The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1867-07-11

~Ao sAVo OAa1loS ana stOrml0& lnt0
battles and revolutions. It is the spir-
it Of the human intellect seeking out
the path to human happiness-it is the
great spirit Of truth outing its way
straight forward through the hear. Of
Ill errors.
| Our prayer to God must be that it
shall 60 forward. It 10 . section Of
Himself let down into the world to re.
form the world. 1t is the light moving
on the face Of tho waters. 1t is the
forming principle working in the bosom
Of Chaos. Who shall stay it, What
falschood, though it be venerable with
he moss Of ages, though it be crock
ribbed and ancient ~ the bills" shal
resist it? 1s great instrument and wea-
pom is the enlightenment Of tho human
understanding. As man rules the
world and the brains rule the man, that
which brings eaulgent light into the
great dome Of the human intellect, and
drives out the foul creatures which bat
like cougregate therein, must elevate
andimprove the wholeterrestrial sphere.
And this is education.
The progress Of education has been
the progress Of the world. How abso-
lutely horrible and terrible has been the
barbarous past Of our own white Euro
pean race. Let Us take q few instan.
ces: Bonnemere, in his Historic des
Psysans. volume II, page 100, speak
ing of the game laws Of France, in the
middle ages, says: ''The death Of q
hare was 4 hanging matter; the mur-
der Of = plover capital crime. Death
was inflicted on those who spread nets
for pigeons ; those who had drawn
bow upon stag were to be tied to the
animal alive; and among the seignors
it was standing excuse for having kill
ed game on forbidden ground, that they
aimed at a serf"
Wright's Eoe'aud in the Middle
Ages, page l0l, informs u Of the kind
esteem in which the agricultural popu-
latiou, denomioated the villan;, the VII
lains, were held by the nobility in the
18th century. A knight who had cru
ely plundered the poor villains was
complimeuted by one of..hls 1latterers in
these words: cab! sir; thou doest
vol. For men ought always to pluck
and pillage the churl, who is like the
willow-it sprouteth out the better for
being oftsn cropped"
The insecurity Of human life, aud
the ignorance and cruelty Of the popu-
lace in the middle ages, are shown also
by the popular recipe for the cure Of
the terrible plaques which were produc.
ed by the squalor and wretchedness Of
the people. That cure vas summed up
in these lines Ct doggerel, shouted
through the streets by the mob:
"Pooh! pooh!
Burn Jew;
Burn dozen,
Burn tWo."
Only 30 far back a. 1893 the Parlia-
ment Of England paid E3,644 or about
SIS. .220 Of our money to an ignorant,
vulgar woman named Joanna Stephen
for the secret Of certain quack medi.
cines used by her, and. which when dis
closed were found to consist Of egg
shells, sn.is, soap and honey, prepared
in the true quack style. They were
eagerly accepted BY the people, who b.
lieved that Parliament had received
the full worth Of its money.
Two years prior to that period, TO-
Wit, in 1876, when in Scotland the
"Act anent Witchcraft" was repealed,
"many Of the most: pious men Of the
day bewailed this mercifal piece of leg
islation n 4 departure from the faith Of
the Bible" Wood row, tho historian,
bewailed himself because Of it: Lord
Erskine, Of Grange, in his place in Par.
lament, spoke against it; aud when
the Associate Presbytery, which had
recently seeded from the church, it,
sued the "Judioial Testimony they
mentioned among the other sins Of tho
day the repeal Of the penal statutes
agaihst witches, contrary to the express
letter Of the law Of God-Exod. XIII
18-''Thou shalt not suffer witch to
i've"
When still later it was proposed to
admit Jews to sit in the English Par
lament . conservative member solemn
II declared in tho House Of Commons
that, remembering certain passages in
Scripture, he DARED NOT SIT I. a Par
liament to ,ekick Jevs ,oere admitted" "
I refer to these various facts, not to
mock the ignorance Of tho past Or to
exult over the superiority Of the present
but to call attention tv the tact that,
without enlightenment among tho pe<.
pie, tho most cruel, and unjust, aud ri
diculous doctrines are made to spring
from the best sentiments Of the human
heart. ,zs<- sssz s:s.. s,.-.. ri. @~.->.s Il
0uisot says: "During more than teu
centuries nothing vas easy, general, q
simple, in our Europe. Religion, lib
erty, public order, literature nothing
has been developed without long con
tinued effort, il tho midst Of eonstantl,
renewed struggles, and under the mos
diversified influences" ;.,s..s.s d.
Aud yet, steadily, p.rsistsntly, III
movement forward he's continued, draw
ing constantly nearer the goal.
There 10 10 rsst for The hunan II
a. ,,..;.s. -. =. =,