The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-12-09
THE PAc1FIo
Commercial Advertiser.


NV oItW W a. OitESs Ill
circumstances cOncurred to produce a change il
men : minds. 1t was a universally diffused be
ief that the world would come to an end when
thousand years from the Savior's birth were ex
pred The year 999 was therefore looked upor
as the last any one would see. And if ever signs
of approaching dissolution were shown in HEAVIER
and earth, the people of this century might b,
pardoned for believing that they were made visi
bic to them Even the breaking up of morals
and law, and the wide deluge of sin which over
spread all lands, might be taken as a token tina
mankind were deemed unfit to occupy the eartt
any more.
In addition to these appalling symptoms. fam
ines were renewed from year to year in still in.
creasing intensity, and brought the plague and
Pestilence in their train. The land was left un-
titled, the houses unrepaired, the right unvindi-
Gated; for who could take the useless trouble OF
plowIng or building, or quarreling about q prop
erty, when 80 few months were to put an end to
all terrestrial interests? Yet even for the few re-
naming days the multitudes must be fed. Rob-
bers frequented every road, entered even into
walled towns and there was no authority left to
protect the weak, or bring the wrong doer to
punishment. Corn and cattle were at length ex-
hausted and in a great part of the Continent
the most frsxhtful extremities were endured and
when endurance could 60 no further, the last des-
perate expedient was resorted to, and human flesh
was commonly consumed. One man went so far
as to expose it for sale in a populous market town.
The horror of this open confession of their deeds
was so great that the man was burned, but more
for the publicity of his conduct than for his inhe-
rent guilt. Nothing was sacred-nothing was
safe. Even when food might have been had, the
vitiated taste made bravado of its deprivation,
and women and children were killed and roasted
IN the madness of the universal fear.
Meantime, the gentler natures driven to the
widest excess of fanaticism to find a retreat from
the impending Judgment. Kings and emperors
begged at monastery doors to be admitted brethren
OF the Order. Henry of Germany and Robert of
France were saints according to the notions of the
time, and even now deserve the respect of man
kind for the simplicity and benevolence of their
characters. Henry, the Emperor, succeeded in
being admitted as a monk, and swore obedience
on the hands of the gentle Abbot, who had failed
from turning him from his purpose.
Sire" he said at last, a since you are under
my orders, and have sworn to obey me, / COM
mand you to 60 forth and fulfil the duties of the
State to which God has called you. Go forth. a
monk to the Abbey of st. Vanne, but Emperor of
the West"
Robert of France, the son of Hugh Capet.
placed himself, robed and crowned, among the
choristers of st. Denis, and led the musicians in
singing hymns and psalms of his own compost
tion. Lower men were satisfied with sacrificing
the marks of their knightly and seignorial rank,
and placed baldricks and swords on the affairs,
and before the images Of saints. Some manu-
mitted their serfs, and bestowed large sums upon
charitable trusts, commencing their disposition
with words implying the approaching end of all.
Crowds of common people would sleep nowhere
but IN the porches, or, at any rate, within the
shadow of the churches, and other holy buildings;
and as the day of doom drew nearer and nearer,
greater efforts were made to appease the wrath of
heaven Peace was proclaimed between all
classes of men. From Wednesday night till
Monday evening of each week there was to be no
violence, Or ennity, or war in all the land. 1t
was 70 be q truce of God.
And now came the dreadful or hoped for year.
The awful Thousand had at last commenced, and
men held their breath to watch what would be
the result Of its arrival.
And he laid hold of the dragon, that old SER
pent, which Is the devil, and Satan, and bound
him for a thousand years, and cast him into the
bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal
upon him, that he should deceive the nations no
more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled;
md after that he must be looeed a little season.,
(Rev. Xxx 2, 3.)
With this text all the pulpits in Christendom
had been ringing for a whole generation. And
not the pulpits only, but the rejection halls of
and the cottages of the starving peasan-
Try. Into the castle also of the noble we have
it had penetrated; and the most abject terror
pervaded the superstitious, while despair, as in
'hipwrecked vessels, displayed itself amid the
masses OF the population in rioting and insubor-
The spirit of evil for a little season
to be let loose upon a sinful world and
the observer looked round at the real con-
iition of the people in all parts of Europe-at
The ignorance and degradation of the multitude.
the cruelty of the lords, and the un-Christian
and unrestrained passions of the clergy
1T must have puzzled him how to imagine a
worse state OF things, even when the chain was
oosened from s. that old serpent and the world
placed INCREASINGLY in his folds.
Yet, as If mems minds had now reached their
Mini fharo r,1 $4,000. - g -
BEGINNING of this date. When the first day of
The thousand and first year shone upon the world,
t seemed that in all nations, the torpor of the
was to be thrown off. There were strivings
after a new order of things.
The first joy of their deliverance from the ex-
,ected destruction impelled all classes of society
n a more honorable and useful path than they
,ad ever hitherto trod.-W Whites Eighteen Christ
an Centuries.