Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-02-04
A GREAT EVENT in HISTORY.

IfUAtSStH 1AluEtN ~. W uuc. tW ~
er president of Corntll University
and United States minister to Berlin
delivered the first Of the course o
lectures upon the French Revolu
tion last week ut the Peabody, Bal
timore. He said:
In regard to the value Of this per
iod, there is no epoch in history more
important. Some historians have
said the fall of Rome and the French
Revolution are the greatest epochs
in history, while others have declar
ed that the Crusades and the Revo
luton we're the greatest. All agree
in placing the French Revolution as
one OF the greatest events in. history.
It is also important for the socia
and political development of our
time. In that revolution the great
est aspirations we're carried ont to
their logical results, and the greatest
iollies OF human beings also. Nc
people 10 the world are more logical
than the French. The revolution
exhibits the carrying out Of these
feelings more plainly than any other
period in history. In studying THU
period one of the first institutions We
must take up is the church. In the
eighteenth century the church Of
France was the Institution which
shaped all others. 1t brought forth
great men. For fourteen hundred
years it had guided the conscience,
of the kings of France, aud bull
their characters in the schools AM,
from the pulpits. For fourteen
centuries it bad enjoyed absolute
control iD the formation of creed>
The French people were just whaI
the French church had made them
Even the men who afterwards OF
posed the church were brought up II
her schools. The church was the
first TO be attacked by the fiery heat
of the eighteenth century thought
The most astounding thing in tn,
church before the French revolution
was its prodIgious inequality. Look
at its table of revenues. The Bisbol
of Strasburg received an income o.
500, 600 livres per year-and a livn
is about a dollar in our money, whih
the layman priests had hardl,
wherewith to buy bread. The churcI
owned one-fifth, and some say one
third, of all the land in the kingdom
All of this was exempt from taxa
ton. There were about one hpnd
red and thirty thousand cle:icals
divided into two classes, regular and
secular, the one rich and the Other
poor. The estates derived from
benefices were enormous. Of sever
al provinces in France, the clerg,
owned more than one half. During
he middle ages many of the ORDER
Of the church had done work Of
great good. In the eighteenth cell
tnry the work of manasticism III
France seemed to be at an end
Tue monastic orders had become
subjects of contempt with the masses
There were about 10000 secular
clergy alone, and about $4,000 OF
these had plenty, while the Others
had hardly anything. Even Vol
taire, strange to say, took mp the
cause OF these starving fellows. Our
of this inequality were developed
some of the most important events
of the French Revelation. This il
the time when we find the gradual
bad feeling of the layman develop
ing against them. Far worse than
any of the other abuses of the church
was its opposition against the free
dom Of thought. Fenelon was one
OF the glories of the human race, gel
he was prosecuted.
i" Probably most OF the persecu
ton of the church was done through
earnestness at least, part of it arose
IN this way. The things which she
could not resist we're the freedom OF
thought without and her own corrup.
ton existing within. There are,
however. many examples of pure
characters. There were many cura
ties to whom geBtleBess and kind.
ness cannot be denied. The great
cause of the corruption Of the church
was its unbridled power. There IL
a proyerb that proved by history,
that tor political party nothing il
30 dangerous as too great majority
The church is the same way. The worsI
period of the church OF England wa
when it had the greatest field. /
believe it a historical fact thai
Christianity and the church have
never been so pure as at the present
day. This is due to the fact that