Mordvins is the name of a people inhabiting East- ern Kussia. They form a subdivision of the liulgaric or Volgaic family of the Finnic branch of the Suranian, Uralo- Altaic, or Alongolian races, and are related to the Tcheremisscs and Tchuvashes. Their number has been estimated at 400,000, and their territoiy lies ))rincipally between the rivers Oka and Volga, in the Pussian gov- ernments of Nislnii Novgorod. Tambov, Pensa, Sim- brisk, and Saratov, extending also into Samara and As- trachan. Dialectically they may lie siilidivided into Mokzhas, chiefly dwelling on the banks of the Sura and Mokzlia, and ICrsas, occupying the sliores of the Oka.
More, Alexander, a very noted preacher of the French Protestants, who flourished in the 17th century in France and Switzerland, was born at Castres, Lan- guedoc, Se])t. 25, 1G1(>. of Scottish parents. He received his prejiaratory training under his father at Castres,
MORE
593
MORE
and went from home at the age of twenty to study di- vinity at Geneva. But it so happened that the chair of Greek was vacant at this time, and though so young a man and a stranger, More was chosen to fill it. He promptly accepted the proffered honor, and three years later had the pleasure of being promoted to a profess- orship in divinity, he having improved his time in the study of that department. His rapid advance made him many enemies, and he was accused of heresy. But, notwithstanding much and able opposition, More ad- vanced, and in 1645 was made rector of the high school with which he was connected. He was, however, des- tined soon to decline, for he was very arrogant and proud, and some even dared to assert that he was im- moral. He was wise enough to perceive the near ap- proach of his fall, and he therefore decided to quit Ge- neva. In 1649 he secured the divinity professorship and pastoral office at Middleburg, in Zealand, and there also he won a reputation for his learning and ability, which opened to him in 1652 the university at Am- sterdam. He had been proflFered before a position in that noble high school, but had refused it ; now he ac- cepted, and removed thither. In 1654 he vacated his chair, and went on a visit to Italy, and became well ac- quainted with the men of note and of rank in that country. He enjoyed a personal intercourse with the duke of Tuscany, and was a favorite at Venice. Re- turning to his charge, he encountered decided oppo- sition, many of his congregation doubting his sincer- ity, and declaiming against the unholiness of his life. Charges were brought against him, and he was con- demned by the Synod of Torgau. He quitted his par- ish, and accepted a call from a Church in Paris, and though there was great variety of opinion as to his trustworthiness, he was confirmed in the position. He had not, however, occupied it long before he was openly attacked. Though his manner of preaching procured him applause from a crowd of hearers, his character was generally acknowledged to be ambiguous, and he had the mortification to see his reputation attacked by per- sons of merit, who accused him anew to the synod. He escaped further condemnation by quitting France in December, 16G1. He returned again in the summer fol- lowing, and, finding that the opposition had not sub- sided, he sickened at heart, as it is generally believed, declined rapidly in health, and died at Paris in Septem- ber, 1670. By the confession of his friends, he was proud, vindictive, imperious, satirical, contemptuous; not to say that his character was not quite unblemished in point of chastity, although there is no occasion to believe all that Milton has said of him. Milton had had a quarrel with More, and this may have provoked much that was far from the truth, though the great English bard was not given to falsifying. The trouble had been produced l)y a publication of More in 1652, addressed under the printer's name to the king of Great Britain, entitled Re<iii sanguinis clamor ad caelum ad- versus parricidas A nr/licanos. It is a very violent in- vective against the Parliament party; and Milton, in particular, is extremely abused in it. He is no better used in the epistle dedicatory than in the book itself. Milton therefore wrote a reply, in which he considered More as the author as well as the editor of the book. He is treated upon the looting of a dog, or rather of a goat ; for he is accused of a thousand lewd tricks, par- ticularly of several acts of debauchery. He was also charged with having been convicted of heresies at Ge- neva, and of having shamefully abjured them with his lips, though not with his heart. Milton accused him of having for many months been deprived of his salary at Geneva, and suspended from his offices as a profess- or and a minister on account of a process of adultery which had been entered against him ; and for which, says he, he would have been condemned, if he had not avoided the decisive sentence by declaring that he would leave the place. But, whatever JNIilton's opinion, the pious Huetius favored More, and wrote in his be- VI.— P p
half. He even praised him in song {Pmiat. p. 30 and 77, ed. 1700). More published some works : there is a treatise of his, Z)e ^ra/wi et libera arUtrio (Geneva, 1644, 4to ; Middleburg, 1652) ; and another. Be Sciiptura Sa- cra, sice de causa Dei (Middleburg, 1653, 4to) : — A Comment on the 53(i Chapter of Isaiah: — Notce ad loca qucedam Novi Foederis (Lond. 1661, 8vo) : — a reply to Milton, with the title of Alexandri Mori Jides puhlica (La llaye, 1654, ]2mo) : — some Orations and Poems in Latin. See Senebier, IJist. litter, de Geneve ; Haag, La France Protestante, vii, 543 sq. ; Bayle, Hist. Diet, s. v. (J. H. \V.)