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Show Protestant on "Dark Ages." A correspondent of ihe Holy Cross Magazine (Anglican), after describing a visit to Dorchester, England, w here a beautiful abbey church founded j by St. Birinus is being restored at great personal sacrifice by the Anglican vicar, is moved to say: "This (Dark Ages) 'is one of .the most vicious and misleading terms thai has ever-been applied to any period of history. I use ihe words advisedly. advised-ly. Our whole conception- of the Middle Ages is distorted on account of this word Mark.' We think that the people were sunk in superstition and idol-ary, idol-ary, whereas the missionary spirit never shone so brightly since the days of the Apostles, as it did then. These same 'Dark Ages' produced some of the greatest thinkers, whose writings are still read with profit and pleasure; produced buildings which are still the wonder and delight of the beholder. be-holder. And, what is more significant, they produced pro-duced saints men who, like the blessed Apostle, were in journeying often, ,who gave up everything every-thing to carry the Gospel to the heathen. There were no missionary societies behind their backs to guarantee their living. ... AVc are told that the old monkish missionaries were mistaken, but thev did the work for the Kingdom in a manner man-ner which we can but feebly imitate." |