MAN-STEALER, a kid- | napper; one who steals men to make them slaves, or to sell them into slavery, Deut. xxiv, 7. They who make war for the inhuman purpose of selling the vanquished as slaves, as is the practice of the African princes, are really man-stealers. And they who, like the African traders, encourage that unchristian traffic, by purchasing the slaves whom they know to be thus unjustly acquired, are partakers in their crime. MAON, a town in the tribe of Judah near the south Carmel, west of the Dead Sea, 1 Sam. xxiii, 24, 25; and xxv, 2. But in Judges x, 12, mention is made of an Arabian tribe, called Maonites. In 2 Chron. xxvi, 7, they are again mentioned as the Mahunims, joined with the Arabians properly so called. As a trace of this ancient people, we may probably regard the city of Maon, situated eastward from Wady Mousa, and not far from Mount Hor, on the great route of the Syrian caravans. nesia,) that men cannot drink it; and even camels, if not very thirsty, refuse to taste it. There is no other road of three days' march in the way from Suez to Sinai, nor is there any other well absolutely bitter on the whole of this coast. In moving with a whole nation, the march may well be supposed to have occupied three days. MARANATHA, Aramoan, the Lord will come, viz. to judg ment; a form of threatening, cursing, or anathematizing among the Jews. "May the Lord come quickly to take vengeance of thy crimes," 1 Cor. xvi, 22. See Ac CURSED. MARBLE, carbonate of lime; a valuable kind of limestone, of a texture so hard and compact, and of a grain so fine, as readily to take a beautiful polish. It is dug out of quarries in large masses, and is much used in buildings. Marble is of different colours, black, white, &c.; and is sometimes elegantly clouded and variegated. MARK, whose Hebrew MARAH, bitterness; a bit- name was John; the writer or brackish fountain or ter of one of the four goswell, in the peninsula of pels, the son of a certain Sinai, Exod. xv, 22, 23. Most Mary, at whose house the probably, as Burckhardt sup- apostles and first Christians poses, the same which is now often assembled, Acts xii, 12; called Bir Howard, on the the nephew of Barnabas, Col. western gulf of the Red Sea, iv, 10; the companion of Paul about fifty-six miles south- and Barnabas on their first east of Suez. The water of journey, and of Barnabas on this Bir or well is so bitter, his second, in opposition to (perhaps containing Epsom Paul, Acts xv, 39. At a later salts, the sulphate of mag-period, however, we find him again in Paul's company, 2 Tim. iv, 11. According to the fathers, he was also for a considerable time closely connected with Peter, and was interpreter to him when he preached among the Greeks. Though not an apostle, he did not write without apostolic authority. On the contrary, he was under the direction of the Apostle Peter, who affectionately called him his son, I Pet. v, 13. This is stated by the entire series of church fathers, during the second and third centuries, with perfect unanimity in the main; and the statement is corroborated by the case of Luke, which was exactly similar. On this account, the gospel of Mark was considered as originating with Peter; and such individuals as were particularly attached to this apostle, used Mark in preference to all others. He wrote his gospel, according to Horne, between the years 60 and 63, at the city of Rome, which was then the capital of the known world. Quotations from the ancient prophets, and allusions to Jewish customs, are as much as possible avoided; and such explanations are added as might be necessary for Gentile readers at Rome; thus, when Jordan is first mentioned in this gospel, the word river is prefixed, Mark i, 5; the oriental word corban is said to mean a gift, Mark vii, 11; the preparation is said to be the day before the Sab bath, Mark xv, 42; and defiled hands are said to mean unwashed hands, Mark vii, 2; and the superstition of the Jews upon that subject is stated more at large than it would have been by a person writing at Jerusalem. MARK, a brand, as pricked or burned in upon the body. The slaves were branded with a hot iron, not only as a punishment for their offences, but to distinguish them in case they should run away. Soldiers were branded in the hand, but slaves in the forehead. In the same manner, it was customary to mark the votaries of some of the gods. Hence the beast, Rev. xiii, 1, had upon its head the name of blasphemy; and the worshippers of the beast, verse 16, had a "mark on their right hand," or "on their foreheads," whereby they were known to be their worshippers. In like manner, the servants of God have "his name on their foreheads," Rev. xxii, 4. The apostle, in allusion to these customs, calls the scars of the wounds which he received when stoned and left as dead on the street of Lystra, "the marks of the Lord Jesus in his body," Gal. vi, 17. MARKET, a public place, or broad street in a city or town, where provisions and other things were exposed for sale. Among the ancients, markets were places of public resort, where assemblies and public trials were held. The labourers who wanted employment were found in the market-place, Matt. xx, 3. See Acts xvi, 19; and xvii, 17. The public use of marriage institutions consists, according to Archdeacon Paley, in their promoting the following beneficial effects:-1. The private comfort of individuals. 2. The production of the greatest number of healthy children, their better education, and the making of due provision for their settlement in life. 3. The peace of human society, in cutting off a principal source of contention, by assigning one or more women to one man, and protecting his exclusive right by sanctions of morality and law. 4. The better government of society, by distributing the community into separate families, and appointing over each the authority of a mas MARRIAGE. This was regarded by the Jews as a sacred obligation, and celibacy was accounted a great reproach. No formalities appear to have been used by the Jews, at least none were enjoined upon them by Moses. In joining man and wife together, mutual consent followed by consummation was deemed sufficient. The manner in which a daughter was demanded in marriage is described in the case of Shechem, who asked Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, in marriage, Gen. xxiv, 6-12. There was indeed a previous espousal or betroth-ter of a family, which has ing, which was a solemn pro- more actual influence than all mise of marriage made by the civil authority put together. man and woman each to the 5. The additional security other, at such a distance of which the state receives for time as they agreed upon, the good behaviour of its citi Deut. xx, 7. Among the Jews, zens, from the solicitude they and generally throughout the feel for the welfare of their East, marriage was consider- children, and from their being ed a sort of purchase, which confined to permanent habitathe man made of the woman tions. 6. The encouragement he desired to marry. The of industry. See DIVORCE nuptial solemnity continued and BRIDE. seven days, Judges xiv, 12, and was celebrated with great festivity and splendour. The parable of the ten virgins in Matt. xxv, gives a good idea of the customs practised on these occasions. The happiness of the Messiah's kingdom is represented under the figure of a nuptial feast, Rev. xix, 7. MARROW, an oily in flammable substance, which, during life, is a fluid of a whitish or yellowish colour, filling the cavity of the bones, to moisten and render them less liable to break, Job xxi, 24; and figuratively put for the richest and best part of a thing, Isa. xxv, 6. MAR'S HILL, or Hill of |