ity.

This, however, was not done out of any wicked desire to keep people
ignorant. The feeling which prompted the heretic hunters of that day
was really a very kindly one. They firmly believed--nay, they knew--that
this life was but the preparation for our real existence in the
next world. They felt convinced that too much knowledge made people
uncomfortable, filled their minds with dangerous opinions and led to
doubt and hence to perdition. A mediaeval Schoolman who saw one of
his pupils stray away from the revealed authority of the Bible and
Aristotle, that he might study things for himself, felt as uncomfortable
as a loving mother who sees her young child approach a hot stove. She
knows that he will burn his little fingers if he is allowed to touch it
and she tries to keep him back, if necessary she will use force. But she
really loves the child and if he will only obey her, she will be as good
to him as she possibly can be. In the same way the mediaeval guardians
of people's souls, while they were strict in all matters pertaining to
the Faith, slaved day and night to render the greatest possible service
to the members of their flock. They held out a helping hand whenever
they could and the society of that day shows the influence of thousands
of good men and pious women who tried to make the fate of the average
mortal as bearable as possible.

A serf was a serf and his position would never change. But the Good Lord
of the Middle Ages who allowed the serf to remain a slave all his life
had bestowed an immortal soul upon this humble creature and therefore
he must be protected in his rights, that he might live and die as a good
Christian. When he grew too old or too weak to work he must be
taken care of by the feudal master for whom he had worked. The serf,
therefore, who led a monotonous and dreary life, was never haunted by
fear of to-morrow. He knew that he was "safe"--that he could not be
thrown out of employment, that he would always have a roof over his head
(a leaky roof, perhaps, but roof all the same), and that he would always
have something to eat.

This feeling of "stability" and of "safety" was found in all classes of
society. In the towns the merchants and the artisans established guilds
which assured every member of a steady income. It did not encourage the
ambitious to do better than their neighbours. Too often the guilds
gave protection to the "slacker" who managed to "get by." But they
established a