Part 9
Those who knew Maurice best were deeply impressed with the spirituality of his character. "Whenever he woke in the night," says his wife, "he was always praying." Charles Kingsley called him "the most beautiful human soul whom God has ever allowed me to meet with." As regards his intellectual attainments we may set Julius Hare's verdict "the greatest mind since Plato" over against Ruskin's "by nature puzzle-headed and indeed wrong-headed." Such contradictory impressions bespeak a life made up of contradictory elements. Maurice was a man of peace, yet his life was spent in a series of conflicts; of deep humility, yet so polemical that he often seemed biased; of large charity, yet bitter in his attack upon the religious press of his time; a loyal churchman who detested the label "Broad," yet poured out criticism upon the leaders of the Church. With an intense capacity for visualizing the unseen, and a kindly dignity, he combined a large sense of humour. While most of the "Broad Churchmen" were influenced by ethical and emotional considerations in their repudiation of the dogma of everlasting torment, he was swayed by purely intellectual and theological arguments, and in questions of a more general liberty he often opposed the proposed Liberal theologians, though he as often took their side if he saw them hard pressed. He had a wide metaphysical and philosophical knowledge which he applied to the history of theology. He was a strenuous advocate of ecclesiastical control in elementary education, and an opponent of the new school of higher biblical criticism, though so far an evolutionist as to believe in growth and development as applied to the history of nations.
As a preacher, his message was apparently simple; his two great convictions were the fatherhood of God, and that all religious systems which had any stability lasted because of a portion of truth which had to be disentangled from the error differentiating them from the doctrines of the Church of England as understood by himself. His love to God as his Father was a passionate adoration which filled his whole heart. The prophetic, even apocalyptic, note of his preaching was particularly impressive. He prophesied in London as Isaiah prophesied to the little towns of Palestine and Syria, "often with dark foreboding, but seeing through all unrest and convulsion the working out of a sure divine purpose." Both at King's College and at Cambridge Maurice gathered round him a band of earnest students, to whom he directly taught much that was valuable drawn from wide stores of his own reading, wide rather than deep, for he never was, strictly speaking, a learned man. Still more did he encourage the habit of inquiry and research, more valuable than his direct teaching. In his Socratic power of convincing his pupils of their ignorance he did more than perhaps any other man of his time to awaken in those who came under his sway the desire for knowledge and the process of independent thought.
As a social reformer, Maurice was before his time, and gave his eager support to schemes for which the world was not ready. From an early period of his life in London the condition of the poor pressed upon him with consuming force; the enormous magnitude of the social questions involved was a burden which he could hardly bear. For many years he was the clergyman whom working men of all opinions seemed to trust even if their faith in other religious men and all religious systems had faded, and he had a marvellous power of attracting the zealot and the outcast.
His works cover nearly 40 volumes, often obscure, often tautological, and with no great distinction of style. But their high purpose and philosophical outlook give his writings a permanent place in the history of the thought of his time. The following are the more important works--some of them were rewritten and in a measure recast, and the date given is not necessarily that of the first appearance of the book, but of its more complete and abiding form: _Eustace Conway, or the Brother and Sister_, a novel (1834); _The Kingdom of Christ_ (1842); _Christmas Day and Other Sermons_ (1843); _The Unity of the New Testament_ (1844); _The Epistle to the Hebrews_ (1846); _The Religions of the World_ (1847); _Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy_ (at first an article in the _Encyclopaedia Metropolitana_, 1848); _The Church a Family_ (1850); _The Old Testament_ (1851); _Theological Essays_ (1853); _The Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament_ (1853); _Lectures on Ecclesiastical History_ (1854); _The Doctrine of Sacrifice_ (1854); _The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament_ (1855); _The Epistles of St John_ (1857); _The Commandments as Instruments of National Reformation_ (1866); _On the Gospel of St Luke_ (1868); _The Conscience: Lectures on Casuistry_ (1868); _The Lord's Prayer, a Manual_ (1870). The greater part of these works were first delivered as sermons or lectures. Maurice also contributed many prefaces and introductions to the works of friends, as to Archdeacon Hare's _Charges_, Kingsley's _Saint's Tragedy_, &c.
See _Life_ by his son (2 vols., London, 1884), and a monograph by C. F. G. Masterman (1907) in "Leader of the Church" series; W. E. Collins in _Typical English Churchmen_, pp. 327-360 (1902), and T. Hughes in _The Friendship of Books_ (1873).
MAURICE OF NASSAU, prince of Orange (1567-1625), the second son of William the Silent, by Anna, only daughter of the famous Maurice, elector of Saxony, was born at Dillenburg. At the time of his father's assassination in 1584 he was being educated at the university of Leiden, at the expense of the states of Holland and Zeeland. Despite his youth he was made stadtholder of those two provinces and president of the council of state. During the period of Leicester's governorship he remained in the background, engaged in acquiring a thorough knowledge of the military art, and in 1586 the States of Holland conferred upon him the title of prince. On the withdrawal of Leicester from the Netherlands in August 1587, Johan van Oldenbarneveldt, the advocate of Holland, became the leading statesman of the country, a position which he retained for upwards of thirty years. He had been a devoted adherent of William the Silent and he now used his influence to forward the interests of Maurice. In 1588 he was appointed by the States-General captain and admiral-general of the Union, in 1590 he was elected stadtholder of Utrecht and Overysel, and in 1591 of Gelderland. From this time forward, Oldenbarneveldt at the head of the civil government and Maurice in command of the armed forces of the republic worked together in the task of rescuing the United Netherlands from Spanish domination (for details see HOLLAND). Maurice soon showed himself to be a general second in skill to none of his contemporaries. He was especially famed for his consummate knowledge of the science of sieges. The twelve years' truce on the 9th of April 1609 brought to an end the cordial relations between Maurice and Oldenbarneveldt. Maurice was opposed to the truce, but the advocate's policy triumphed and henceforward there was enmity between them. The theological disputes between the Remonstrants and contra-Remonstrants found them on different sides; and the theological quarrel soon became a political one. Oldenbarneveldt, supported by the states of Holland, came forward as the champion of provincial sovereignty against that of the states-general; Maurice threw the weight of his sword on the side of the union. The struggle was a short one, for the army obeyed the general who had so often led them to victory. Oldenbarneveldt perished on the scaffold, and the share which Maurice had in securing the illegal condemnation by a packed court of judges of the aged patriot must ever remain a stain upon his memory.
Maurice, who had on the death of his elder brother Philip William, in February 1618, become prince of Orange, was now supreme in the state, but during the remainder of his life he sorely missed the wise counsels of the experienced Oldenbarneveldt. War broke out again in 1621, but success had ceased to accompany him on his campaigns. His health gave way, and he died, a prematurely aged man, at the Hague on the 4th of April 1625. He was buried by his father's side at Delft.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--I. Commelin, _Wilhelm en Maurits v. Nassau, pr. v. Orangien, haer leven en bedrijf_ (Amsterdam, 1651); G. Groen van Prinsterer, _Archives ou correspondance de la maison d'Orange-Nassau_, 1^e série, 9 vols. (Leiden, 1841-1861); G. Groen van Prinsterer, _Maurice et Barneveldt_ (Utrecht, 1875); J. L. Motley, _Life and Death of John of Barneveldt_ (2 vols., The Hague, 1894); C. M. Kemp, v.d. _Maurits v. Nassau, prins v. Oranje in zijn leven en verdiensten_ (4 vols., Rotterdam, 1845); M. O. Nutting, _The Days of Prince Maurice_ (Boston and Chicago, 1894).
MAURISTS, a congregation of French Benedictines called after St Maurus (d. 565), a disciple of St Benedict and the legendary introducer of the Benedictine rule and life into Gaul.[1] At the end of the 16th century the Benedictine monasteries of France had fallen into a state of disorganization and relaxation. In the abbey of St Vaune near Verdun a reform was initiated by Dom Didier de la Cour, which spread to other houses in Lorraine, and in 1604 the reformed congregation of St Vaune was established, the most distinguished members of which were Ceillier and Calmet. A number of French houses joined the new congregation; but as Lorraine was still independent of the French crown, it was considered desirable to form on the same lines a separate congregation for France. Thus in 1621 was established the famous French congregation of St Maur. Most of the Benedictine monasteries of France, except those belonging to Cluny, gradually joined the new congregation, which eventually embraced nearly two hundred houses. The chief house was Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, the residence of the superior-general and centre of the literary activity of the congregation. The primary idea of the movement was not the undertaking of literary and historical work, but the return to a strict monastic régime and the faithful carrying out of Benedictine life; and throughout the most glorious period of Maurist history the literary work was not allowed to interfere with the due performance of the choral office and the other duties of the monastic life. Towards the end of the 18th century a tendency crept in, in some quarters, to relax the monastic observances in favour of study; but the constitutions of 1770 show that a strict monastic régime was maintained until the end. The course of Maurist history and work was checkered by the ecclesiastical controversies that distracted the French Church during the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of the members identified themselves with the Jansenist cause; but the bulk, including nearly all the greatest names, pursued a middle path, opposing the lax moral theology condemned in 1679 by Pope Innocent XI., and adhering to those strong views on grace and predestination associated with the Augustinian and Thomist schools of Catholic theology; and like all the theological faculties and schools on French soil, they were bound to teach the four Gallican articles. It seems that towards the end of the 18th century a rationalistic and free-thinking spirit invaded some of the houses. The congregation was suppressed and the monks scattered at the revolution, the last superior-general with forty of his monks dying on the scaffold in Paris. The present French congregation of Benedictines initiated by Dom Guéranger in 1833 is a new creation and has no continuity with the congregation of St Maur.
The great claim of the Maurists to the gratitude and admiration of posterity is their historical and critical school, which stands quite alone in history, and produced an extraordinary number of colossal works of erudition which still are of permanent value. The foundations of this school were laid by Dom Tarisse, the first superior-general, who in 1632 issued instructions to the superiors of the monasteries to train the young monks in the habits of research and of organized work. The pioneers in production were Ménard and d'Achery.
The following tables give, divided into groups, the most important Maurist works, along with such information as may be useful to students. All works are folio when not otherwise noted:--
I.--THE EDITIONS OF THE FATHERS
Epistle of Barnabas Ménard 1645 1 in 4^to (editio princeps) Lanfranc d'Achery 1648 1 Guibert of Nogent d'Achery 1651 1 Robert Pulleyn and Peter of Poitiers Mathou 1655 1 Bernard Mabillon 1667 2 Anselm Gerberon 1675 1 Cassiodorus Garet 1679 1 Augustine (see Kukula, Delfau, Blampin, _Die Mauriner-Ausgabe Coustant, Guesnie 1681-1700 11 des Augustinus_, 1898) Ambrose du Frische 1686-1690 2 Acta martyrum sincera Ruinart 1689 1 Hilary Coustant 1693 1 Jerome Martianay 1693-1706 5 Athanasius Loppin and Mont- faucon 1698 3 Gregory of Tours Ruinart 1699 1 Gregory the Great Sainte-Marthe 1705 4 Hildebert of Tours Beaugendre 1708 1 Irenaeus Massuet 1710 1 Chrysostom Montfaucon 1718-1738 13 Cyril of Jerusalem Touttée and Maran 1720 1 Epistolae romanorum Coustant 1721 1 pontificum[2] Basil Garnier and Maran 1721-1730 3 Cyprian (Baluze, not a Maurist) finished by Maran 1726 1 Origen Ch. de la Rue (1, 2, 3) V. de la Rue (4) 1733-1759 4 Justin and the Apologists Maran 1742 1 Gregory Nazianzen[3] Maran and Clémencet 1778 1
II.--BIBLICAL WORKS
St Jerome's Latin Bible Martianay 1693 1 Origen's Hexapla Montfaucon 1713 2 Old Latin versions Sabbathier 1743-1749 3
III.--GREAT COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
Spicilegium d'Achery 1655-1677 13 in 4^to Veterae analecta Mabillon 1675-1685 4 in 8^vo Musaeum italicum Mabillon 1687-1689 2 in 4^to Collectio nova patrum Montfaucon 1706 2 graecorum Thesaurus novus Martène and Durand 1717 5 anecdotorum Veterum scriptorum Martène and Durand 1724-1733 9 collectio De antiquis Martène 1690-1706 ecclesiaeritibus (Final form) 1736-1738 4
IV.--MONASTIC HISTORY
Acta of the Benedictine d'Achery, Mabillon Saints and Ruinart 1668-1701 9 Benedictine Annals (to Mabillon (1-4), 1157) Massuet (5), Martène (6) 1703-1739 6
V.--ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF FRANCE
A.--_General._
Gallia Christiana (3 other Sainte-Marthe vols. were published (1, 2, 3) 1715-1785 13 1856-1865) Monuments de la monarchie Montfaucon 1729-1733 5 française Histoire littéraire de la Rivet, Clémencet, France (16 other vols. Clément 1733-1763 12 in 4^to were published 1814-1881) Recueil des historiens de Bouquet (1-8), Brial la France (4 other vols. (12-19) 1738-1833 19 were published 1840-1876) Concilia Galliae (the Labbat 1789 1 printing of vol. ii. was interrupted by the Revolution; there were to have been 8 vols.)
B.--HISTORIES OF THE PROVINCES.
Bretagne Lobineau 1707 2 Paris Félibien and Lobineau 1725 5 Languedoc Vaissette and de Vic 1730-1745 5 Bourgogne Plancher (1-3), 1739-1748 4 Merle (4) 1781 Bretagne Morice 1742-1756 5
VI.--MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF TECHNICAL ERUDITION
De re diplomatica Mabillon 1681 1 Ditto Supplement Mabillon 1704 1 Nouveau traité de Toustain and Tassin 1750-1765 6 in 4^to diplomatique Paleographia graeca Montfaucon 1708 1 Bibliotheca coisliniana Montfaucon 1715 1 Bibliotheca bibliothecarum Montfaucon 1739 2 manuscriptorum nova L'Antiquité expliqué Montfaucon 1719-1724 15 New ed. of Du Cange's Dantine and glossarium Carpentier 1733-1736 6 Ditto Supplement Carpentier 1766 4 Apparatus ad bibliothecam le Nourry 1703 2 maximam patrum L'Art de vérifier les Dantine, Durand, dates Clémencet 1750 1 in 4^to Ed. 2 Clément 1770 1 Ed. 3 Clément 1783-1787 3
The 58 works in the above list comprise 199 great folio volumes and 39 in 4^to or 8^vo. The full Maurist bibliography contains the names of some 220 writers and more than 700 works. The lesser works in large measure cover the same fields as those in the list, but the number of works of purely religious character, of piety, devotion and edification, is very striking. Perhaps the most wonderful phenomenon of Maurist work is that what was produced was only a portion of what was contemplated and prepared for. The French Revolution cut short many gigantic undertakings, the collected materials for which fill hundreds of manuscript volumes in the Bibliothèque nationale of Paris and other libraries of France. There are at Paris 31 volumes of Berthereau's materials for the Historians of the Crusades, not only in Latin and Greek, but in the oriental tongues; from them have been taken in great measure the _Recueil des historiens des croisades_, whereof 15 folio volumes have been published by the Académie des Inscriptions. There exist also the preparations for an edition of Rufinus and one of Eusebius, and for the continuation of the Papal Letters and of the Concilia Galliae. Dom Caffiaux and Dom Villevielle left 236 volumes of materials for a _Trésor généalogique_. There are Benedictine Antiquities (37 vols.), a Monasticon Gallicanum and a Monasticon Benedictinum (54 vols.). Of the Histories of the Provinces of France barely half a dozen were printed, but all were in hand, and the collections for the others fill 800 volumes of MSS. The materials for a geography of Gaul and France in 50 volumes perished in a fire during the Revolution.
When these figures were considered, and when one contemplates the vastness of the works in progress during any decade of the century 1680-1780; and still more, when not only the quantity but the quality of the work, and the abiding value of most of it is realized, it will be recognized that the output was prodigious and unique in the history of letters, as coming from a single society. The qualities that have made Maurist work proverbial for sound learning are its fine critical tact and its thoroughness.
The chief source of information on the Maurists and their work is Dom Tassin's _Histoire littéraire de la congregation de Saint-Maur_ (1770); it has been reduced to a bare bibliography and completed by de Lama, _Bibliothèque des écrivains de la congr. de S.-M._ (1882). The two works of de Broglie, _Mabillon_ (2 vols., 1888) and _Montfaucon_ (2 vols., 1891), give a charming picture of the inner life of the great Maurists of the earlier generation in the midst of their work and their friends. Sketches of the lives of a few of the chief Maurists will be found in McCarthy's _Principal Writers of the Congr. of S. M._ (1868). Useful information about their literary undertakings will be found in De Lisle's _Cabinet des MSS. de la Bibl. Nat. Fonds St Germain-des-Prés_. General information will be found in the standard authorities: Helyot, _Hist. des ordres religieux_ (1718), vi. c. 37; Heimbucher, _Orden und Kongregationen_ (1907) i. § 36; Wetzer und Welte, Kirchenlexicon (ed. 2) and Herzog-Hauck's _Realencyklopädie_ (ed. 3), the latter an interesting appreciation by the Protestant historian Otto Zöckler of the spirit and the merits of the work of the Maurists. (E. C. B.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] His festival is kept on the 15th of January. He founded the monastery of Glanfeuil or St Maur-sur-Loire.
[2] 14 vols. of materials collected for the continuation are at Paris.
[3] The printing of vol. ii. was impeded by the Revolution.
MAURITIUS, an island and British colony in the Indian Ocean (known whilst a French possession as the _Île de France_). It lies between 57° 18´ and 57° 49´ E., and 19° 58´ and 20° 32´ S., 550 m. E. of Madagascar, 2300 m. from the Cape of Good Hope, and 9500 m. from England via Suez. The island is irregularly elliptical--somewhat triangular--in shape, and is 36 m. long from N.N.E. to S.S.W., and about 23 m. broad. It is 130 m. in circumference, and its total area is about 710 sq. m. (For map see MADAGASCAR.) The island is surrounded by coral reefs, so that the ports are difficult of access.
From its mountainous character Mauritius is a most picturesque island, and its scenery is very varied and beautiful. It has been admirably described by Bernardin de St Pierre, who lived in the island towards the close of the 18th century, in _Paul et Virginie_. The most level portions of the coast districts are the north and north-east, all the rest being broken by hills, which vary from 500 to 2700 ft. in height. The principal mountain masses are the north-western or Pouce range, in the district of Port Louis; the south-western, in the districts of Rivière Noire and Savanne; and the south-eastern range, in the Grand Port district. In the first of these, which consists of one principal ridge with several lateral spurs, overlooking Port Louis, are the singular peak of the Pouce (2650 ft.), so called from its supposed resemblance to the human thumb; and the still loftier Pieter Botte (2685 ft.), a tall obelisk of bare rock, crowned with a globular mass of stone. The highest summit in the island is in the south-western mass of hills, the Piton de la Rivière Noire, which is 2711 ft. above the sea. The south-eastern group of hills consists of the Montagne du Bambou, with several spurs running down to the sea. In the interior are extensive fertile plains, some 1200 ft. in height, forming the districts of Moka, Vacois, and Plaines Wilhelms; and from nearly the centre of the island an abrupt peak, the Piton du Milieu de l'Île rises to a height of 1932 ft. Other prominent summits are the Trois Mamelles, the Montagne du Corps de Garde, the Signal Mountain, near Port Louis, and the Morne Brabant, at the south-west corner of the island.
The rivers are small, and none is navigable beyond a few hundred yards from the sea. In the dry season little more than brooks, they become raging torrents in the wet season. The principal stream is the Grande Rivière, with a course of about 10 m. There is a remarkable and very deep lake, called Grand Bassin, in the south of the island, it is probably the extinct crater of an ancient volcano; similar lakes are the Mare aux Vacois and the Mare aux Joncs, and there are other deep hollows which have a like origin.
_Geology._--The island is of volcanic origin, but has ceased to show signs of volcanic activity. All the rocks are of basalt and greyish-tinted lavas, excepting some beds of upraised coral. Columnar basalt is seen in several places. The remains of ancient craters can be distinguished, but their outlines have been greatly destroyed by denudation. There are many caverns and steep ravines, and from the character of the rocks the ascents are rugged and precipitous. The island has few minerals, although iron, lead and copper in very small quantities have in former times been obtained. The greater part of the surface is composed of a volcanic breccia, with here and there lava-streams exposed in ravines, and sometimes on the surface. The commonest lavas are dolerites. In at least two places sedimentary rocks are found at considerable elevations. In the Black River Mountains, at a height of about 1200 ft., there is a clay-slate; and near Midlands, in the Grand Port group of mountains, a chloritic schist occurs about 1700 ft. above the sea, forming the hill of La Selle. This schist is much contorted, but seems to have a general dip to the south or south-east. Evidence of recent elevation of the island is furnished by masses of coral reef and beach coral rock standing at heights of 40 ft. above sea-level in the south, 12 ft. in the north and 7 ft. on the islands situated on the bank extending to the north-east.[1]