RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Musculus Huston
tures at the university, forming the acquaintance of Capito and Butzer.
In 1531, through the mediation of the council of Strasburg, Musculus was appointed preacher of the Church of the Holy Cross in Augsburg, and such was his activity there that after six years the cathedral church was transferred to the Protestants, and he himself was made first preacher. Exceedingly important was his participation Work as a in the efforts for union and his share Reformer, in the negotiations between the theologians of Wittenberg and Upper Germany. Butzer had been the most zealous advocate of a reconciliation between the factions, but had been unable to secure any permanent results, while Luther's distrust of Zwingli led him to suspect everything that proceeded from this direction. Despite these obstacles, Butzer and Capito continued their efforts for union. On the basis of the Helvetic Confession of 1536, Butzer proposed that a convention be held at Eisenach for the discussion of the controverted points, but the cities of Switzerland declined at the last moment, although the towns of Upper Germany sent their delegates, Musculus being present as the representative of Augsburg. Instead of Eisenach, Wittenberg was chosen as the place of meeting, and the result of the conference was the Wittenberg Concordia. Musculus avoided everything which might impede harmony, and for the sake of peace retracted his Tetrapolitan views concerning the Lord's Supper. After his return to Augsburg he easily succeeded in bringing about the acceptation of the Concordia, but the compromise satisfied no one. Zwingli's adherents would not accept it, and when Musculus saw it rejected by all, he returned to his former position, which he later expounded in his Confessio de sacramento corporis et sanguinis dominici. Equally fruitless was his participation in the religious conference of Evangelical and Roman theologians begun at Worms in 1541 and continued at Regensburg in the following year. In 1544 he introduced the Reformation in Donauworth and wrote a Latin catechism in connection with it. He found time to study Greek and Arabic and to publish translations of the Greek patristic works, thus unconsciously laying the foundation for his later versatility. His successful activity at Augsburg was unexpectedly ended by the Augsburg Interim of 1548, which was forced upon the town by the emperor. The opposition of the council was soon broken, and Musculus was compelled to leave the city, and to seek refuge among strangers. He turned to Switzerland where he was kindly received by Bullinger and Johann Haller, and at last in 1549 he received a position as professor of theology in Bern.
Musculus may be reckoned among the number of
those who aided in the reconciliation of the two
hostile factions then existing at Bern. Although
he could not be compared with the
Activities older Reformers in creative originality,
at Bern, his extensive linguistic and theological
knowledge, as well as his clear and
thorough exegesis, made him an admirable teacher,
while through his numerous commentaries he
exerted a lasting influence upon his contemporaries. He was by no means a partizan, and was inclined to regard the differences between the Reformers as unessential. As he had once consented to the Wittenberg Concordia in his love of peace, so he mediated successfully between the extreme tendencies in Bern. His theological standpoint was always that of the Reformed Church, as may be seen in his chief dogmatical work, the Loci communes (Basel, 1554; Eng. transl. by J. Man, London, 1563). His works attracted the attention of the isolated Protestants in Poland and Hungary, and the correspondence which ensued occasioned his Vom Auffgang des Worts Gottes unter den Christen in Ungarn, die den Tiircken unterworffen. (W. Hadorn.)
Bibliography: His diary, with other documents, is printed in T. Kolde, Analecta Lutherana, Gotha, 1883. His life by his son A. Musculus was edited by the latter's son in Synopsis festalium concionum, Basel, 1595. Later treatments are to be found in P. Bayle, Dictionary Historical and Critical, iv. 285-288, London, 1737; in the lives by L. Grote, Hamburg, 1853; and W. T. Streuber, in Berner Taschenbuch for 1860; also in ADB, xxiii. 95-96; and in Beza's /cones. Contemporary Portraits of Reformers ,
with Introduction by C. G. McCrie, pp. 90-94, London, 1906. Further information is given in S. Fischer, Geschichte der Reformation und Disputation in Bern, Bern, 1828; S. Hess, Lebensgeschichte M. H. Bullinger, 2 vols., Zurich, 1828-29; C. B. Bundeshagen, Konflikte des Zwinglianismus, Luthertum und Calvinismus in der Berner Landeskirche 1632-88, Bern, 1842; Fluri, in Berner Taschenbuch for 1897, pp. 239 sqq.
MUSIC, SACRED. See Sacred Music.
MUSIL, mu'sil, ALOIS: Austrian Roman Catholic; b. at Rychtarbv (a village near Wischau, 22 m. n.e. of Briinn), Moravia, June 30, 1868. He studied at the universities of Berlin and Vienna, at Olmiitz, Moravia (D.D., 1895), in Palestine (especially at the Ecole biblique, Jerusalem), Egypt, Syria (particularly at St. Joseph's College, Beirut), in Arabia during 1895-98, and at the British Museum, Cambridge, Constantinople, and Arabia in 1899-1902. From 1891 to 1895 he was instructor in religion in Mahrisch-Ostrau and in 1898-99 held a similar position in Olmiitz. Since 1902 he has been professor of Old-Testament exegesis and Semitic languages in the theological faculty at Olmiitz. He has written: Die syrischen Kirchen (Briinn, 1899) ; Bibel oder Babel (1903) ; Von der Erschaffung bis zur Sindflut (Prague, 1905); Topographisches zur alttestamentlichen Geschichte (Ivantschitz, 1906) ; Kuseir 'Amra (2 vols., Vienna, 1906); Katie von Arabia Petrcea (1906); and Arabia Petrasa (3 vols., 1907-08).
MUSTON, ALEXIS : Reformed Church of France ; b. at La Tour de Peiltz (12 m. e.s.e. of Lausanne), Switzerland, Feb. 11, 1810; d. at Bordeaux, France, Apr. 6, 1888. He studied at Lausanne, and at Strasburg (B.D., Lie. Theol., and D.D., 1834); was ordained, 1833; exiled from Piedmont, 1835; went to Nimes, France, where he was naturalized; lived at Bordeaux first as assistant pastor, 1836^0, then as pastor. His productions of interest and importance are: Histoire des Vaudois des valltes du Piemont et de leurs colonies depuis lew origine jusqu'd nos jours (vol. i., Paris, 1834; put by the Roman Catholic hierarchy upon the Index); Les Martyrs
Mutilations and Marks Myconius