MORASS. 



MORTALITY, LAW OF. 



?M 



lii|iidni. belong to the separate tubject of religion ; In the mme way 

 a* the duties which depend on positive' Uw enacted in a political 

 society ban been referred to political science. Generally we may say 

 that man ought to entertain (cling* of reverence and gratitude to Ood, 

 by reason o( hi* superiority, and of the bleating* which he hai con- 

 ferred upon us. But the duty of entertaining thew feeling* in this 

 particular oaae flow* at once from the general duties of gratitude to a 

 benefactor and reverence toward* a superior; and inasmuch a* the 

 application of the general duties to this particular case need* not the 

 aesisUiinii of revelation, and involve* no essential difference from the 

 application to other owe*, there seems no necessity for a separate 



So also the duty of kindnees to the inferior animals most be taken a* 

 a corollary from the general duty of kindness which ha* been incul- 

 cated. The pain which we believe that God will* shall not be in- 

 flicted upon men, we must believe too that he wills shall not be 

 inflicted on other nimls which he ha* created. The pain of which 

 animal* are susceptible we suppose to be of the same sort a* that of 

 which men are susceptible ; at Iea*t we have no means of conceiving 

 any other sort of pain. And inasmuch a* no different circumstances 

 are introduced, there is no need for a separate division wherein to 

 treat of our duties towards the inferior yiirnl, 



MORASS. [MAKSBEb.J 



MORAVIANS, or MORAVIAN BRETHREN, a congregation of 

 Christians descended from the Bohemian brethren, who were a branch 

 of the Hussites. [Hess, JOBS, in Bioo. Drv.J The Bohemian bivtlnvn 

 dissented from the CaUiztines, and refused to subscribe to the articles 

 of agreement between that party and the council of Basel in 1438. 

 They then formed themselves into a distinct community, called " the 

 Brothers' Union," and as they were obliged to live in seclusion through 

 fear of persecution, they were called by their enemies " Griibenheimer" 

 or Troglodytes. They looked upon the Scriptures as their rule of 

 faith, rejected transubstantiation, and were very strict in their dis- 

 cipline, excluding the vicious, the scoffers, and the worldly from their 

 communion. They established among themselves a superintendence 

 over the practical and domestic conduct of individuals, who were 

 distributed into three classes, the beginners, the proficient, and the 

 perfect. They had their bishops, seniors, presbyters, and deacon*, who 

 administered their civil as well as ecclesiastical aflairs. Like the 

 Quakers they refused to do military service. 



When the great Reformation took place in Germany, the Bohemian 

 brethren sent envoys to Luther in 1522, who approved of most of 

 their doctrines and discipline, and although be did not admit \< iv 

 article of their confession of faith, yet be said that it might lie 

 tolerated as it was. (Mosheim, ' Ecclesiastical History,' xvi. cent., 

 iii. 2.) 



In 1547 most of the brethren were expelled from Bohemia by 

 Ferdinand L, upon which they took refuge in Poland and Prussia, 

 where they formed several settlements, especially at Marienwerder. 

 They were united for a time with the Lutherans by the convention of 

 Sendomir, but afterwards drew closer to the Calviuists at the synods 

 of Ortrorog in 1620 and 1627, and adopted Calvin's creed, retaining 

 their own Bohemian forms of discipline. (Eisner, ' Brevis Conspectus 

 Doctrinal Fratrum Bohemorum,' in Gerdes's ' Miscellanea Groniugiana.' 

 TpL vL) 



Under Maximilian II., those brethren who had remained in Bohemia 

 and Moravia enjoyed full toleration, ami they formed their chief 

 settlement at Kulnek in Moravia, whence they received the name of 

 Moravian brethren. But in the subsequent Thirty Years' war, their 

 settlements in Bohemia and Moravia were utterly destroyed, and, after 

 various migration*, their descendant* were settled, in 1 722, by Count 

 Zinzeodorf, on his estate of Bethelsdorf in Upper Lusatia, where their 

 colony took the name of Herrnhut, from a bill in tin- ricinir, 

 Huteberg. [ZixzE.xDORr, in Bioo. Div.J They then established them- 

 elves a* a new community under the name of the United Ilivilin n, to 

 which Protestant* of every denomination were admitted, without being 

 obliged to renounce their respective creeds, but on condition of conform- 

 ing to their rules of discipline, which were derived from those of the 

 Bohemian brethren. Since that time the community of the United or 

 Moravian brethren ha* greatly increased, and ha* spread through 

 Germany, Holland, the United States, and other Protestant countries. 

 Wherever they have formed a new and distinct settlement, they have 

 enforced their regulations of civil and religious discipline upon all the 

 members of the community, but there are many Moravians < 

 about in towns among people of different communions, wlj. 

 small congregations and have their own meeting*. The Moravians do not 

 assume to constitute a separate sect, and whenever they have been 

 required as a body to state then- creed, they have professed a general 

 adherence to the confession of Augsburg, and their preachers, without 

 pledging themselves to all its articles, reject any doctrine which is 

 repugnant to it They avoid discussions on the s]wculativo truth* of 

 religion ; they acknowledge the manifestation of G<K! in Christ, and 

 consider the life, sufferings, death, and merits of the Saviour as the 

 foundation of their faith. They look ujn the Scriptures as the 

 revelation of God. They also believe that the Spirit of God continues 

 to enlighten inwardly those who pray for it for tin; purpose of regu- 

 lating their conduct, and they make a practice of invoking it in 

 circumstances of doubt and uncertainty, before coming to a determi- 



nation. Each community, represented by its elders, presbyters, and 

 deacons, provides for the spiritual wants of its members, for it* 

 churches, schools, hospitals, and other public establishments, and t ho 

 funds for these object* are raised partly by subscriptions and partly by 

 rates levied on the householder*. lu other respects every family in 

 the community carries on its private affairs, and manages it 

 interests and property as in other communities. The erroneous n -t: -n 

 of their having community of goods arose from the circumstance that 

 some of their first settlers in North America, being few and forlorn 

 among strangers, found it convenient for a time to put their earnings 

 into a common stock. 



One of the principal objects of the Moravian institution which they 

 pursued at a very early period, was to send out missionaries among 

 the heathen. Their mission to Greenland has been celebrated by 

 James Montgomery, and they have furnished missionaries for the 

 Caffres and Ratchouanas in South Africa, for the Delaware Indians and 

 the Cherokee* in North America, for the Esquimaux of Labrador, and 

 for the negroes of the Went Indies. 



The Moravians, like the Quakers, reject gaudiness and ornament. 

 Promiscuous assemblages of the two sexes are forbidden among them, 

 as well as plays, games, and dancing. They have however rhun-h 

 music and singing. The unmarried men live together in a separate 

 building called the house of single brethren, under the supermini 

 of an elder ; and there are likewise houses for single ulsters and 

 widows. Marriages among members of the society must be sanr- 

 by the elders. They wear no mourning for the dead, looking upon 

 I a happy release from earthly bonds : their expression on such 

 an event is, that the deceased is gone home to the Lord. 



MORDANTS. IDmxu.] 



M01UC ACID. [TANNU Acn>8.1 



M01J1N. [TAN.MC ACIM.] 



MORINDIN (C H ,,0,^. A non-azotised colouring principle, found 

 in the root of the Sonnda rltrifulia. By the action of heat it 

 murimloiu (C,,H 10 O, ). M. Rochleder believes that morindin is iden- 

 tical with ruberythrio acid, and morindone with alizarin. [MADutn, 



COLOURINO MATTERS OK.l 



MORINDONE. [MonraDis.] 



MORINGIC ACID. [Bus, on, OF.] 



M ( )K I N TA NM( : ACM . [T.vXNic ACIDS.] 



M'UMXVl.K' At Ml.). [TAXN ic ACIDS.] 



Mm; rill A. [OPIUM, ALKALOIDS OF.] 



Molil'lllNK. [Oi'irn, ALKALOIDS OF.] 



MORRIS DANCE. Douce, in a dissertation on the ancient English 

 Morris Dance at the end of the second volume of his 'Illustrations of 

 Shakspeare,' affirms that both English and foreign glossaries uniformly 

 ascribe the origin of this dance to the Moors ; although the g. 

 Moorish or Monaco dance was, no doubt, very different from the 

 European Morris. Strutt, in his ' Sports and Pastimes of the People 

 of England,' has cited a passage from the play of 'Variety,' ]' 

 which the Spanish Morisco is mentioned as being danced by one person 

 only, and ho thinks the origin of the term might be found at 

 .Mi. ho,' .-. , intains that this not only shows the legitimacy 



of the term Morris, but that the real and uncorrupted Moorish diuee 

 was to be found in Spain, where it still continues to delight both native* 

 and foreigners under the name of the fandango. 



It has been supposed that the Morris dance was first brought to 

 England in the time of Edward III., when John of Gaunt returned 

 from Spain ; but it is more probable that we had it from . >m 

 neighbours, or even from the Flemings. Few, if any, vestiges of it can 

 be traced before the reign of Henry VII., alumt which time, and jar- 

 ticularly in that of Henry VIII., the church wardens' accounts of 

 numerous parishes show that the Morris dance made a considerable 

 figure at parochial festivals. 



The hobby-horse, which once performed the principal character in 

 the dance, was a light frame of wicker-work, furnished with a paste- 

 board head and neck of a horse. This was buckled round tin 

 and covered with a foot-cloth which reached on the groun 

 concealed at once the legs of the performer and his gingling apparatus. 

 Thus e,|uipjxxl, he pranced and curvetted in all directions, neighing, 

 and exhibiting specimens of boisterous and burlesque horsemanship. 

 Beside* horse, there were, the fool or buffoon of the j 



Maid Marian, and her paramour a friar ; a serving-man, a piper, 

 ami two Morisooes. The dress of these personages is described by 

 Fletcher in his ' Women Pleased,' when he says : 



" Where ire your bells then, 



Your ring*, your ribband*, friend, and your eleftn napkin*, 

 Your auaegajr in your hat, pinn'd^ip I" A*. 



i Jiflord, in his edition of Ben Jonson's works, remarks, " When the 

 right good-will with which these person* capered is taken into con- 

 sideration, the clean napkin, which was nevur omitted, will not appear 

 the least necessary part of the aparatui." Thus Clod, in tin; luasque 

 of 'The Gipsies, observes, " They would < lancers by their 



ginglc, but they have no napkins.' Maid Marian was the lady or 

 of the May. 



MORTALITY, BILLS OF. [BILLS or MORTALITY.] 

 MORTALITY, LAW OF. In this article we intend to confine our- 

 selves to some account of our present knowledge, theoretical and 



