Mors Peccatorum (the death of sins), an expres- sion used by TertiiUian and other writers to describe the cl!icacy of bajitism, in allusion to Kom. vi, 4; CoL ii, 12. — Farrar, Kccles. Diet. s. v.
Morse is the technical term for the clasp of a cope or ]iectoral.
Morse, Abner, a Congregational minister, was born at ^ledway. Mass., Sept. 5, 1793, and was educated at Brown Cnivcrsity, class of 1816. He deciiled to en- ter the ministry, and sought further preparation for this important work at Andover Seminary, where he gradu- ated in 1819. He tlien became pastor at Nantucket, JIass. ; subsequently at Bound Brook, N. J., and later removed to Indiana, where he became a professor of natural science, a dejiartment of study in which he had greatly interested himself. He attained to consideralde distinction as a scientist, and published several genea- logical works. He died at Sharon, JIass., Jlay 16, 1865. See Xew Knrjland Hist, and Genealoy. Register, xix, 371 ; Drake, Diet, of Amer. Biog. s. v.
MORSE
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MORSE
Morse, Asahel, a minister of the Baptist Church in America, who distinguished liimself in the Kevolu- tionarv period of this country's history, was born in the north "parish of New London, now called Montville, Conn., Nov. 10, 1771. He received his early educational training from his father, Joshua Morse, also a minister, who preached in the vicinity where Asahel was born until death cut short his ministrations in 1795. At nineteen Asahel had progressed sufficiently in his stud- ies to teach country schools and earn sufficient to de- fray the expenses of his education at more advanced institutions of learning. In 1782 he was converted, and decided to enter the ministry, feeling himself specially called to the work. He preached a while near his own home, then labored in Winsted. In 1802 the Baptist church in Stratfield, Conn., called him as their pastor, and he removed thither in 1803. In 1807 he accepted an appointment as missionary to the Upper Canada In- dians, and while in this position endured many hard- ships. He was faithful to his task, and made converts not only among the Indians, but also among the white people of that region, and greatly strengthened his de- nomination there. In 1810 he was invited and went to preach at Suffield, Conn., one of the best Baptist churches in New England. But Mr. INIorse by no means confined his labors to this church. He went much about the country, and everywhere endeavored to encourage re- ligious life and to secure followers for the Baptist soci- ety. In 1832 he became pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Colebrook, Conn. In 183G he returned to Suffield, and there died, June 10, 1838. During his ill- ness he manifested the utmost confidence in the doc- trines he had preached, and frequently said that he re- lied upon Christ for salvation. See Baptist Memorial, iii (1844), 234 sq., 272 sq., 293 sq. (J. H.W.)
Morse, David Sanford, a Presbyterian minis- ter, was born about the j'ear 1793. He first chose the legal profession, but was converted at the age of twen- ty-five, turned aside to the ministry, and devoted the remainder of his life to this sacred work. He died in Austerlitz, Cvilumbia County, N. Y., Dec. 21, 1871. See Appleton's Annual Cyclop. 1871, p. 592.
Morse, Frank Currier, a minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, was born in Hopkinton, N. H., Feb. 23, 1835. His youth was spent in Newbury, N. H., till the age of seventeen, when he was sent to the Bap- tist Academy in New London, N. H. He afterwards went to study at Lowell, and while there was convert- ed. Feeling called to the ministry, he entered the Wesleyan University in 1857, and graduated in the reg- ular course in 1861, and at once joined the New Eng- land Conference. He was stationed at Blanford. In 1862 he enlisted in the army, and held the position of chaplain during his three years of service. In 1865 he acted as "supply" in Leyden, Mass., and filled this charge for two years. His health failing him, he moved West, hoping a change might benefit him, but died in Kansas, Jan. 14, 1871.
Morse, Jedediah, D.D., a Congregational minis- ter of note, was born Aug. 23, 1761. in Woodstock, Conn. He graduated at Yale College in 1783, entered the min- istry in 1785, and was chosen tutor in Yale in 1786. In October he changed places with the Kev. Abiel Holmes, pastor in Midway, Ga., where he preached about six months, when he returned North, and, after preaching in several places, was ordained pastor of the First Con- gregational Church in Charlestown, Mass., April 30, 1789, and held this charge till 1820, when, having re- ceived a commission from J. C. Calhoun, secretary of war, to visit several Indian tribes, he spent two winters in his observations, the report of which was published in 1822. He died in New Haven, June 9, 1826. Dr. Morse published the first American work on geography, in 1784 (passing through manj' editions in this country and abroad, and after his death it was enlarged and im- proved by his son). He also wrote A Compendious VI.— T T
History of Neui England, m company with E. Parish, D.D. (1804) :— a pamphlet, The true Reasons on which the Election of a Hollis Professor of Divinity in Har- vard College loas opposed at the Boai'd of Overseers (1804): — An Appeal to the Public on the Controversy respecting the Revolution in Harvard College (1814); and a number of occasional sermons and addresses. From 1790 to 1821 he published twenty-five of his ser- mons and addresses. Dr. IMorse was also much occu- pied in religious controversy ; in upholding the orthodox faith of the New England churches against the as- saults of Unitarianism, and was so earnest in these labors as to seriously impair his health. In 1804 he was active in enlarging the IMassachusetts General As- sociation of Congregational INIinisters. He was also a prominent actor in the establishment of the theological seminary at Andover, especially by his successful efforts to prevent the threatened establishment of a rival insti- tution at Newbury, projected by the Hopkinsians, and to effect a union between them and other Calvinists on their common symbol, the Assembly's Catechism. The articles of this union, which still constitute substantially the basis of the Andover Seminar}', were signed in his own study in Charlestown, in the night of Nov. 30, 1807, by himself. Dr. Samuel Spring, and Dr. Eliphalet Pear- son. Morse participated in the organization of the Park Street Church in Boston in 1808, when all the Congre- gational churches in the city, except the Old South Church, had abandoned the primitive faith of the fa- thers of New England. In 1805 he started a religious magazine, The Panoplist, of which he was the sole ed- itor for five years. Dr. Morse was universally esteemed for his piety and learning, and is acknov/ledged to have been one of the most eminent ministers of his day in New England. He was distinguished alike for the ver- satility of his powers and the wide extent of his influ- ence, and was almost equally well known on both sides of the Atlantic. See Sprague, .4 nnals of the A mer. Pul- jnt, ii, 247; Allibonc, Diet, of Biit, and A me?: Authors, s.v. (J. H.W.)