Milford chronicle., 1904-11-25
nrnrs TOLERANCE Now.


ers Of the church to heretics. When
they heard Of men who differed from
the doctrines Of the church they imme-
diately got together their thumbscrews
and instruments of torture. They start
ed forth with sword and spear and bat
tleax. They said. IF you will not be-
lieve as we believe we will cut out
your tongue and blind your eyes and
cripple your feet and burn your homes
and slay your sons and daughters"
Read the history of the covenanters.
Read the story Of the massacre of St
bartholomew at Paris. Read the his
tory of the dark ages. Look at Charlie
magne trying to convert his kingdom
by having the priests drive the masses
into the water like herds Of cattle and
there baptlze them by the wholesale.
Christianity became a matter of pOlit-
icaI allegiance. Individual conviction,
spiritual purity. devotion to Christ,
counted for little in those times. Men
did not read or think. They accepted
without question the dOgmas of the
leaders of church and state, some OF
whom were men without principle,
openly immoral of life Let us thank
God that we did not live in those
times. There is still much to he de-
sired. We are still far from Christ's
ideal. but rs we read of those times of
spiritual and moral darkness We realize
how far the church has advanced.
We'll" says some one, what is the
good of going way back to the dark
ages TO find that the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ is better spiritually
today than it was in the past? Why
not try to draw your Illustrations a
little nearer at hand?" The result is
the same. Conditions in the early part
Of the last century were in startling
contrast to those OF today. The minis
try in those times was largely made
up of men who entered it not on high
spiritual grounds. but as means of
making a genteeI living. Their service
was perfunctOry and lifeless. Their
moral character was often reprehensi-
Bile. The highest places were held by
men of genius but of Christless lives.
The clergy of those times were men
like Dean Swift, of whom 1t was said
that "when he was in the pulpit he
was so much a saint that he ought not
to be allowed to go out of it, and when
he was out of the pulpit his life was
so evil that he ought not to be allowed
to enter it." With spiritual leaders so
destitute Of the power Of Christ, what
could be expected of the people?
So lax were the ideas Of the Christian
church a hundred years ago that after
a presbytery meeting 1t was the usual
custom for the presbytery to adjourn
to a nearby tavern, and all the minis
tiers would there openly drink their in
toxicatinR liquor the same as the ma
jority of the sports Of race track
would now drink. The assistant pastor
Of my Chicago church told me when he
entered the ministry every minister Of
the presbytery which ordained him
with the exception of one, publicly
drank intoxicating liquors. Yet h'
Furthermore stated that within a few
years he lived to see all the ministers
Of his presbytery total abstainers an(
out and out temperance advocates, witt
but one exception. Among the records
Of a presbytery in the western part o.
PENNSYLVANIA l have been told that ont
church elected one of its members al
elder because that man on the day o.
the laying of a cornerstone of thu
church furnished a barrel Of whisky
so that all who came to the corner
stone laying could drink as much a
they would
s.ThOse Good Old Times"
1 would sooner live in my presen
modest home than in the damp room
where Mary, queen Of Scots, had t
dwell. And as for the habitations o
my grandfathers and grandmOther'
they were places no living man wOul
now put up with for a moment. w
sentimentally talk about the andirOn
of the old fashioned fire hearth. Di
you ever try the luxury of one? Mos
of the rooms of the old farmhOuses ha
to be closed in winter, because the
: could never be kept warm. In th
bedrooms the ice would freeze in tn
. pitchers. In the kitchens our granC
? fathers would be -hugging the fires an
burning their coat tails on one side {
them while they were having a who
carnival of chills playing hide and see
on the other side Of their physical ana
. Omies. Then our grandfathers, for II
most part, had the pleasure Of dressin
I. without any wooden underwear nel
to their skins. They had the luxury {
e malarial fever, scarlet fever and dipl
liberia, which used to ravage almo
7 every house on account Of poor watt
l. and drainage. They had the luxury
+ sitting up in the house at night ar
using a small tallOw. candle light
{ read by when they were not too det
tired to read.
AS for me, give me less Of the poetI
o of old times and let me eat in my hur
bic home my three meals a day wi
Il some other food besides ham, and
n me eat that food with a fork rath
a than be like Queen Elizabeth, VIII
, upon her palace dining floor, made
o cold stones, had her food placed befo
a her on the table, so that she might e
e, the meats with her bare, greasy fl