THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
icles of the Pilgrim Settlers of Massachusetts (2 vols., Boston, 1841-46).
Bibliography: J. B. Felt, Ecclesiastical Hist, of New England, 2 vols., Boston, 1S55-62; Appleton's Cyclopccdia of American Biography, iv. 429-430, New York, 1898; W- Walker, Ten Sew England Leaders, pp. 17, 36, 38, 44, ib. 1901.
MORUS, SAMUEL FRIEDRICH NATHAN AEL:
German Protestant exegete; b. at Lauban (75 m. e. of Breslau) Nov. 30, 1736; d. at Leipsic Nov. 11, 1792. He received his primary education at home, his father being an instructor in the Lauban Latin school. At the University of Leipsic he came under the influence of J. A. Ernesti (q.v.), and was regarded as that teacher's best pupil. Some years were spent in private tutoring, during which at the house of Professor Ludwig, one of his patrons, he met Goethe. In 1761 he began giving lectures on Greek and Latin writers at Leipsic. He became professor extraordinary in 1768 and full professor in 1771. After 1780 he lectured on New-Testament exegesis, and on the death of Ernesti was transferred to the theological faculty. He afterward became rector and was four times dean between 1774 and 1785. In 1787 he became a member of the consistory of Meissen.
In his exegetical work Morus developed the methods of his teacher Ernesti. His De descrimine sensus et significationis in inter pretando, De causis, quibus nititur interpretatio allegoriarum, and his De nexu significationum eiusdem verbi (in his Dissertationes theologicae et philological, vol. i., Leipsic, 1787, vol. ii., ed. C. A. T. Keil, Leipsic, 1794) are of lasting worth.
The Preelections (2 vols., 1794-1810), collected from his students' notebooks, has historical value only. His Epitome theologice Christiana (1789) is unsystematic, but free from the dogmatism of the period. A collection of his sermons was published at Leipsic, 1786. Morus also edited a number of Greek and Latin texts. He was of frail physique, unostentatious in his piety, modest, and a lover of peace. (G. Muller.)
Bibliography: The autobiography of Morus appeared in Magazin filr Prediger, vol. v., 12 vols., Ziillichau, 1781- 1791. Studies of his life and services are by D. Beck, Leipsic, 1792; Voigt, ib. 1792; J. G. C. Hopfner, ib. 1793; and ADB, xxii. 342-344.
MOSCHUS, mes'cus: Greek theologian of the 6th century; d. at Rome about 619. The place and date of his birth are unknown and the details of his life are scanty. His name, according to the manuscripts, was Johannes, son of Moschus, but he is also known as " The Continent " or " The Monk." Photius records that he entered the monastery of St. Theodosius in Jerusalem, that he then dwelt for a time among the hermits of the Jordan valley, after which he joined the monks in the new monastery of Great Sabas, near the Dead Sea. He journeyed to Egypt and the Great Oasis, accompanied by Sophronius, in the reign of Tiberius II. (578-587). Later still he went to Cyprus and thence to Rome where he died.
The fame of Moschus rests upon his " Meadow," written at Rome and dedicated tp Sophronius, probably his companion and later patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 638; see Sophronius, 2.), who has in-
deed been declared (as by Nicephorus, John of Damascus, and the second Nicene Council) to be the author of the "Meadow." This work, in its present form, is a mass of disconnected stories, based on older sources, including a " Paradise," perhaps identical with the "Old Folks' Book," doubtless a collection of apothegms. In its original form, however, the " Meadow " seems to have been somewhat on the plan of the Collationes of Cassian or of the Historia monachorum of Timotheus, recounting Moschus' personal experience with famous ascetics or giving edifying stories told by them. The numerous tract-like stories are probably interpolations. The object of the work was a contribution to ascetic life, but its style, as compared with older writings of similar character, is vulgar and uncouth, though the chaotic condition of the manuscripts render even the original extent of the work uncertain. Nevertheless the " Meadow " is a work of distinct importance, containing valuable information on monastic life both in Palestine and in the other countries visited by the author, and also describing the liturgy, the political relations of the day as disturbed by the invasions of Persians and Arabs, and giving hints of such phases of culture history as the development of the cult of Mary. The work long remained popular in the monasteries and exercised an influence on later literature of similar character, filled as it was with the marvelous and assailing heresy in a manner which renders it not without importance for the history of dogma. (E. Pretjschen.)
Bibliography: A good edition of the work of Moschus is still a desideratum; it is printed with Latin transl. in MPG, lxxxvii., reproduced from F. du Due, in Bibliotheca Graco- Latina, pp. 1057-1159, preceded by a life, pp. 1054-57, Paris, 1624. Consult further: Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Graica, x. 124 sqq., Hamburg, 1807; Krumbacher, Geschichte, pp. 187-188, et passim.
MOSES.
Name, Birth, and Childhood From Sinai to Kadesh (§ 6).
(§ 1). From Kadesh to Nebo (§ 7).
Youth and Early Manhood; Character (§ 8).
the Divine Call (§ 2). Moses as Lawgiver (§ 9).
The Plagues of Egypt (§ 3). As Historian and Religious
The Exodus (§ 4). Founder (§ 10). The March to Sinai (§ 5).
The liberator of Israel from the Egyptian bondage, to whom tradition unanimously refers the establishment of Israel's nationality, bears in the Bible the name Mosheh, which Ex. ii. 10 explains as a memento of his wonderful preseri. Name, vation in earliest childhood. The name Birth, and is probably of Egyptian origin, not Childhood, from the Egyptian-Coptic mo, "water " and uje, " saved," or mou, " water," and shi, " take," the latter accepted by the Septuagint which has Mouses, but rather from mes, mesu, " child," often used in proper names, as, e.g., Tautmes, Thothmes. In Ex. vi. 20 and Num. xxvi. 59, Amram and Jochebed, both of the tribe of Levi, are called the parents of Moses. Jochebe(| is mentioned as a daughter of Levi (Ex. Li. I ; Num. xxvi. 59) and Amram as a grandson; this neithet accords with the Mosaic marriage-laws (Lev. xvii. 12) nor with the duration of the stay in Egypt. Indeed, according to Num. iii. 27 sqq., Amram can scarcely have been Moses' father. Ex. vii. 7 states