MEYER, JOHANN FRIEDRICH VON: German theologian, jurist and statesman; b. at Frankfort Sept. 12, 1772; d. there Jan. 28, 1849. In his earlier youth he studied classics, drawing, painting, and music; from 1789 he studied law and philology at Göttingen, and from 1793 philosophy and natural science at Leipsic. After a term of practise at the imperial chamber at Wetzlar, he settled down in 1802 in his native city where he served as president of the court of appeals, member of the senate, and mayor. In 1816 he became president of the Bible Society in Frankfort. The first period of his literary activity was influenced by the rationalism of the age, seen in his essays in Wieland's Merkur, his romance Kallias, and his epic Tobias. He then began serious study of the Bible, recognized the necessity of revelation and saw in redemption the center and essence of Christianity; all this without contemning science, but employing it in the service of God. In his thirty-fifth year (1807) he learned Hebrew, making use of old and new translations and commentaries. His comprehensive knowledge, especially in the field of archeology and jurisprudence, enabled him to form his own exegesis. In 1812 he published his Bibeldeutungen, a sharp attack upon the theological conceptions of the time. In 1819 appeared his annotated revision of Luther's translation of the Bible, which had a wide circulation (3d ed., 1855). Meyer was not only a theologian, but also a mystic and theosophist, and emphasized theosophy in the third period of his literary activity. The mechanical conception of transcendental supernaturalism and orthodoxy satisfied him as little as rationalism. Nature and the Bible he regarded as supplementary documents, the key to which was in symbols-numbers and figures. He was intent upon fathoming the fundamental sense of the divine Word which he held to lie be-

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yond the grammatical sense. Eschatological and apocalyptical studies had great attraction for him. From this period originated such works as Schliisad zur Ofenbarung Johannis von einem Kreuzritter (1833) and Blicke in den Spiegel des prophetischen Wortes (1847). Meyer's predilection for symbolism led him to study not only old-world mysteries, but also the higher degrees of freemasonry. Results of this are his works, Das Buch Jezira, die dlteste, kabbalistische Urkunde der Hebr&er (1831); Zur Aegyptologie (1840) and his eleven collections of Blaitter für h6here Wahrheit (1819 to 1832) to which he added Inbegrif der Glaubenslehre (1832). He wrote also some poems and a number of criticisms for the HeideZerger Jahrbücher, 1811-18.

(G. E. Steitz†.)

Bibliography: There is a biographical introduction to Awwahl aus den Blattern fair h6here Wahrheit, pp. v: xl., Stuttgart, 1853. Consult also ADB, xxi. 597.