The mental shock sustained by all nations during the prevalence of
the Black Plague is without parallel and beyond description. In
the eyes of the timorous, danger was the certain harbinger of
death; many fell victims to fear on the first appearance of the
distemper, and the most stout-hearted lost their confidence.
Thus, after reliance on the future had died away, the spiritual
union which binds man to his family and his fellow-creatures was
gradually dissolved. The pious closed their accounts with the
world--eternity presented itself to their view--their only
remaining desire was for a participation in the consolations of
religion, because to them death was disarmed of its sting.

Repentance seized the transgressor, admonishing him to consecrate
his remaining hours to the exercise of Christian virtues. All
minds were directed to the contemplation of futurity; and
children, who manifest the more elevated feelings of the soul
without alloy, were frequently seen, while labouring under the
plague, breathing out their spirit with prayer and songs of
thanksgiving.

An awful sense of contrition seized Christians of every communion;
they resolved to forsake their vices, to make restitution for past
offences, before they were summoned hence, to seek reconciliation
with their Maker, and to avert, by self-chastisement, the
punishment due to their former sins. Human nature would be
exalted, could the countless noble actions which, in times of most
imminent danger, were performed in secret, be recorded for the
instruction of future generations. They, however, have no
influence on the course of worldly events. They are known only to