The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-27

1 chattelS Of the hoHldIlS- Ahese Aheu Wn0
 fought for their country's liberties now
 had to moan and winch and beg for mercy under the slave masters lash
 When Caius Marius made his triumphal ! entry in Rome be handed over 1WOOO Cimbri as spells for the slave markets
 Aemilius Paulus' conquest over the l Greeks glutted the Roman slave markets with 150,0OO captives of war, while the conauests of Pompeius and Caesar gave to Rome at least 100000 new slaves I ask you are not our modern governments in their treatment of fallen foes more mereiful and just than were the ancient governments.
 Ancient Rulers and Tyranny Then compare the administration of our rulers to that of ancient rulers over their subjects. In ancient times the rul- CTS had absolute power of life and death over the inhabitants of their Kingdoms as a Roman subject at will could slay one of his slaves and be held accountable to no law We read in history how Nero the Roman emperor, used to reyel in cruelty and outrage No life was safe under the tyranny of that monster. Any excuse served for the qualification of his lust for bloodshed. Even his own moth- CT and his most faithful adherents fell victims to his unsuitable brutality But we do not have to go clear back to the Roman era to find the unlimited power over life and death of a subject vested in the hand of a king or prince In 1470. only a little over 400 years ago, Moham- med IL. the sultan of Turkey, summon ed a famous Venetian artist Giovanni , by name, to paint the picture of himself and mother. While a guest of the Turk ish court Giovanni painted picture for the sultan entitled John the Baptists Head in a Charger" Mohammed looked at the picture a little while and then said: Artist, l think your picture is wrong When a mans head is decapit- ated the cords and muscles of the neck shrink and contract insetad of expand. Let me prove to you that I am right" With that the sultan drew his ieweled sword from it's jeweled scabbard, and
 with a sweep of his arm, he cut off the head of a courier who stood near him. As the head fell at the feet of the artist the sultan said: See, I am right. The cords of the neck always contract" The mortified artist said: "Yes, your majesty, I think you are right" Then for fear of losing his own head, Giovanni fled back to his home city of Venice and reported to the doge what he had seen.
 Is there any European country on earth which would allow Its ruler to do his subjects as Mohammed II. did his? We have our governmental injustices. but today we have not upon any throne of the civilized world a Henry VIII, of England, or a sinful, debauehed Cath crime of Russia, or a Nero of Rome, or Cleopatra of Africa or a Mohammed IT., of Turkey. The people. the common peo- pie of every land, have asserted them selves and demanded and won their rights. Everywhere we find that gov ernments are better than their predeces- ros. Even modern Turkey is an improve- ment over ancient Turkey.
 The governments are better and con- tinually growing better The churches are also purer in thought. They have higher ideals of spirituality and moral ity than they ever had before. It is easy enough for men and women to sit down and critielse the pew, and criticize the pulpit and criticise the ways of rais- ing church money, and critioise the choir loft, but I want to tell you that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ Is not only purer :n thought, but that the lead CTS of the Churches as well as the com mon people are purer in their spiritual lives.
 More Tolerance Now.
 There is more tolerance and humanity in the modern church. In ancient times no mercy was shown by the leaders of the church to heretics When they heard OI men WnO ulIItEeu lTOm iHe uOctTlUes of the church they immediately got to- gether their thumbscrews and instru- ments of torture. They started forth witt sword and spear and battleax. They said, "If you will not believe as we be. lieve, we will cut out your tongue and blind your eyes and cripple your feet and burn your homes and slay your sons anC daughters" Read the history. of the GOV. enanters Read the story of the massacre of St. Bartholomew at Paris. Read the history of the dark ages. Look at Charle. magne trying to convert his Kingdom by having the priests drive the masses into the water like herds of cattle and there baptize them by the wholesale. Christi anity became a matter of political ale gience. Individual conviction, spiritual purity, devotion to Christ, counted foi little in those times. Men did not reat or think They accepted without quest tion the dogmas of the leaders of tho church and state, some of whom were men without principle, openly immora of life. Let us thank God that we did no 10 be desired. We are still far iron Christ's ideal but as we read of those times of spiritual and moral darkness WI realize how far the church has advanced Well" says some one, what is thu good of going way back to the dark age' to find that the church of the Lord Jesul Christ is better spiritually today than |
 was in the past? Why not try to draw your illustrations little nearer q hand?" The result is the same. Condi tions in the early part of the last century
 were in startling contrast to those of to day. The ministry in those times wa largely made up of men who entered i not on high spiritual grounds, but as means of making a genteel living. Thei service was perfunctory and lifeless | Their moral character was often repre- hensible. The highest places were hel' | by men of genius but of Christless lives | The clergy of those times were men lilx l Dean Swift, of whom 1t was said tha
 when he was in the pulpit he was s 1 much saint that he ought not to be al | lowed to go out of it.. Spiritual leader
 so destitute of the power of Christ, wha | could be expected of the poole?
 | So lax were the ideas of the Christian | church a hundred years ago that after 1 presbytery meeting it was the usual GUS | tom for the presbytery to adjourn to nearby tavern, and all the ministers | would there openly drink their intoxicat l ing liquor the same as the majority o | the sports of a race track would nov | drink. The assistant pastor of my Chi | cago church told me when he entered tn
 ministry every minister of the presby
 tery which ordained him, with the ex | ception of one, publicly drank intoxicat | ing liquors. Yet he furthermore state | that within few years he lived to SC all the ministers of his presbytery tota | abstainers and out and out temperanc | advocates, with but one exception | Among the records of presbytery in tn | western part of Pennsylvania I have bee
 told that one church elected one of it | members an elder because that man o