A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

MORALITIES, MYSTERIES, and MIRACLES. A kind of theatrical representations, which were made by the monks, friars, and other ecclesiastics of the middle ages, the vehicle of instruction to the people. Their general character was the same, but the miracles may be distinguished as those which represented the miracles wrought by the holy confessors, and the sufferings by which the perseverance of the martyrs was manifested; of which kind the first specified by name is a scenic representation of the legend of St. Catherine. The moralities were certain allegorical representations of virtues or vices, always so contrived as to make virtue seem desirable, and vice ridiculous and deformed. The mysteries were representations often of great length, and requiring several days’ performance, of the Scripture narrative, or of several parts of it, as, for instance, the descent of Christ into hell. Of these mysteries two complete series have lately been published from ancient manuscripts, the Townley Mysteries, performed by the monks of Woodchurch, near Wakefield, and the different leading companies of that town; and the Coventry Mysteries, performed with like help of the trades in Coventry, by the Grey Friars of that ancient city. Both of these collections begin with the creation, and carry on the story in different pageants or scenes until the judgment-day.

It will not be supposed that these plays are free from the deformities of every other kind of literature of the times to which they are referred; nor that the performance of them was without a great deal more of the coarseness of an unrefined age than would be tolerated now: neither need it be concealed that the theology therein embodied was sometimes rather Popish than Catholic.

On the whole it may fairly be said, that these miracles, mysteries, and moralities, were wholesome for the times; and that though they afterwards degenerated into actual abuses, yet that they are not to be condemned without measure and without mercy.

Their history and character are interesting, not only as giving a fair picture of the character of remote ages, but also because they seem to be the original from which arose stage plays and oratorios.

As a specimen of these old moralities see in Dodsley’s collection of Old Plays—God’s Promises, by Bale, bishop of Ossory, which dramatizes the leading events of the Sacred History. It was printed in 1538.

MORAVIANS, or UNITED BRETHREN. A sect generally said to have arisen under Nicholas Lewis, count of Zinzendorf, a German nobleman of the last century, and thus called because the first converts to the system were some Moravian families. According to the society’s own account, however, they derive their origin from the Greek Church in the ninth century, when, by the instrumentality of Methodius and Cyrillus, two Greek monks, the kings of Bulgaria and Moravia, being converted to the faith, were, together with their subjects, united in communion with the Greek Church. Methodius was their first bishop, and for their use Cyrillus translated the Scriptures into the Sclavonian language.

It is sometimes supposed that because the Moravians have bishops, they are less to be blamed than other dissenting sects. But, to say nothing of the doubt that exists with respect to the validity of their orders, an episcopal church may be, as the Moravians and Romanists of this country are, in a state of schism. And the very fact that the difference between them and the Church is not great, if this be so, makes the sin of their schism, in not conforming, yet greater.

Though the Brethren acknowledge no other standard of truth than the sacred Scriptures, they in general profess to adhere to the Augsburg Confession of Faith. Both in their Summary of Christian Doctrine, which is used for the instruction of their children, and in their general instructions and sermons, they teach the doctrine of the Trinity; and in their prayers, hymns, and litanies address the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the same manner as is done in other Christian Churches; yet they chiefly direct their hearers to Jesus Christ, as the appointed channel of the Deity, in whom God is known and made manifest unto man. They dwell upon what he has done and suffered, and upon the glorious descriptions given of him as an Almighty Saviour. They recommend love to him, as the constraining principle of the Christian’s conduct; and their general manner is more by beseeching men to be reconciled to God, than by alarming them with the terrors of the law, and the threatenings against the impenitent, which they, however, do not fail occasionally to set before their hearers. They avoid, as much as possible, everything that would lead to controversy; and though they strongly insist upon salvation by grace alone through faith, yet they will not enter into any explanation, or give any decided opinion, concerning particular election. They have, therefore, been considered by high Calvinists as leaning to Arminianism, and by others as Calvinists; but they themselves decline the adoption of either name, and conceive that the gospel may be preached by both. They profess to believe that the kingdom of Christ is not confined to any party, community, or church; and they consider themselves, though closely united in one body or visible Church, as spiritually joined in the bond of Christian love to all who are taught of God, and belong to the universal Church of Christ, however much they may differ in forms, which they deem non-essentials.

See Crantz’s History of the Brethren; Spangenberg’s Exposition of Christian Doctrine; Ratio Disciplinæ Unit. Fratrum, by Loretz, &c.

MORMONISTS, or LATTER DAY SAINTS. The Census Report published in 1854, gives the following account of these enthusiasts. Although, in origin, the Mormon movement is not English, but American, yet, as the new creed, by the missionary zeal of its disciples, has extended into England, and is making some not inconsiderable progress with the poorer classes of our countrymen, it seems desirable to give, as far as the inadequate materials permit, some brief description of a sect, the history of whose opinions, sufferings, and achievements, shows, perhaps, the most remarkable religious movement that has happened since the days of Mahomet.