IN CHURCH HISTORY. Sj 



The wretchedness that was spread, and the general 

 disorganization of society, seemed to convince 

 tvery one that some wonderful change might be 

 expected ; and then, too, strange as it may seem, 

 the expectation of the world's ending led to the 

 increase of this wretchedness. Men -left their 

 ordinary employments, the activities of life seemed 

 suspended, and the condition of society was like 

 that of the crews of sinking vessels, who give 

 themselves up to the wildest excesses as they see 

 ruin so near at hand. 



But the new century dawned, and the knell of 

 doom was not struck. The earth moved on in 

 her course around the sun. The stars beamed as 

 brightly as ever. The Son of Man had not yet 

 appeared to open the books and to declare His 

 Judgment. 



A great weight of dread was at once lifted off 

 the minds of all men, and the new century, which 

 had been looked forward to with so much terror, 

 came in laden with many blessings. 



We can hardly over-estimate the importance of 

 the change which it ushered in. The torpor, the 

 unquiet, the distress of the past began to be 

 changed ; not, it is true, at once or entirely, but 

 a new state of things began. 



The change was observable in the care that was 

 given to the restoration of the crumbling churches, 

 and to the construction of new ones. For a long 



