MORTON" 6
his labors to effect a reformation in the Church. They were not productive of much immediate result, but help- ed materially to bring about the vigorous movement which was successful in the following reign. His in- vestigations proved beyond the possibility of doubt that the evils of the papal system had nearly reached their limit" (p. 190). Cardinal :Morton was the patron of Sir Thomas ;More, who eulogized him in his Utopia. The Life of King Richard III, sometimes attributed to More, is believed to have been written by Morton ; and if ilorton did not liimsclf write the Life, it seems to be quite clear that More (who was in early life a page in Morton's house) must have derived part of his information directly from the archbishop. See Tan- ner, Bibl. Brit. Hib. p. 532, 533; Bentham, Hist, of Ely (Cambr. 1771), p. 179-181 ; Budden, Life of John Morton (1607) ; Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Can- terbury, vol. v; Williams, Lives of the Enylish Cardi- nah, vol. ii, chap, vii ; Collier, Eccles. Hist, (see Index in vol.viii). (J. H.W.)
Morton, Nathaniel, an American writer on ec- clesiastical liistory, and one of the Plymoutli colonists, was born in England in 1G12, and came to this country with his father in 1G23. In 1G45 he was made secre- tary of the colonj^, and continued to hold that office un- til his death, June 28, 1685. He is noted as the author of New Enf/latid's Memorial, or a brief Relation of the most viemorable and remarkable Passages of the Provi- dence nf God manifested to the Planters of New England, etc., compiled chiefly from the MSS. of his uncle, Will- iam Bradford, and the journals of Edward Winslow, and including the period from 1620-1646 (Cambridge, 1669, 4to; 2d ed. Boston, 1721, 12mo; 3d ed. Newport, 1772 ; 5th ed., with notes by Judge Davis, 1826 ; 6th ed., with notes by the Congregational Board, 1855, 8vo). He also wrote in 1680 a hvM Eccles. I/Lsf. of the Plym- outh Church, in its records, preserved in Ebenezer Haz- ard's /fisforical Collections. See Chancellor Kent, Course of English Reading (1853), p. 15 ; North A mer. Rev. xlvi, 481 sq.; Winthrop, New England (1853), i, 94; Bacon, Genesis of the New England Churches (1875), p. 199, 475.
Morton, Thomas, an English prelate noted for his loariiiiig and prudence, was born at York in 1564. He was a relative of cardinal Morton, but a Protestant. In 1582 he was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge University, and after graduation was chosen a feUow (in 1592). He lectured for a while at his alma mater on logic, and about 1599 became chai)lain to the earl of Huntingdon, and made liimself conspicuous in attemjjts for the recalling of such of the Protestants as had be- come recusants during the reign of blondy Mary. Dur- ing the plagae of 1602 also Morton distiiiguislied liim- self by great charity and resolution. In 1603 he went abroad as chaplain to lord Eure, ambassador to Germa- ny and Denmark, and while in those countries availed himself of tlie valuable literary advantages brought within his reach. In 1606 he was made chaplain to king James I, and given the preferment of the deanery of Winchester. He was also at this time made a fellow of the newly-established college at Chelsea, whose aim was to defend Protestantism from the assaults of the Komanists. In 1615 Morton was elevated to the epis- copate, and given tlie sec of Chester; was transferred to that of Lichfield and Coventry in 1618, and in 1632 to tliat of Durham, wiiich he held with great reputation until the opening of the Long Parliament, when the strong prejudices against the episcopate vented them- selves also against Morton, and he had to endure many annoyances and trials. He was finally deposed f'roiii his ofUce when the bislioprics wore dissolved, but was granted a pension of X8()0, whicli he never enjoyed. He removed to the house of tlie carl of Hutland. and later to the scat of Sir Henry Yelverton. at ICaston IMauihiit, in Northamptonshire, and tlierc he died, Sept. 22, 1659. His funeral sermon was |)reacbod by Dr. .lolni Barwick, afterwards dean of St. Paul's, and printed at
6 MORTUARY
London in 1660, under the title IEP0NIKH2, or the Fight, Victory, and Triumph of St. Paul, accommodated to the Right Rev. Father in God, Thomas, late Lord Bishop of l)ui-esme. Morton was a man of very great learning, piety, hospitality, charity, liberality, temper- ance and moderation, lie converted several persons of learning and distinction from the Komish religion. He published several works, chiefly controversial, and written against the papists, from li;03 to 1653. Among these, the best are Apologia Catholica (Lond. 1605-6, 2 pts. 4to) : — An exact Discovery of Romish DoctriiK in the Case of Conspiracy and Rebellion (ibid. 1605, 4to); deals with the Powder Plot conspiracy: — A Catholicke Appeale for Protestants out of the Confessions of the Romane Doctrines (ibid. 1610, fol.) : — Causa regia (1620, 4to) ; this is a refutation of Bellarmine's treatise, De officio principis Christiani: — Of the Institution of the Sacrament by some called the Mass (1631 and 1635, fol.): — Confessions and Proofs of Protestant Divines (Oxf. 1644, Uo):—Ezehiers Wheels (1653, 8vo). He had an intimate acquaintance and correspondence with most of the learned men of his time, and was a great friend and patron of the noted Swiss savant Casaubon, who spent some time in England under king James. Short- ly before his death, the bishop was engaged in a lively controversy on his position regariling the episcopal suc- cession. In 1657 there had been published a book at Rome, entitled .1 Treatise of the Nature of Catholic Faith and Heresy, in which it was asserted that " in the beginning of the Long Parliament, when some Presby- terian lords presented to the upper house a certain book to prove that the Protestant bishops had no succession nor consecration, therefore were no bishops, and had no right to sit in Parliament; bishop Morton replied against the book in behalf of himself and his brethren, and endeavored to prove succession from the last Roman Catholic bishops, who ordainetl the first Protestant bish- ops at the Nag's Head, in Cheapside." The bishop took decided exception to such a version, and insisted that he had no faith in the veritj' of the Nag's Head conse- cration, and preferred not to endorse it. See Life of Thomas, bishop of Durham, by Dr. John Barwick (1660, 4to) ; also Richard Baddily and John Naylor, Life of Thomas Morton (1669, 8vo) ; Biogr. Brit. s. v. ; Gen. Biogr. Diet. s. v. ; Soames, Ch. Hist. Elizabethan Period; Perry, Ch. Hist, (see Index in vol. iii). (J. H.W.)