Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-11-26

into the water like herds of cattle and
there baptize them by the wholesale.
Christianity became a matter or polit-
fcal allegiance. Individual conviction,
spiritual purity, devotion to Christ,
counted for little n those times. Men
did not read or tbdnk. 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 be de-
sired. We are still far from Christs
ideal. but as we read Of those times OF
spiritual and moral darkness we realize
how far the church has advanced.
"Well," 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 1t was in the past? why
not try to draw your illustrations
little nearer at handW 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 I'm those times was largely made
nm of men who entered it not on high
spiritual grounds, but as a means OF
making a genteel 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 q saint that he ought not
to be allowed to go out OF 1t, and when
he was out of the pulpit his life was
80 evil that be 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
n presbytery meeting 1t was the usual
custom for the presbytery to adjourn
to a nearby tavern, and all the minis
ters would there openly drink their in
toxicating liquor the same as the ma
jority OF the sports Of a 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 he
Furthermore stated that within a few
years he lived to see all the ministers
of his presbytery total abstainers and
out and out temperance advocates, with
but one exception. Among the records
Of a presbytery in the western part OF
Pennsylvania have been told that one
church elected one of its members an
elder because that man on the day OF
the laying Of q cornerstone Of the
| church furnished barrel OF whisky,
go that all who came to the corner
stone laying could drink as much as
they would.
| "Those Good Old Times"
| would sooner live in my present
modest home than in the damp rooms
where Mary, queen Of Scots, had to
dwell. And as for the habitations OF
| nv grandfathers and grandmothers,
they were places no living man would
now put up with for moment. We
sentimentally talk about the andirons
OF the old fashioned fire hearth. Did
| YOU ever try the luxury Of one? Most
of the rooms Of the old farmhouses had
to be closed in winter, because they
could never be kept warm. In the
bedrooms the ice would freeze in the
pitchers. In the kitchens our grand
fathers would be hugging the fires and
burning their coat tails on one side OF
them while they were having whole
carnival Of chills playing hide and seek
on the other side Of their physical anat-
omies. Then our grandfathers, for the
most part, had the pleasure OF dressing
without any woolen underwear next
to their skins. They had the luxury OF
malarial fever, scarlet fever and diph'
iberia. which used to ravage almost
every house on account Of poor water
and drainage. They had the luxury OF
sitting I'D in the house at night anu
using a small tallow candle light tc
read by when they were not too dead
tired to read.
As for me, give me less Of the poetry
of old times and let me eat In my hum
BILE home my three meals day Will
some other food besides ham, and lei
me eat that food with a fork rather
than be Ike Queen Elizabeth, who
upon her palace dining floor, made OF
cold stones, had her food placed before
her on the table, so that she might eat
the meats with her bare, greasy FIN
gers.
But. oh. II the we'll people, physical
ly and mentally, are better off from
temporal standpoint in this day thal
they were in our grandfathers' anC
/ rrandmothers' times, how much more
ought the sick to be thankful unto hin
who is the Giver Of all good gifts
Think Of the merciful institutions
which have been erected for the in
! valids, called hospitals! IhlnK OF al
the marvellous wonders which have
been discovered or invented by means
Of which pain can be driven away a
the point of the surgeons knife o.
cured by the physicians prescription
Think of the merciful angel "anaesthe
sia," who comes to the side of the op
Grating table and lays the soothing
hand Of benumbment upon the twitch
ing nerves and the agonizing brain
Tell me, o sick man, that this is not
, better time to live in than those time'
in which our grandfathers lived!
No Dental Chairs Then.
Then think Of the mercies which
have come to us through the denta
J chair In olden times when man ha6
a toothache he would 60 to the village
doctor or to the village blacksmith
The forceps would embrace the aching
+ootb Thara would hp QrOan veil