There is, however, a class of Protestants who go so far as to teach that, " while mortal sins are punishable eternally, venial or deatUy sins are punishable by God's fatherly chastisements in this life;" and in the same way, as regards the pardon of sin, that "while mortal sins are only forgiven through a direct act of absolu- tion, venial sins are forgiven by renewal of grace (es- pecially in the Eucharist) ; each mode of pardon pre- supposing a degree of penitence conformable to the de- gree of sin." Such is the teaching of the High-Church- men of the Anglican establishment, the Ritualists of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the High Luther- ans. See the articles Satisfaction ; Sin. (.J. H. W.)
Mortality, subjection to death, is a term not only thus used, but signifies also a contagious disease which destroys great numbers of either men or beasts. Bills of tuortality are accounts or registers specifying the numbers born, married, and buried in any parish, town, or district; and these are kept in Great Britain gener- ally, and its colonial possessions. In general, they con- tain onlj' these numbers; and even when thus limited are of great use, by showing the degrees of healthiness and prolificness and the progress of population in the place where they are kept. They should become com- mon also in this country, the clergy keeping really the only trustworthy account of a town's people.
Mortar [for huiUing'\ stands in the Auth. Vers, for two Heb. words: T^n {cho'mer, prop, red "claj'," as sometimes rendered), cement, of lime and sand (Gen. xi, 3; Exod. i, 14), also potter's clay (Isa. xli, 25; Nah. iii, 14); "iSy {aphar', prob. ivhitish "dust," as usually rendered), mud or clay, used as a cement in the walls of buildings (Lev. xiv, 42, 45). In Ezek. xiii, 10 the expression occurs, " One built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar" (there is no word in the original answering to this last), which the Tar- gum and the Vulgate seem to understand not of plaster, but of the cement used in uniting the materials of a wall, rendering it " clay without straw," clay and straw, Avell mixed together, being understood to have been the or- dinary cement of Eastern buildings. There is no doubt that the Hebrews sometimes plastered their walls ; and that kind of plaster now most common in the East is made with the same materials as the cob-walls, sun-dried bricks and mortar, namely, clay and straw mixed to- gether, the straw such as they give to their cattle, chopped and beaten small, and serving the same pur- pose as the ox-hair which our plasterers mix with their plaster. This requires to be well tempered, which is generally done by long-continued treading or beating (Kitto, Pict. Bible, note ad loc). See Brick. Mr. Rich, speaking of the Birs Nimroud at Babylon, says, " The fire-burned bricks of Avhich it is buUt have inscriptions on them, and so excellent is the cement, which appears to be lime-mortar, that it is nearly impossible to extract one whole." See Dwelling. " Omitting iron cramps, lead [see Handicraft], and the instances in which large stones are found in close apposition without ce- ment, the various compacting substances used in Ori- ental buildings appear to be: (1) bitumen, as in the
Babylonian structures; (2) common mud or moistened clay; (3) a very firm cement compounded of sand, ashes, and lime, in the proportions respectively of 1, 2, 3, well pounded, sometimes mixed and sometimes coated with oil, so as to form a surface almost impenetrable to wet or the weather. See Plaster. In Assyrian, and also Egyptian brick buildings, stubble or straw, as hair or wool among ourselves, was added to increase the te- nacity (Shaw, Trav. p. 206 ; Volney, Trav. ii, 436 ; Char- din, Voy. iv, 116). If the materials were bad in them- selves, as mere mud would necessarily be, or insuffi- ciently mixed, or, as the Vulgate seems to understand (Ezek. xiii, 10), if straw were omitted, the mortar or cob- wall would be liable to crumble under the influence of wet weather. (See Shaw, Trav. p. 136, and Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 1515, s. v. SEPl : a word connected Avith the Arabic tafal, a substance resembling pipe-clay, believed by Burckhardt to be the detritus of the felspar of gran- ite, and used for taking stains out of cloth ; IJurckhardt, Syi-ia,\)ASS; Mishna, Pesae^, x, 3.) Wheels for grind- ing chalk or lime for mortar, closely resembling our own
Lime-grimling Mill at Cairo.
machines for the same purpose, are in use in Egypt (Niebuhr, Voy. i, 122, pi. 17 ; Burckhardt, Nuhia, p. 82, 97, 102, 140; Hasselciuist, Trav. p. 90)" (Smith). See Mason. Modern Orientals have several materials for mortar superior to bitumen. These consist of three kinds of calcareous earth found abundantly in the desert west of the Euphrates. The first, called nura, is, in present use, mixed with ashes, and employed as a coat- ing for the lower parts of walls in baths and other places liable to dampness. Another, called by the Turks harej, and by the Arabs ;«s, is also found in powder mixed with indurated pieces of the same substance and round pebbles. This forms even now the common cement of the country, and constitutes the mortar generally found in the burned brickwork of the most ancient remains. AVhen good, the bricks cemented by it cannot well be detached without being broken, while those laid in bi- tumen can easily be separated. The third sort, called borak, is a substance resembling gypsum, and is found in large lumps of an earthy appearance, which, when burned, form an excellent plaster or whitewash. Pure clay or mud is also used as a cement; but this is exclu- sively with the sun-dried bricks (Kitto, Pict. Bible, note on Gen. xi, 3). See Clay ; Lime.