalt be as he from the French; preached before Louis XV during that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that his minority; by William Dodd, LL.D. (Lond. 1776, 2d lieth upon the top of the mast" (Sept. wonto ed. sm. 8vo):-Sermons, selected and translated by Wil- rng iv To liam Dickson (Lond. 1826, 8vo):-Charges, with two Es- amisso clano), says, translated by Theophilus St. John [the Rev. S. toxicated sailor Clapham] (Lond. 1805, 8vo):-Sermons on Death, Psa. storm at sea. ers." Own, Vulg. quasi sopitus gubernat doubtless correctly as referring to an is falling asleep at the mast-head in a (toʻren, prob. i. q. 178, a pise-tre à the mast of a ship (Isa. xxiii, 23; Ezek. xxvii, 5; Sept. | been 1828.- Wetzer und Welte, Kirchen-Lex. vi, 921. ioróg, Vulg. malus); also a signal-pole set up on moun- (G. M.) tains for an ensign (Isa. xxx, 17; Sept. iorós, Vulg. malus, Auth. Vers. "beacon"). Ancient vessels had often two or three masts (see Smith's Dict. of Class. Antiq. s. v. Malus). See SHIP. Mastic (oxivos, Vulg. lentiscus, A. Vers. "masticktree") occurs but once, and that in the Apocrypha (Susan. v, 54), where there is a happy play upon the word. "Under what tree sawest thou them?. under a follow-mastic-tree (vrò oxivov). And Daniel said . . . the angel of God hath received the sentence of God to cut thee in two (oxide σE μéσov)." This is unfortunately lost in our version; but it is preserved by the Vulgate, "sub schino... scindet te;" and by Luther, "Linde... finden." A similar play occurs in ver. 58, 59, between πρῖνον and πρίσαι σε. For the bearing of these and similar characteristics on the date and origin of the book, see SUSANNA. Master is the rendering in the A. V. of the ing Heb. and Greek words: 77, adon', kúptos, properly lord, as usually rendered; 5, ba'al, an owner, hence master in the prevalent sense, deoTórns; also , rab, great or chief, usually in combination;, sar, prince or captain, ἐπιστάτης ; finally διδάσκαλος, teacher. On "masters of assemblies" (Eccl. xii, 11), see ASSEMBLY. For master of the feast, see ARCHITRICLI NUS. There is no doubt that the Greek word is correctly MASTER, in a Christian point of view, is a person rendered, as is evident from the description of it by who has servants under him; a ruler or instructor. The Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. ix, i, § 2, 4, § 7, etc.), Pliny duties of masters relate, 1. To the civil concerns of the (N. H.'iii, 36; xxiv, 28), Dioscorides (i, 90), and other family. They are to arrange the several businesses re-writers. Herodotus (iv, 177) compares the fruit of the quired of servants; to give particular instructions for lotus (the Rhamnus lotus, Linn., not the Egyptian Newhat is to be done, and how it is to be done; to take lumbium speciosum) in size with the mastic berry, and care that no more is required of servants than they are Babrius (3, 5) says its leaves are browsed by goats. The equal to; to be gentle in their deportment towards them; fragrant resin known in the arts as "mastic," and which to reprove them when they do wrong, to commend them is obtained by incisions made in the trunk in the month when they do right; to make them an adequate recom- of August, is the produce of this tree, whose scientific pense for their services, as to protection, maintenance, name is Pistacia lentiscus. It is used with us to strengthwages, and character. 2. As to the morals of servants. en the teeth and gums, and was so applied by the anMasters must look well to their servants' characters be- cients, by whom it was much prized on this account, fore they hire them; instruct them in the principles and and for its many supposed medicinal virtues. Lucian confirm them in the habits of virtue; watch over their (Lexiph. 12) uses the term oxworρúKтng of one who morals, and set them good examples. 3. As to their re- chews mastic wood in order to whiten his teeth. Marligious interests. They should instruct them in the tial (Ep. xiv, 22) recommends a mastic toothpick (denknowledge of divine things (Gen. xiv, 14; xviii, 19); tiscalpium). Pliny (xxiv, 7) speaks of the leaves of pray with them and for them (Josh. xxiv, 15); allow this tree being rubbed on the teeth for toothache. Dithem time and leisure for religious services, etc. (Eph. materials and used as tooth-powder, and that, if chewed, oscorides (i, 90) says the resin is often mixed with other vi, 9). See Stennett, On Domestic Duties, ser. 8; Paley's Moral Philosophy, i, 233, 235; Beattie's Elements of it imparts a sweet odor to the breath. It is from this Moral Science, i, 150, 153; Doddridge's Lectures, ii, 266. use as chewing-gum that we have the derivation of mastic, from μαστίχη, the gum of the σχίνος, and μάσταξ, μαστιχάω, μασάομαι, “ to chew,” “ to masticate.” Both Pliny and Dioscorides state that the best mastic comes from Chios, and to this day the Arabs prefer that which is imported from that island (comp. Niebuhr, Beschr. von Arab. p. 144; Galen, De fac. Simpl. 7, p. 69). Tournefort (Voyages, ii, 58-61, transl. 1741) has given a full and very interesting account of the Lentisks or Mastic plants of Scio (Chios): he says that "the towns of the island are distinguished into three classes, those del Campo, those of Apanomeria, and those where they plant Lentisk-trees, whence the mastic in tears is produced." Tournefort enumerates several lentisk-tree villages. Of the trees he says, "These trees are very wide -Henderson's Buck. Masters OF THE CHURCH, a name given (1) to the learned clergy who sat as advisers of the bishops in synods; (2) also to the residentiaries in a minster, as master of the lady chapel, being its keeper; master of the choristers, master of the common hall, califactory, or parlor; master of converts, the superintendent of lay-brothers; the master of the novices, always an elderly monk; master of the song-school, master of the shrine, masters of the order or custodes, the great officers of the monastery.-Walcott, Sacred Archæol. s. v. Mastiaux, CASPAR ANTON VON, a Roman Catholic theologian, was born at Bonn, Germany, March 3, 1766. He became a canon at Augsburg in 1786, and was ordained to the priesthood, and appointed preacher at the cathedral of Augsburg, three years later. After filling several subordinate positions, he was made privy-councillor to the king of Bavaria in 1806. He received the degree of master of philosophy in 1784, doctor of laws in 1786, doctor of divinity in 1790, and was admitted as an honorary member to several academies and learned societies. His published works embrace De veterum Ripuariorum statu civili et ecclesiastico commentatio historica (Bonn, 1784):-A Historical and Geographical Description of the Archbishopric of Cologne:-On the negative Character of Religious Principle among the Modern French:-A Sketch of Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan and Cardinal in the Romish Church:-The Passionweek, according to the Ritual of the Roman Church:-An Essay on Chorals and Hymns for the Church:-Several Collections of Hymns, and of Ancient and Modern Tunes: -A number of Sermons, and of miscellaneous Speeches in German and Latin. He served for a time as editor of Felder's Literaturzeitung, for teachers of the Roman Catholic faith, and was noted for his pointed and satirical style. The year of his death, which occurred at Munich, is not exactly known; it is supposed to have 66 and the philosopher is surprised to see this Arab of the Middle Age resolving questions which remained problems to Europeans for many centuries after him. Masudi knew not only the history of the Eastern nations, but also ancient history, and that of the Europeans of his time. He had thoroughly studied the different religions of mankind-Mohammedanism, Christianity, the doctrines of Zoroaster and Confucius, and the idolatry of barbarous nations. No Arabian writer can boast, like him, of learning at once profound and almost universal Unfortunately, however, Masudi wanted method in srranging the prodigious number of facts which a rare memory never failed to supply him with while he was writing. He illustrates the history of the geography of the West with analogies or contrasts taken from China or Arabia; he avails himself of his knowledge of Christianity to elucidate the creeds of the different Mehammedan sects; and, while he informs the reader of the mysteries of the extreme North, he will all at once forget his subject, and transfer him into the Desert of Sahara. For a list of his works, which are mostly extant only in MS., see the English Cyclopædia, s. v. spread and circular, ten or twelve feet tall, consisting of several branchy stalks which in time grow crooked. The biggest trunks are a foot diameter, covered with a bark, grayish, rugged, chapt. . . the leaves are disposed in three or four couples on each side, about an inch long, narrow at the beginning, pointed at their extremity, half an inch broad at the middle. From the junctures of the leaves grow flowers in bunches like grapes; the fruit, too, grows like bunches of grapes, in each berry whereof is contained a white kernel. These trees blow in May; the fruit does not ripen but in autumn and winter." This writer gives the following description of the mode in which the mastic gum is procured. "They begin to make incisions in these trees in Scio the first of August, cutting the bark crossways with huge knives, without touching the younger branches; next day the nutritious juice distils in small tears, which by little and little form the mastic grains; they harden on the ground, and are carefully swept up from under the trees. The height of the crop is about the middle of August, if it be dry, serene weather, but if it be rainy the tears are all lost. Likewise towards the end of September the same incisions furnish mastic, but Mătăli, in Hindu mythology, is the charioteer of in lesser quantities." Besides the uses to which refer- Indra. See Williams, Translation of Sakuntala, Act VI ence has been made above, the people of Scio put grains of this resin in perfumes, and in their bread before it Mater Dolorosa, or Lady of Sorrow, is the techgoes to the oven. Mastic is one of the most important nical term given to such portraits of the Virgin Mary products of the East, being extensively used in the as represent her alone, weeping or holding the crown of preparation of spirits, as juniper berries are with us, as thorns. "She appears alone," says Mrs. Jameson (Lea sweetmeat, as a masticatory for preserving the gums gends of the Madonna, p. 36), "a seated or standing figand teeth, as an antispasmodic in medicine, and as an ure, often the head or half-length only, the hands claspingredient in varnishes. The hardened mastic, in the ed, the head bowed in sorrow, tears streaming from the form of roundish straw-colored tears, is much chewed heavy eyes, and the whole expression intensely mournby Turkish women. It consists of resin, with a minute ful. The features are properly those of a woman in portion of volatile oil. The Greek writers occasionally use the word oxivoç for an entirely different plant, viz. the Squill (Scilla maritima) (see Aristoph. Plut. 715; Sprengel, Flor. Hippoc. 41; Theophr. Hist. Plant. v, 6, §10). The Pistacia lentiscus is common on the shores of the Mediterranean. According to Strand (Flor. Palæst. No. 559), it has been observed at Joppa, both by Rauwolf and Pococke. The mastic-tree belongs to the natural order Anacardiaceae.-Smith, s. v. See Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 362; Buxtorf, Lex. Chald. col. 1230; Belon, Observ. ii, 81. Masúdi, ABU'L HASAN (Ali ben-Husein ben-Ali), one of the most celebrated Arabian savants, an early writer in the department of comparative religion, from the Mussulman stand-point, was born, according to his own statement, at Bagdad in the 3d century of the Hegira, or the 9th of the Christian æra, and was the descendant of an illustrious family, who were among the early and devout followers of the Prophet of Mecca. Masudi was gifted with great talents, which he applied at an early age to learned pursuits. He gathered an immense stock of knowledge in all branches of science; and his learning was not mere book learning, but he improved it in his long travels through all parts of the East, Turkey, Eastern Russia, and Spain. In A.H. 303 he visited India, Ceylon, and the coast of China, where the Arabs had founded numerous small colonies; thence he went to Madagascar and Southern Arabia; thence through Persia to the Caspian; he also visited the Khazors in Southern Russia. In A.H. 314 he was in Palestine; from 332 to 334 in Syria and Egypt; and he says in 345, when he wrote his last book, the second edition of his Golden Meadows, he was in Egypt, and had been a long time absent from his native country, Irak. He says he travelled so far to the west (Morocco and Spain) that he forgot the east, and so far east that he forgot the west. Masudi died probably at Kahirah (Cairo), A.H. 345 (A.D. 956); and, since he visited India as early as A.H. 303, it is evident that those who say he died young are mistaken. No Arabian writer is quoted so often, and spoken of with so much universal admiration. The variety of subjects on which he wrote astonishes even the learned, Representation of the Mater Dolorosa. (After Murillo.) middle age; but in later times the sentiment of beauty predominated over that of the mother's agony, and I a merely beautiful and youthful maiden, with such an air of sentimental grief as might be felt for the loss of a sparrow." It is common also to represent the Virgin with a sword in her bosom, and even with seven swords, in allusion to the seven sorrows (Luke ii, 35)—a version of the allegorical prophecy which the Romanists have found quite profitable for the interests of the hierarchy. There are few Roman Catholic churches without this representation of Mary. See STABAT MATER. have seen the sublime Mater Dolorosa transformed into Mater Speciosa, or Lady of Joy, the counterpart of the hymn of "Mater Dolorosa," See STABAT MATER. Materialism may be defined as that system of philosophy which considers matter as the fundamental principle of all things, and consequently denies absolutely the independence and autonomy of the spirit. It 1 |