MORRIS
654
MORRISOX
delicate boy. The early religious training of bishop Morris was in the Baptist Church, of which both his parents were pious and exemplary members. He grew up, however, without giving much thought to the sub- ject of personal religion until he was about eighteen years of age. In his twentieth year he made a profes- sion of religion, and at the same time began to ponder seriously the question whether Providence was not lead- ing him to cast in his lot with the peojjle called Meth- odists. Against this course many considerations plead-
ume of sermons, and a miscellany, consisting of essays, biographical sketches, and notes of travel. Of the for- mer, about 15,000 copies have been sold; the latter has been but sparsely circulated. " His style was epigram- matic, clear, and forcible. His printed sermons were characterized by simplicity, pith, directness, lucid ar- rangement, and earnest and practical enforcement of the truth. They have been usefid and popular. .:\s a pre- siding officer he was the beau ukdl of a Jlethodist bish- op. He had rare practical wisdom, quick and accurate
ed powerfully: he had been trained in another com- j judgment, and inflexible decision. He acted no supe- munion, his prejudices were deeply rooted, the jNIethod- riority, put on no prelatical airs, and never felt tliat his ists in that region were feeble and persecuted, but the office lifted him above the fellowship and symi)athy of result of a careful comparison of their doctrines and pol- 1 his brethren" (JIarlay). As a pulpit orator, the bishop ity with the New Testament which he instituted at was quite noted in the prime of his life. His delight- this time was a fixed, unalterable determination to unite ful evangelical discourses abounded in pithy sentences, with them as the people of his choice. He was shortly \ and gratified thousands of hearers as they fell from his after admission to membership in the Church licensed lips. See Marlay, Life of Bishop Morris (N. Y. 1875, to preach, and was received as a travelling preacher into ^ 12mo) ; Meth. Qu. Jiev. July, 1875, art. iii ; Minutes of the Ohio Conference in 181G. In 1818 he was ordained | .J /inwai Conferences, 1874; N. Y. Christian Adcocate-, deacon by bishop George, and elder in 1820 by bishop ''' ■ '"-• "■ ^.< r^,- Roberts. Though in a large measure self-educated, be- cause an affliction of the eve restricted his studies in
early manhood, he yet labored most acceptably in the pastoral work in various parts of Kentucky, Tennes- see, and Ohio till 1834, when he was deemed cultured enough to be intrusted with the literary management of a paper, and was placed in the editorial chair of the then newly-established Western Christian Advocate, a religious and literary weekly, which two j-ears after its commencement numbered 8000 subscribers — certainly a successful enterprise for the times. In 1836 the General Conference, held that year at Cincinnati, where he re- sided, elected him to the episcopal office. He now real- ly entered a field for which he was specially fitted, and gained a most enviable reputation not only in his own denomination, but throughout the Christian Church. In 1864 declining health and the infirmities of age obliged him to ask for relief, and he was less heavily taxed. In 1868, at the General Conference in Chicago, he sought and obtained permission to be withdrawn from episcopal visitation duties, and led a rather quiet life until his death, Sept. '2, 1874. Only a few days before this he had addressed a loving missive to the members of the Cincinnati Conference (bearing date August 27), saying, among other noble Christian words, "I am no longer able to go in and out before you, to sit in your councils and take part in your delibera- tions, yet my heart and sympathy are with you, and for Zion's prosperity my tears shall fall and my prayers as- cend until my release is signed, and I go to join the Church triumphant in the skies." Uishop Morris was a man of great uniformity and simplicity. He was noted in his Church for tlie quiet power and prudent skill with which he discharged the episcopal duties. His death occurring about the same time as that of the bishop of Winchester — Dr. Charles Sumner (q. v.) — the New York Methodist took occasion to institute a com- parison between tlie two bishops, and thus concludes in favor of bishop Morris: "This man had done more in his time for the extension of Christianity than a whole bench of English prelates. He had assigned to their places of labor not less than 30,000 ministers, had trav- ersed this country to the outer edge of its civilization over and over again ; had jjreached sermons innumer- able, and only ceased to labor when labor became ]ihys-
Sept. 1874; Men of the Time,s.v.; Drake, Diet, of A mer. Bioff. s.y. (J.H.W.)
Morris-dance, a peculiar and fantastic species of dance, constituting the chief enjoyment at parochial fes- tivals in England, was commoidy practiced in the Mid- dle Ages, and continues to the present day among the country people in different parts of England. Its origin is ascribed to the Moors, though the geiniine Jloorish dance (thefundanr/o of the present day) bears little re- semblance to it. The chief performer was the holby- horsp, so called from the light frame of wicker-work which was fastened around its body, and supplied with a pasteboard head and neck, so as to give it the ap- pearance of a man on horseback. Bells were also at- tached to its ankles, and the great art consisted in so moving the feet as to produce a rude kind of concord. The other princii)al actors, after a fashion, personified the characters of IMaid ISIarian, the Queen of the Jlay, Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, the Fool, etc. ; and the per- formance was accompanied by rude music and the clash- ing of swords and staves. — Chambers, Cyclop, s, v.