In the sixteenth century the Reformation, presenting an open Bible to the people, had sought admission to all the countries of Europe. Some nations welcomed it with gladness, as a messenger of Heaven. In other lands the papacy succeeded to a great extent in preventing its entrance; and the light of Bible knowledge, with its elevating influences, was almost wholly excluded. In one country, though the light found entrance, it was not comprehended by the darkness. For centuries, truth and error struggled for the mastery. At last the evil triumphed, and the truth of Heaven was thrust out. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light." John 3:19. The nation was left to reap the results of the course which she had chosen. The restraint of God's Spirit was removed from a people that had despised the gift of His grace. Evil was permitted to come to maturity. And all the world saw the fruit of willful rejection of the light.

The war against the Bible, carried forward for so many centuries in France, culminated in the scenes of the Revolution. That terrible outbreaking was but the legitimate result of Rome's suppression of the Scriptures.[10] It presented the most striking illustration which the world has ever witnessed of the working out of the papal policy-- an illustration of the results to which for more than a thousand years the teaching of the Roman Church had been tending.

The suppression of the Scriptures during the period of papal supremacy was foretold by the prophets; and the Revelator points also to the terrible results that were to accrue especially to France from the domination of the "man of sin."

Said the angel of the Lord: "The holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months. And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. . . . And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. . . . And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." Revelation 11:2-11.

The periods here mentioned - "forty and two months," and "a thousand two hundred and threescore days" - are the same, alike representing the time in which the church of Christ was to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1260 years of papal supremacy began in A.D. 538, and would therefore terminate in 1798. [15] At that time a French army entered Rome and made the pope a prisoner, and he died in exile. Though a new pope was soon afterward elected, the papal hierarchy has never since been able to wield the power which it before possessed.

They Prophesied in Sackcloth

The persecution of the church did not continue throughout the entire period of the 1260 years. God in mercy to His people cut short the time of their fiery trial.[35] In foretelling the "great tribulation" to befall the church, the Saviour said: "Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 24:22. Through the influence of the Reformation the persecution was brought to an end prior to 1798.[36]

Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: "These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth." "Thy word," said the psalmist, "is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Revelation 11:4; Psalm 119:105. The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact manner foretold by type and prophecy.

"They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three-score days, clothed in sackcloth." (Rev. 11:3) During the greater part of this period, God's witnesses remained in a state of obscurity. The papal power sought to hide from the people the word of truth, and set before them false witnesses to contradict its testimony. [40] When the Bible was proscribed by religious and secular authority; when its testimony was perverted, and every effort made that men and demons could invent to turn the minds of the people from it; when those who dared proclaim its sacred truths were hunted, betrayed, tortured, buried in dungeon cells, martyred for their faith, or compelled to flee to mountain fastnesses, and to dens and caves of the earth--then the faithful witnesses prophesied in sackcloth. Yet they continued their testimony throughout the entire period of 1260 years. In the darkest times there were faithful men who loved God's word and were jealous for His honor. To these loyal servants were given wisdom, power, and authority to declare His truth during the whole of this time.

"And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed." Revelation 11:5. Men cannot with impunity trample upon the word of God. The meaning of this fearful denunciation is set forth in the closing chapter of the Revelation: "I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Revelation 22:18, 19.

Results of Rebellion Against God

Such are the warnings which God has given to guard men against changing in any manner that which He has revealed or commanded. These solemn denunciations apply to all who by their influence lead men to regard lightly the law of God. They should cause those to fear and tremble who flippantly declare it a matter of little consequence whether we obey God's law or not. All who exalt their own opinions above divine revelation, all who would change the plain meaning of Scripture to suit their own convenience, or for the sake of conforming to the world, are taking upon themselves a fearful responsibility. The written word, the law of God, will measure the character of every man and condemn all whom this unerring test shall declare wanting.

"When they shall have finished [are finishing] their testimony." The period when the two witnesses (Old & New Testament) were to prophesy clothed in sackcloth, ended in 1798. As they were approaching the termination of their work in obscurity, war was to be made upon them by the power represented as "the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit." (Rev. 11:7) In many of the nations of Europe the powers that ruled in church and state had for centuries been controlled by Satan through the medium of the papacy. But here is brought to view a new manifestation of satanic power.

It had been Rome's policy, under a profession of reverence for the Bible, to keep it locked up in an unknown (Latin) tongue and hidden away from the people. Under her rule the witnesses prophesied "clothed in sackcloth." But another power --the beast from the bottomless pit--was to arise to make open, avowed war upon the word of God.

"The great city" in whose streets the witnesses are slain, and where their dead bodies lie, is "spiritually" Egypt. Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most boldly denied the existence of the living God and resisted His commands. No monarch ever ventured upon more open and highhanded rebellion against the authority of Heaven than did the king of Egypt. When the message was brought him by Moses, in the name of the Lord, Pharaoh proudly answered: "Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go." (Exodus 5:2, A.R.V). This is atheism, and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the living God and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance. "The great city" is also compared, "spiritually," to Sodom. The corruption of Sodom in breaking the law of God was especially manifested in licentiousness. And this sin was also to be a pre-eminent characteristic of the nation that should fulfill the specifications of this scripture.

According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some power of satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon the Bible. And in the land where the testimony of God's two witnesses should thus be silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh and the licentiousness of Sodom.

A Striking Fulfillment of Prophecy

This prophecy has received a most exact and striking fulfillment in the history of France. During the Revolution, in 1793, "the world for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which man's soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief and worship of a Deity." [200] "France is the only nation in the world concerning which the authentic record survives, that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion against the Author of the universe. Plenty of blasphemers, plenty of infidels, there have been, and still continue to be, in England, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere; but France stands apart in the world's history as the single state which, by the decree of her Legislative Assembly, pronounced that there was no God, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement." [220]

France presented also the characteristics which especially distinguished Sodom. During the Revolution there was manifest a state of moral debasement and corruption similar to that which brought destruction upon the cities of the plain. And the historian presents together the atheism and the licentiousness of France, as given in the prophecy: "Intimately connected with these laws affecting religion, was that which reduced the union of marriage--the most sacred engagement which human beings can form, and the permanence of which leads most strongly to the consolidation of society--to the state of a mere civil contract of a transitory character, which any two persons might engage in and cast loose at pleasure. . . . If fiends had set themselves to work to discover a mode of most effectually destroying whatever is venerable, graceful, or permanent in domestic life, and of obtaining at the same time an assurance that the mischief which it was their object to create should be perpetuated from one generation to another, they could not have invented a more effectual plan than the degradation of marriage. . . . Sophie Arnoult, an actress famous for the witty things she said, described the republican marriage as 'the sacrament of adultery.'" [250]

Enmity Against Christ

"Where also our Lord was crucified." (Rev. 11:8) This specification of the prophecy was also fulfilled by France. In no land had the spirit of enmity against Christ been more strikingly displayed. In no country had the truth encountered more bitter and cruel opposition. In the persecution which France had visited upon the confessors of the gospel, she had crucified Christ in the person of His disciples.

Century after century the blood of the saints had been shed. While the Waldenses laid down their lives upon the mountains of Piedmont "for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ," (Rev. 1:9) similar witness to the truth had been borne by their brethren, the Albigenses of France. In the days of the Reformation its disciples had been put to death with horrible tortures. King and nobles, highborn women and delicate maidens, the pride and chivalry of the nation, had feasted their eyes upon the agonies of the martyrs of Jesus. The brave Huguenots, battling for those rights which the human heart holds most sacred, had poured out their blood on many a hard-fought field. The Protestants were counted as outlaws, a price was set upon their heads, and they were hunted down like wild beasts.

The "Church in the Desert," (Rev. 12:14) the few descendants of the ancient Christians that still lingered in France in the eighteenth century, hiding away in the mountains of the south, still cherished the faith of their fathers. As they ventured to meet by night on mountainside or lonely moor, they were chased by dragoons and dragged away to lifelong slavery in the galleys. The purest, the most refined, and the most intelligent of the French were chained, in horrible torture, amidst robbers and assassins. [300] Others, more mercifully dealt with, were shot down in cold blood, as, unarmed and helpless, they fell upon their knees in prayer. Hundreds of aged men, defenseless women, and innocent children were left dead upon the earth at their place of meeting. In traversing the mountainside or the forest, where they had been accustomed to assemble, it was not unusual to find "at every four paces, dead bodies dotting the sward (grassy surface), and corpses hanging suspended from the trees." Their country, laid waste with the sword, the ax, the fagot, "was converted into one vast, gloomy wilderness." "These atrocities were enacted . . . in no dark age, but in the brilliant era of Louis XIV (1643-1715). Science was then cultivated, letters flourished, the divines of the court and of the capital were learned and eloquent men, and greatly affected the graces of meekness and charity." [330]

The Blackest of Crimes

But blackest in the black catalogue of crime, most horrible among the fiendish deeds of all the dreadful centuries, was the St. Bartholomew Massacre.[335] The world still recalls with shuddering horror the scenes of that most cowardly and cruel onslaught. The king of France, urged on by Romish priests and prelates, lent his sanction to the dreadful work. A bell, tolling at dead of night, was a signal for the slaughter. Protestants by thousands, sleeping quietly in their homes, trusting to the plighted honor of their king, were dragged forth without a warning and murdered in cold blood.

As Christ was the invisible leader of His people from Egyptian bondage, so was Satan the unseen leader of his subjects in this horrible work of multiplying martyrs. For seven days the massacre was continued in Paris, the first three with inconceivable fury. And it was not confined to the city itself, but by special order of the king was extended to all the provinces and towns where Protestants were found. Neither age nor sex was respected. Neither the innocent babe nor the man of gray hairs was spared. Noble and peasant, old and young, mother and child, were cut down together. Throughout France the butchery continued for two months. Seventy thousand of the very flower of the nation perished.

Scenes of Exaltation

"When the news of the massacre reached Rome, the exultation among the clergy knew no bounds. The cardinal of Lorraine rewarded the messenger with a thousand crowns; the cannon of St. Angelo thundered forth a joyous salute; and bells rang out from every steeple; bonfires turned night into day; and Gregory XIII (1572-1585), attended by the cardinals and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, went in long procession to the church of St. Louis, where the cardinal of Lorraine [440] chanted a Te Deum. . . . A medal was struck to commemorate the massacre, and in the Vatican may still be seen three frescoes of Vasari, describing the attack upon the admiral, the king in council plotting the massacre, and the massacre itself. Gregory sent Charles the Golden Rose; and four months after the massacre, . . . he listened complacently to the sermon of a French priest, . . . who spoke of 'that day so full of happiness and joy, when the most holy father received the news, and went in solemn state to render thanks to God and St. Louis.'" [450]

The same master spirit that urged on the St. Bartholomew Massacre led also in the scenes of the Revolution. Jesus Christ was declared to be an impostor, and the rallying cry of the French infidels was, "Crush the Wretch," meaning Christ. Heaven-daring blasphemy and abominable wickedness went hand in hand, and the basest of men, the most abandoned monsters of cruelty and vice, were most highly exalted. In all this, supreme homage was paid to Satan; while Christ, in His characteristics of truth, purity, and unselfish love, was crucified.

"The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them." (Rev. 11:7) The atheistical power that ruled in France during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, did wage such a war against God and His holy word as the world had never witnessed. The worship of the Deity was abolished by the National Assembly. Bibles were collected and publicly burned with every possible manifestation of scorn. The law of God was trampled underfoot. The institutions of the Bible were abolished. The weekly rest day was set aside, and in its stead every tenth day was devoted to reveling and blasphemy. Baptism and the Communion were prohibited. And announcements posted conspicuously over the burial places declared death to be an eternal sleep.

The fear of God was said to be so far from the beginning of wisdom that it was the beginning of folly. All religious worship was prohibited, except that of liberty and the country. The "constitutional bishop of Paris was brought forward to play the principal part in the most impudent and scandalous farce ever acted in the face of a national representation. . . . He was brought forward in full procession, to declare to the Convention that the religion which he had taught so many years was, in every respect, a piece of priestcraft, which had no foundation either in history or sacred truth. He disowned, in solemn and explicit terms, the existence of the Deity to whose worship he had been consecrated, and devoted himself in future to the homage of liberty, equality, virtue, and morality. He then laid on the table his episcopal decorations, and received a fraternal embrace from the president of the Convention. Several apostate priests followed the example of this prelate." [480]

"And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth." (Rev. 11:10) Infidel France had silenced the reproving voice of God's two witnesses. The word of truth lay dead in her streets, and those who hated the restrictions and requirements of God's law were jubilant. Men publicly defied the King of heaven. Like the sinners of old, they cried: "How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High?" Psalm 73:11.

Blasphemous Boldness

With blasphemous boldness almost beyond belief, one of the priests of the new order said: "God, if You exist, avenge Your injured name. I bid You defiance! You remain silent; You dare not launch Your thunders. Who after this will believe in Your existence?" [500] What an echo is this of the Pharaoh's demand: "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice? - I know not Jehovah!" (Exodus 5:2)

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Psalm 14:1. And the Lord declares concerning the perverters of the truth: "Their folly shall be manifest unto all." (2 Timothy 3:9). After France had renounced the worship of the living God, "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity," (Isa. 57:15) it was only a little time till she descended to degrading idolatry, by the worship of the Goddess of Reason, in the person of a profligate woman. And this in the representative assembly of the nation, and by its highest civil and legislative authorities! Says the historian: "One of the ceremonies of this insane time stands unrivaled for absurdity combined with impiety. The doors of the Convention were thrown open to a band of musicians, preceded by whom, the members of the municipal body entered in solemn procession, singing a hymn in praise of liberty, and escorting, as the object of their future worship, a veiled female, whom they termed the Goddess of Reason. Being brought within the bar, she was unveiled with great form, and placed on the right of the president, when she was generally recognized as a dancing girl of the opera. . . . To this person, as the fittest representative of that reason whom they worshiped, the National Convention of France rendered public homage."

Worshiping the Goddess of Reason

"This impious and ridiculous mummery had a certain fashion; and the installation of the Goddess of Reason was renewed and imitated throughout the nation, in such places where the inhabitants desired to show themselves equal to all the heights of the Revolution." [720]

Said the orator who introduced the worship of Reason: "Legislators! Fanaticism has given way to reason. Its bleared eyes could not endure the brilliancy of the light. This day an immense concourse has assembled beneath those gothic vaults, which, for the first time, re-echoed the truth. There the French have celebrated the only true worship,--that of Liberty, that of Reason. There we have formed wishes for the prosperity of the arms of the Republic. There we have abandoned inanimate idols for Reason, for that animated image, the masterpiece of nature." [770]

When the goddess was brought into the Convention, the orator took her by the hand, and turning to the assembly said: "Mortals, cease to tremble before the powerless thunders of a God whom your fears have created. Henceforth acknowledge no divinity but Reason. I offer you its noblest and purest image; if you must have idols, sacrifice only to such as this. . . . Fall before the august Senate of Freedom, oh! Veil of Reason!"

"The goddess, after being embraced by the president, was mounted on a magnificent car, and conducted, amid an immense crowd, to the cathedral of Notre Dame, to take the place of the Deity. There she was elevated on the high altar, and received the adoration of all present." [810]

This was followed, not long afterward, by the public burning of the Bible. On one occasion "the Popular Society of the Museum" entered the hall of the municipality, exclaiming, "Vive la Raison!" and carrying on the top of a pole the half-burned remains of several books, among other breviaries, missals, and the Old and New Testaments, which "expiated in a great fire," said the president, "all the fooleries which they have made the human race commit." [880]

France Against the Reformation

It was popery that had begun the work which atheism was completing. The policy of Rome had wrought out those conditions, social, political, and religious, that were hurrying France on to ruin. Writers, in referring to the horrors of the Revolution, say that these excesses are to be charged upon the throne and the church. [890] In strict justice they are to be charged upon the church. Popery had poisoned the minds of kings against the Reformation, as an enemy to the crown, an element of discord that would be fatal to the peace and harmony of the nation. It was the genius of Rome that by this means inspired the direst cruelty and the most galling oppression which proceeded from the throne.

The spirit of liberty went with the Bible. Wherever the gospel was received, the minds of the people were awakened. They began to cast off the shackles that had held them bond slaves of ignorance, vice, and superstition. They began to think and act as men. Monarchs saw it and trembled for their despotism.

Rome was not slow to inflame their jealous fears. Said the pope to the regent of France in 1525: "This mania [Protestantism] will not only confound and destroy religion, but all principalities, nobility, laws, orders, and ranks besides." [900] A few years later a papal nuncio warned the king: "Sire, be not deceived. The Protestants will upset all civil as well as religious order. . . . The throne is in as much danger as the altar. . . . The introduction of a new religion must necessarily introduce a new government." [930] And theologians appealed to the prejudices of the people by declaring that the Protestant doctrine "entices men away to novelties and folly; it robs the king of the devoted affection of his subjects, and devastates both church and state." Thus Rome succeeded in arraying France against the Reformation. "It was to uphold the throne, preserve the nobles, and maintain the laws, that the sword of persecution was first unsheathed in France." [940]

A Fateful Policy

Little did the rulers of the land foresee the results of that fateful policy. The teaching of the Bible would have implanted in the minds and hearts of the people those principles of justice, temperance, truth, equity, and benevolence which are the very cornerstone of a nation's prosperity. "Righteousness exalteth a nation." Thereby "the throne is established." Proverbs 14:34; 16:12. "The work of righteousness shall be peace;" and the effect, "quietness and assurance forever." Isaiah 32:17. He who obeys the divine law will most truly respect and obey the laws of his country. He who fears God will honor the king in the exercise of all just and legitimate authority. But unhappy France prohibited the Bible and banned its disciples. Century after century, men of principle and integrity, men of intellectual acuteness and moral strength, who had the courage to avow their convictions and the faith to suffer for the truth--for centuries these men toiled as slaves in the galleys, perished at the stake, or rotted in dungeon cells. Thousands upon thousands found safety in flight; and this continued for two hundred and fifty years after the opening of the Reformation.

Flight of France's Best Citizens

"Scarcely was there a generation of Frenchmen during the long period that did not witness the disciples of the gospel fleeing before the insane fury of the persecutor, and carrying with them the intelligence, the arts, the industry, the order, in which, as a rule, they pre-eminently excelled, to enrich the lands in which they found an asylum. And in proportion as they replenished other countries with these good gifts, did they empty their own of them. If all that was now driven away had been retained in France; if, during these three hundred years, the industrial skill of the exiles had been cultivating her soil; if, during these three hundred years, their artistic bent had been improving her manufactures; if, during these three hundred years, their creative genius and analytic power had been enriching her literature and cultivating her science; if their wisdom had been guiding her councils, their bravery fighting her battles, their equity framing her laws, and the religion of the Bible strengthening the intellect and governing the conscience of her people, what a glory would at this day have encompassed France! What a great, prosperous, and happy country--a pattern to the nations--would she have been!"

"But a blind and inexorable bigotry chased from her soil every teacher of virtue, every champion of order, every honest defender of the throne; it said to the men who would have made their country a 'renown and glory' in the earth, Choose which you will have, a stake or exile. At last the ruin of the state was complete; there remained no more conscience to be proscribed; no more religion to be dragged to the stake; no more patriotism to be chased into banishment." [1010] And the Revolution, with all its horrors, was the dire result.

What Might Have Been

"With the flight of the Huguenots a general decline settled upon France. Flourishing manufacturing cities fell into decay; fertile districts returned to their native wildness; intellectual dullness and moral declension succeeded a period of unwonted progress. Paris became one vast almshouse, and it is estimated that, at the breaking out of the Revolution, two hundred thousand paupers claimed charity from the hands of the king. The Jesuits alone flourished in the decaying nation, and ruled with dreadful tyranny over churches and schools, the prisons and the galleys."

The gospel would have brought to France the solution of those political and social problems that baffled the skill of her clergy, her king, and her legislators, and finally plunged the nation into anarchy and ruin. But under the domination of Rome the people had lost the Saviour's blessed lessons of self-sacrifice and unselfish love. They had been led away from the practice of self-denial for the good of others. The rich had found no rebuke for their oppression of the poor, the poor no help for their servitude and degradation. The selfishness of the wealthy and powerful grew more and more apparent and oppressive. For centuries the greed and profligacy of the noble resulted in grinding extortion toward the peasant. The rich wronged the poor, and the poor hated the rich.

In many provinces the estates were held by the nobles, and the laboring classes were only tenants; they were at the mercy of their landlords and were forced to submit to their exorbitant demands. The burden of supporting both the church and the state fell upon the middle and lower classes, who were heavily taxed by the civil authorities and by the clergy. "The pleasure of the nobles was considered the supreme law; the farmers and the peasants might starve, for aught their oppressors cared. . . . The people were compelled at every turn to consult the exclusive interest of the landlord. The lives of the agricultural laborers were lives of incessant work and unrelieved misery; their complaints, if they ever dared to complain, were treated with insolent contempt. The courts of justice would always listen to a noble as against a peasant; bribes were notoriously accepted by the judges; and the merest caprice of the aristocracy had the force of law, by virtue of this system of universal corruption. Of the taxes wrung from the commonalty, by the secular magnates on the one hand, and the clergy on the other, not half ever found its way into the royal or episcopal treasury; the rest was squandered in profligate self-indulgence. And the men who thus impoverished their fellow subjects were themselves exempt from taxation, and entitled by law or custom to all the appointments of the state. The privileged classes numbered a hundred and fifty thousand, and for their gratification millions were condemned to hopeless and degrading lives." [1060]

Luxury and Vice of the Aristocracy

The court was given up to luxury and profligacy. There was little confidence existing between the people and the rulers. Suspicion fastened upon all the measures of the government as designing and selfish. For more than half a century before the time of the Revolution the throne was occupied by Louis XV (1715-1774), who, even in those evil times, was distinguished as an indolent, frivolous, and sensual monarch. With a depraved and cruel aristocracy and an impoverished and ignorant lower class, the state financially embarrassed and the people exasperated, it needed no prophet's eye to foresee a terrible impending outbreak. To the warnings of his counselors the king was accustomed to reply: "Try to make things go on as long as I am likely to live; after my death it may be as it will." It was in vain that the necessity of reform was urged. He saw the evils, but had neither the courage nor the power to meet them. The doom awaiting France was but too truly pictured in his indolent and selfish answer, "After me, the deluge!"

By working upon the jealousy of the kings and the ruling classes, Rome had influenced them to keep the people in bondage, well knowing that the state would thus be weakened, and purposing by this means to fasten both rulers and people in her thrall.[1072] With farsighted policy she perceived that in order to enslave men effectually, the shackles must be bound upon their souls; that the surest way to prevent them from escaping their bondage was to render them incapable of freedom. A thousandfold more terrible than the physical suffering which resulted from her policy, was the moral degradation. Deprived of the Bible, and abandoned to the teachings of bigotry and selfishness, the people were shrouded in ignorance and superstition, and sunken in vice, so that they were wholly unfitted for self-government.

Results Reeped in Blood

But the outworking of all this was widely different from what Rome had purposed. Instead of holding the masses in a blind submission to her dogmas, her work resulted in making them infidels and revolutionists.[1090] Romanism they despised as priestcraft. They beheld the clergy as a party to their oppression. The only god they knew was the god of Rome; her teaching was their only religion. They regarded her greed and cruelty as the legitimate fruit of the Bible, and they would have none of it.[1092]

Rome had misrepresented the character of God and perverted His requirements, and now men rejected both the Bible and its Author. She had required a blind faith in her dogmas, under the pretended sanction of the Scriptures. In the reaction, Voltaire (1694-1778) and his associates cast aside God's word altogether and spread everywhere the poison of infidelity. Rome had ground down the people under her iron heel; and now the masses, degraded and brutalized, in their recoil from her tyranny, cast off all restraint. Enraged at the glittering cheat to which they had so long paid homage, they rejected truth and falsehood together; and mistaking license for liberty, the slaves of vice exulted in their imagined freedom.

At the opening of the Revolution, by a concession of the king, the people were granted a representation exceeding that of the nobles and the clergy combined. Thus the balance of power was in their hands; but they were not prepared to use it with wisdom and moderation. Eager to redress the wrongs they had suffered, they determined to undertake the reconstruction of society. An outraged populace, whose minds were filled with bitter and long-treasured memories of wrong, resolved to revolutionize the state of misery that had grown unbearable and to avenge themselves upon those whom they regarded as the authors of their sufferings. The oppressed wrought out the lesson they had learned under tyranny and became the oppressors of those who had oppressed them.

Unhappy France reaped in blood the harvest she had sown. Terrible were the results of her submission to the controlling power of Rome. Where France, under the influence of Romanism, had set up the first stake at the opening of the Reformation, there the Revolution set up its first guillotine. On the very spot where the first martyrs to the Protestant faith were burned in the sixteenth century, the first victims were guillotined in the eighteenth. In repelling the gospel, which would have brought her healing, France had opened the door to infidelity and ruin. When the restraints of God's law were cast aside, it was found that the laws of man were inadequate to hold in check the powerful tides of human passion; and the nation swept on to revolt and anarchy. The war against the Bible inaugurated an era which stands in the world's history as the Reign of Terror. Peace and happiness were banished from the homes and hearts of men. No one was secure. He who triumphed today was suspected, condemned, tomorrow. Violence and lust held undisputed sway.

King (Louis XVI, 1774-92), clergy, and nobles were compelled to submit to the atrocities of an excited and maddened people. Their thirst for vengeance was only stimulated by the execution of the king; and those who had decreed his death soon followed him to the scaffold. A general slaughter of all suspected of hostility to the Revolution was determined. The prisons were crowded, at one time containing more than two hundred thousand captives. The cities of the kingdom were filled with scenes of horror. One party of revolutionists was against another party, and France became a vast field for contending masses, swayed by the fury of their passions. "In Paris one tumult succeeded another, and the citizens were divided into a medley of factions, that seemed intent on nothing but mutual extermination." And to add to the general misery, the nation became involved in a prolonged and devastating war with the great powers of Europe. "The country was nearly bankrupt, the armies were clamoring for arrears of pay, the Parisians were starving, the provinces were laid waste by brigands, and civilization was almost extinguished in anarchy and license."

All too well the people had learned the lessons of cruelty and torture which Rome had so diligently taught. A day of retribution at last had come. It was not now the disciples of Jesus that were thrust into dungeons and dragged to the stake. Long ago these had perished or been driven into exile. Unsparing Rome now felt the deadly power of those whom she had trained to delight in deeds of blood. "The example of persecution which the clergy of France had exhibited for so many ages, was now retorted upon them with signal vigor. The scaffolds ran red with the blood of the priests. The galleys and the prisons, once crowded with Huguenots, were now filled with their persecutors. Chained to the bench and toiling at the oar, the Roman Catholic clergy experienced all those woes which their church had so freely inflicted on the gentle heretics." [1110]

"Then came those days when the most barbarous of all codes was administered by the most barbarous of all tribunals; when no man could greet his neighbors or say his prayers . . . without danger of committing a capital crime; when spies lurked in every corner; when the guillotine was long and hard at work every morning; when the jails were filled as close as the holds of a slave ship; when the gutters ran foaming with blood into the Seine. . . . While the daily wagon loads of victims were carried to their doom through the streets of Paris, the proconsuls, whom the sovereign committee had sent forth to the departments, reveled in an extravagance of cruelty unknown even in the capital. The knife of the deadly machine rose and fell too slow for their work of slaughter (1793,94). Long rows of captives were mowed down with grapeshot. Holes were made in the bottom of crowded barges. Lyons was turned into a desert. At Arras even the cruel mercy of a speedy death was denied to the prisoners. All down the Loire, from Saumur to the sea, great flocks of crows and kites feasted on naked corpses, twined together in hideous embraces. No mercy was shown to sex or age. The number of young lads and of girls of seventeen who were murdered by that execrable government, is to be reckoned by hundreds. Babies torn from the breast were tossed from pike to pike along the Jacobin ranks." [1120] In the short space of ten years (1793-1803), multitudes of human beings perished.

All this was as Satan would have it. This was what for ages he had been working to secure. His policy is deception from first to last, and his steadfast purpose is to bring woe and wretchedness upon men, to deface and defile the workmanship of God, to mar the divine purposes of benevolence and love, and thus cause grief in heaven. Then by his deceptive arts he blinds the minds of men, and leads them to throw back the blame of his work upon God, as if all this misery were the result of the Creator's plan. In like manner, when those who have been degraded and brutalized through his cruel power achieve their freedom, he urges them on to excesses and atrocities. Then this picture of unbridled license is pointed out by tyrants and oppressors as an illustration of the results of liberty.

When error in one garb has been detected, Satan only masks it in a different disguise, and multitudes receive it as eagerly as at the first. When the people found Romanism to be a deception, and he could not through this agency lead them to transgression of God's law, he urged them to regard all religion as a cheat, and the Bible as a fable; and, casting aside the divine statutes, they gave themselves up to unbridled iniquity.

The fatal error which wrought such woe for the inhabitants of France was the ignoring of this one great truth: that true freedom lies within the proscriptions of the law of God. "O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." "But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." Isaiah 48:18, 22; Proverbs 1:33.

Atheists, infidels, and apostates oppose and denounce God's law; but the results of their influence prove that the well-being of man is bound up with his obedience of the divine statutes. Those who will not read the lesson from the book of God are bidden to read it in the history of nations.

The English historian John Adolphus, writing a secular history, remarks upon this period in prophetic study:

"The downfall of the papal government (in 1798), by whatever means effected, excited perhaps less sympathy than that of any other in Europe: the errors, the oppressions, the tyranny of Rome over the whole Christian world, were remembered with bitterness; many rejoiced, through religious antipathy, in the overthrow of a church which they considered as idolatrous, though attended with the immediate triumph of infidelity; and many saw in these events the accomplishment of prophecies, and the exhibition of signs promised in the most mystical parts of the Holy Scriptures." [1160]

The Source of Misery

When Satan wrought through the Roman Church to lead men away from obedience, his agency was concealed, and his work was so disguised that the degradation and misery which resulted were not seen to be the fruit of transgression. And his power was so far counteracted by the working of the Spirit of God that his purposes were prevented from reaching their full fruition. The people did not trace the effect to its cause and discover the source of their miseries. But in the Revolution the law of God was openly set aside by the National Council. And in the Reign of Terror which followed, the working of cause and effect could be seen by all.

When France publicly rejected God and set aside the Bible, wicked men and spirits of darkness exulted in their attainment of the object so long desired--a kingdom free from the restraints of the law of God. Because sentence against an evil work was not speedily executed, therefore the heart of the sons of men was "fully set in them to do evil." Ecclesiastes 8:11. But the transgression of a just and righteous law must inevitably result in misery and ruin. Though not visited at once with judgments, the wickedness of men was nevertheless surely working out their doom. Centuries of apostasy and crime had been treasuring up wrath against the day of retribution; and when their iniquity was full, the despisers of God learned too late that it is a fearful thing to have worn out the divine patience. The restraining Spirit of God, which imposes a check upon the cruel power of Satan, was in a great measure removed, and he whose only delight is the wretchedness of men was permitted to work his will.[1210] Those who had chosen the service of rebellion were left to reap its fruits until the land was filled with crimes too horrible for pen to trace. From devastated provinces and ruined cities a terrible cry was heard - a cry of bitterest anguish. France was shaken as if by an earthquake. Religion, law, social order, the family, the state, and the church--all were smitten down by the impious hand that had been lifted against the law of God. Truly spoke the wise man: "The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness." "Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him: but it shall not be well with the wicked." Proverbs 11:5; Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13. "They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord;" "therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." Proverbs 1:29, 31.

The Bible Restored to France

God's faithful witnesses, slain by the blasphemous power that "ascendeth out of the bottomless pit," were not long to remain silent. "After three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." Revelation 11:11. It was in 1793 that the decrees which abolished the Christian religion and set aside the Bible passed the French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution rescinding these decrees, thus granting toleration to the Scriptures, was adopted by the same body. The world stood aghast at the enormity of guilt which had resulted from a rejection of the Sacred Oracles, and men recognized the necessity of faith in God and His word as the foundation of virtue and morality. Saith the Lord: "Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel," Isaiah 37:23. "Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is Jehovah." Jeremiah 16:21, A.R.V.

Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: "And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them." Revelation 11:12. Since France made war upon God's two witnesses, they have been honored as never before. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized. This was followed by similar organizations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of Europe. In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded. When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been translated into many hundreds of languages and dialects. [1300]

For the fifty years preceding 1792, little attention was given to the work of foreign missions. No new societies were formed, and there were but few churches that made any effort for the spread of Christianity in heathen lands. But toward the close of the eighteenth century a great change took place. Men became dissatisfied with the results of rationalism and realized the necessity of divine revelation and experimental religion. From this time the work of foreign missions attained an unprecedented growth. [1320]

The improvements in printing have given an impetus to the work of circulating the Bible. The increased facilities for communication between different countries, the breaking down of ancient barriers of prejudice and national exclusiveness, and the loss of secular power by the pontiff of Rome have opened the way for the entrance of the word of God. For some years the Bible has been sold without restraint in the streets of Rome, and it has now been carried to every part of the habitable globe.[1500]

The infidel Voltaire once boastingly said: "I am weary of hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Christian religion. I will prove that one man may suffice to overthrow it." Generations have passed since his death. Millions have joined in the war upon the Bible. But it is so far from being destroyed, that where there were a hundred in Voltaire's time, there are now ten thousand, yes, a hundred thousand copies of the book of God. In the words of an early Reformer concerning the Christian church, "The Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers." Saith the Lord: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." Isaiah 54:17.

"The word of our God shall stand forever." "All His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." Isaiah 40:8; Psalm 111:7, 8. Whatever is built upon the authority of man will be overthrown; but that which is founded upon the rock of God's immutable word shall stand forever.[EGW][1400] Even in our days, France still has not overcome the terrible effects of their revolution.

Notes & References

Imminent Danger
The imminent danger a country is headed for may be characterized as follows:

1. Rejecting, despising and destroying Bibles which teach the logical reason for our liberties, will result in the loss of freedom and liberty.
   
2. This is eminently illustrated during the French Revolution as the haters of God and religion destroyed Bibles and those who believed its ennobling teachings.
   
3. After all the Bibles had been destroyed and God's people had been killed or left the country, these wicked had only themselves.
   
4. Now they exercised what they believed. They despised the Law of God and so they committed atrocities.
   
5. The rich, finding no rebuke for their oppression of the poor, the poor had no help for their unrewarded toiling, they were being degraded by those of means.
   
6. The selfishness of the wealthy grew more and more apparent and oppressive.
   
7. The workers in the country were forced to submit to the exorbitant demands of their landlords.
   
8. The burden of supporting the Roman Catholic Church and State fell upon the middle and lower classes, who were heavily taxed by the civil authorities and by the clergy.
   
9. The court - their government - was given to luxury and profligacy.
   
10. It was Louis XV. who said, `After me the deluge.' There was no hope for successive generations.
    
11. With all restraints removed, moral degradation became a plague upon the land.
    
12. The people became increasingly superstitious and ignorant of the meaning of life.
    
13. They had been taught death is a long sleep with no end in sight - leaving out the Biblical resurrection.
    
14. The people as a result, shook off the dogmas of priestcraft of the Church of their days.
    
15. Atheistic sentiments stabbed the people in the back by robbing them of all security and former footholds to make a decent living.
    
16. Violence seemed the only way out.
    
17. Start of executions pegged the clergy first. God's faithful were already dead or gone.
    
18. Read the accounts in the article and judge for yourself.

[0010] Appendix. PAGE 265. Causes of the French Revolution. -- On the far-reaching consequences of the rejection of the Bible and of Bible religion, by the people of France, see H. von Sybel, History of the French Revolution, B. 5, Ch. 1, Pars. 3-7; Henry Thomas Buckle, History of Civilization in England , Chs. 8 , 12, 14 (New York, 1895, Vol. 1, pp. 364-366, 369-371, 437, 540, 541, 550); Blackwood's Magazine, Vol. 34, No. 215 (November, 1833), P. 739; J. G. Lorimer, An Historical Sketch of The Protestant Church in France, Ch. 8, Pars. 6, 7. {GC 687.5}
Contributing Factors:
(1) France was changing; what had been a society based on agriculture, began to develop larger scale industries, competing with small shop artisans causing unemployment. An example was the Reveillon wallpaper factory which had employed 350 workers. In 1789 a worker made 30 sous (=1.5 livre) per day (ca. 1990 1 sou = 25 cents and a livre = $5). In addition, the winter of 1788-89 was unusually sever, unemployment was high and there was no help for those without work. Reveillon stopped increasing wages. Workers made their way into Paris and saw the luxury and wealth everywhere. Their dismay and anger increased rapidly. At the same time the elite of the city where amusing themselves at the horse races, but when they returned to the city, the disgruntled mob stopped the carriages and expressed their anger (See Olivier Bernier, Words of Fire, Deeds of Blood, 1989, p. 12,13); they forced them to shout `Long live the Third Estate.' - In all this precedencies of unrest were created not to disappear again.
(2) July 1789 troops were encamped around Paris led by old Marshall de Broglie.
(3) A liberal leader named Mirabeau sent a written message to the king which contained warning, exhortation as well as promises of obedience. So far e.th. seemed fine but the mob still wanted bread and work. But a new element crept in, deep inside, "they also yearned for revenge. The collective memory of centuries of humiliation, of aristocratic arrogance were vivid. They did not like the king much, and they loathed Marie Antoinette, but the aristocrats were their real enemies. Now they stayed no longer in their slums on the outskirts of Paris. Already they were in control at the Palais Royal. .." {O. Bernier, Words of Fire, Deeds of Blood, p. 16f.
(4) On June 26, 1789 things changed at the Palais Royal, orators and people talking politics were being attacked and then some 50 soldiers appeared shouting, `Long live the Third Estate.' Obedience to despotic rulers had been the way of life, but now the lower classes had a taste of influence which they did not want to relinquish. Prime minister Jaques Necker, a Swiss Calvinist, knew that things had changed. The old order was slipping away. The king asked Necker to leave his post and Paris in secret. The new prime minister was selected by July 11, 1789. His name was Baron de Breteuil, whose position made him the object of the reactionaries in the populace.
(5) All in all, the mob had triumphed on a large scale since the troops had joined the people rendering Louis XVI powerless by July 12, 1789.
(6) The next day the mob burned down 40 out of 54 excise tax offices. No one knew what they would do next. Result: the electors of the Parisian deputies, 400 of them, met at the Hotel de Ville, the Paris City Hall. They created a militia of 48,000 which began patrolling right away. The mob was looking for means to defend themselves. July 14th, the mob moved toward the Invalides, crossed the 8 foot deep moat on each others shoulders and were able to seize a number of fully loaded cannons. Obtaining now also rifles, they needed ammunition which was stored at the 14th century Bastille. On this day it held only 7 prisoners since it was mostly used for other purposes. It was guarded by 82 partly crippled veterans and 32 Swiss soldiers. No one expected them to fight back. The Bastille was doomed. At the end followed a massacre inflicted by the mob on its hapless defenders because of misinterpretation of events. Paris now had an army and no intention of obeying the king.
(7) The political situation was new and untried for all those involved. They had no clue what the consequences of what they said would be. Orators enjoyed being cheered, while the mob took their flattery of the public as permission to sack the castles of the nobles. Those who had been called to assist, like Necker, had no comprehension on what was going on and what was needed. They operated in a vacuum. Even though they knew they had to create a new government, how to was the problem. The first major question tackled by the assembly was that of the rights inherent to any French citizen; there they followed the example set in the United States because of the influence mainly of La Fayette.
(8) In late July the assembly passed `freedom of speech and of the press; ending all privileges, for nobles or ecclesiastics; guaranteed freedom of worship, and asserted right to own property.
(9) In 1789 the treasury of France was empty however. On August 9th, 30 million livres worth of government bonds were offered to the public; on Aug 28th the treasury was still bare; the Assembly raised the bailout to 80 million; but even that did not help much; Government bonds hardly looked like a safe investment; the old tax system was moribound and no one knew what would replace it. {Ibid., p. 45.}
(10) Soldiers were not paid anymore; in the countryside muniment rooms and entire castles went up in flames along with the parchment and many nobles were massacred; Louis XVI was passive and no one would have carried out his orders; no one knew what orders he was still entitled to give; the old order was dead.
(11) Duke of Mirabeau, an able orator for the leftists, Jacques Necker representing the center, the former king's man, and Malout and Mounier of the right representing the nobles, had to come to a decision which either would allow France to have a monarchy plus a parliament, or face a rebellious France. Totally devoid of political experience or instinct, they rallied to first bringing about a disaster, then a violent reaction that would restore the old order.
(12) La Fayette realized that to give the king absolute veto would aggravate the outlook considerably, he rather would take a moderate stance of merely giving a chance to reconsider.
(13) Thomas Jefferson happened to be in Paris, La Fayette and eight of the assembly met with him. Out of that meeting came the idea to work toward a compromise: `No second chamber, but a suspensive veto.' By September the assembly was quite ready to trade the veto for the king's signature on a whole series of revolutionary decrees it had passed in August. They cheered the king as the `Liberator of France.'
(14) Those of the right and left were subdivided into the moderate and extreme center right and center left. In their effort to make everyone equal before the law, the intended changes horrified the king and those who thought likewise. Result, the king delayed and signed no proposals of the assembly.
(15) While decisive decisions had to be made, the king was not up to that, being lazy, frivolous, not very bright, and far to fond of pleasure to give much energy to anything else.
(16) Much listened to orators included the young Camille Desmoulins who said, `The (Austrian) Empire has just made peace with the Turks so that it can send its armies against us.' His oration was simple, yet highly effective, presenting scenarios between Marie Antoinette, Austria and the royal house. Everyone was turned against the Austrian.
(17) Speeches like this were printed as pamphlets and sold for a penny. This newly found freedom of expression widened and untrue, though possible, violent scenarios were printed.
(18) For the king it was always significant that he had inescapable duties to God, the Catholic Church, and the throne, which rendered him unwilling or incapable of seeing that the church was known to have a violent history itself in the collective memory of the people, while Christ's faith says, do violence to no man, Luke 3:14.
(19) September 11, the king ordered the Flanders regiment to Versailles in the hope of its support. The same day the assembly brought the decrees to him to sign. The king wrote out what he was willing to accept and what next. The assembly was horrified, saying they had not come to him for advise, but simply to sign the documents. Marat of the assembly stated finally, `It is certain that the aristocratic faction has always dominated the National Assembly, and that the Deputies of the people have always blindly followed it . . . Let the nation finally invoke its rights. Let it dismiss the Assembly and annul its decrees.' [Ibid., p. 58ff]
(20) The stage was set for the revolution to proceed.

[0015] Appendix note for page 54. PAGE 267. Efforts to suppress and destroy the Bible. -- The council of Toulouse, which met about the time of the crusade against the Albigensis, ruled: "We prohibit laymen possessing copies of the Old and New Testament. . . . We forbid them most severely to have the above books in the popular vernacular." "The Lords of the districts shall carefully seek out the heretics in dwellings, hovels, and forests, and even their underground retreats shall be entirely wiped out." -- Council. Tolosanum, Pope Gregory IX (1241), Anno. Chr. 1229. Canons 14 and 2. This council sat at the time of the crusade against the Albigensis. {GC 687.6}
"This pest [the Bible] had taken such an extension that some people had appointed priests of their own, and even some evangelists who distorted and destroyed the truth of the gospel, and made new gospels for their own purpose . . . (they know that) the preaching and explanation of the Bible is absolutely forbidden to the lay members." -- Acts of Inquisition, Philip van Limborch, History of the Inquisition, chapter 8. {GC 687.7}
Today, many are once again bent on destroying the Bible because it condemns sins and points unerringly to the powers which today, as before, afflict people with unrighteous laws and actions.
The council of Tarragona, 1234, ruled that: "No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Roman Language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after promulgation of this decree, so that they may be burned lest, be he a cleric or a layman, he be suspected until he is cleared of all suspicion." -- D. Lortsch, Histoire De La Bible En France , 1910, p. 14. {GC 688.1}
At the council of Constance, in 1415, Wycliffe was posthumously condemned by Arundel, the archbishop of Canterbury, as "That pestilent wretch of damnable heresy who invented a new translation of the Scriptures in his mother tongue." {GC 688.2}
The opposition to the Bible by the Roman Catholic Church has continued through the centuries and was increased particularly at the time of the founding of Bible Societies, on December 8, 1866, Pope Pius IX (1878-1903), in his encyclical `Quanta Cura,' issued a syllabus of eight errors under ten different headings. Under heading IV we find listed: "Socialism, Communism, Clandestine Societies, Bible Societies. . . . pests of this sort must be destroyed by all possible means." {GC 688.3}

[0035] The severity of the persecutions was very great. The atrocities committed were horrendous and those studying cannot help but be suffering themselves just reading the accounts to what length sinful man will go for despotic, wicked rulers. Many books have been written, among them also James Westfall Thompson, The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576, Chicago, 1909. To think that the hollow corkscrew pillars holding up Bernini's baldachin is filled with the bones of the Huguenots in a gesture of derisive triumph is appalling.

[0036] The days were shortened partly by the decree of Maria Theresa and the Acts of Toleration, in France [1773-1776].

[0040] Appendix. Prophetic Dates. See Time Prophecy. For those not familiar with Bible time prophecy, remember this that a day stands for a year in Bible prophecy. That means the various time periods which include 1260 days, 3 1/2 years, 42 months all figure out to be 1260 years since a Jewish month had 30 days. This covers the period of papal supremacy between 538 to 1798 A.D. It was the great majority church which could not stand people among themselves whose believes did not follow exactly their own ideas. These minorities, because they were hunted to death, are in the eyes of God as presented in the Bible His church on earth, since they kept His doctrines as best they knew how, while the persecutors are the instruments of Satan.

[0200] Sir Walter Scott, Life of Napoleon, vol. 1, ch. 17.

[0220] Blackwood's Magazine, November, 1870. This is true as of the time of writing that observation, a while before communism and later Nazism entered the picture, which was influenced by the French Revolution.

[0250] Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17.; Today it becomes increasingly known how the Roman church is involved with sins of the flesh; how they invest moneys received from their flock of believers and a good portion of it is invested in xrated products stocks. And that is merely a small portion of their flaunting of God's laws. They know they can get away with it, because they have nearly all governments dance to their pipers.

[0300] Wylie, James A. (1808-1890), `The History of Protestantism', book 22, ch. 6.

[0330] Ibid., b. 22, ch. 7.

[0335] On May 3, 1570, Pius V (1572-1585) issued his bull excommunicating Queen Elizabeth. Nearly three years before, the Jesuits had begun to infiltrate England. Professing themselves to be Protestant clergymen, they worked to widen the differences and create animosities between the various Protestant groups, eventually breaking the union and peace that had so largely prevailed in England during the first ten years of Elizabeth's reign. The Massacre of St. Bartholomew, which occurred soon after, August 24, 1572, sent a thrill of terror through the nation. The doom of the Huguenots taught Elizabeth and the English Protestants that Roman Catholic pledges and promises of peace were no security whatever against sudden and wholesale destruction commemorated by them by a papal medal, "Ugonottorum Strages". The French king was Charles IX (1560-1574).. But it was John Wesley (1703-1791), who through his preaching in the streets and in the open fields saved England from the horrors of the French Revolution, in spite of his church leadership's opposition to him. He died loyal to the Church of England.
To counter the influence of the Reformation movement in England, the Catholic Church founded a University at Douay in the northeast of France. To this school a small group of English youth came to be educated as seminary priests and later were employed in undermining the Reformation in their native land. The Pope so completely approved of the entire plan that he created a similar institution in Rome—the English College.

[0440] Among the duchies, that of Lorraine is located roughly where Luxembourg would be central to it today.

[0450] Henry White, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew, ch. 14, par. 34. Threats to stable governments:

1. centralization of wealth and power,
   
2. combinations for increasing the wealth of the few,
   
3. combinations of the poor to defend their interests,
   
4. the spirit of unrest, or riot and blood shed,
   
5. the world wide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the revolution.

[0480] Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17.

[0500] Lacretelle, History, vol. 11, p. 309; in Sir Archibald Alison, History of Europe, vol. 1, ch. 10.

[0720] Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17.

[0770] M. A. Thiers, History of the French Revolution, vol. 2, pp. 370, 371.

[0810] Alison, vol. 1, ch. 10.

[0880] Journal of Paris, 1793, No. 318. Quoted in Buchez-Roux, Collection of Parliamentary History , vol. 30, pp. 200, 201.

[0890] Appendix. PAGE 276. The Reign of Terror. - - For a reliable, brief introduction into the history of the French Revolution see L. Gershoy, `The French Revolution (1932); G. Lefebvre, `The Coming of the French Revolution (1869), 4 Vols. {GC 688.4}
The `Moniteur Officiel' was the government paper at the time of the revolution and is a primary source, containing a factual account of actions taken by the Assemblies, full texts of the documents, etc. It has been reprinted. See also A. Aulard, `Christianity and the French Revolution (London, 1882), in which the account is carried through 1802 -- an excellent study;
W. H. Jervis, `The Gallican Church and the Revolution (London, 1882), A careful work by an Anglican, but shows preference for Catholicism. {GC 688.5}
On the relation of Church and State in France during the French Revolution see Henry H. Walsh, `The Concordat of 1801: A Study of Nationalism in relation to Church and State (New York, 1933); Charles Ledre, L'eglise de France sous la Revolution (Paris, 1949). {GC 688.6}
Some contemporary studies on the religious significance of the Revolution are G. Chais de Sourcesol, Le Livre des Manifestes (Avignon, 1800), in which the author endeavored to ascertain the cause of the upheaval, and its religious significance, etc.; James Bicheno, `The Signs of the Times (London, 1794); James Winthrop, `A Systematic Arrangement of Several Scripture Prophecies Relating to Antichrist; with their application to the course of history (Boston, 1795); and Lathrop, `The Prophecy of Daniel Relating to the Time of the End (Springfield, Massachusetts, 1811). {GC 688.7}
For the church during the revolution see W. M. Sloan, `The French Revolution and Religious Reform' (1901); P. F. la Gorce, `Histoire Religieuse de la Revolution' (Paris, 1909). {GC 689.1}
On relations with the papacy see G. Bourgin, `La France et Rome de 1788-1797 (Paris, 1808), Based on secret files in the Vatican; A Latreille, `L'Eglise Catholique et la Revolution (Paris, 1950), especially interesting on Pius VI and the religious crisis, 1775-1799. {GC 689.2}
For Protestants during the Revolution, see Pressensé (Ed.), `The Reign of Terror (Cincinnati, 1869). {GC 689.3}

[0900] G. de Felice, History of the Protestants of France, b. 1, ch. 2, par. 8.

[0930] D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, b. 2, ch. 36.

[0940] Wylie, b. 13, ch. 4.

[1010] Wylie, b. 13, ch. 20.

[1060] Appendix. PAGE 280. The masses and the privileged classes.--On social conditions prevailing in France prior to the period of the revolution, see H. Von Holst, Lowell Lectures on the French Revolution, Lecture 1; AlsoTaine, Ancient Regime, and A. Young, Travels in France. {GC 689.4}

[1072] Truth, justice, and loyalty are struggling always against envy and jealousy. Envious parties always tend to incite others to disobey, commit some wrong. Envy makes the one entertaining it a miserable person for it is the start of pride, and if it takes root in the heart, it will lead to hatred, and eventually to revenge and murder. That has been the history of Rome. They would take offense at any one, who they could not control hiding it under their disguise as pretending to be in touch with God - but it is the god of this world they pursue.

[1090] The Secretive Roman powers were behind all revolutions: (1) the French Rev. (1789), (2) the Spanish Rev. (1823), (3) the Polish Rev. (1831), (4) the Italian and German Rev. (1848), (5) the Russian Rev. (1917), WWI and WWII . . Since following WWI the `League of Nations' did not form Rome's desired OWG (1 world govnmt), they started WWII and the `United Nations' and through many other means to bring it about, (Popery, Puseyism and Jesuitism, p. 139 & op.).

[1092] Those same sentiments are prevalent all throughout society at home and in all nations. They equate Roman religion with Bible religion, when it is the opposite to what the Bible teaches. 86% of Rome's doctrines cannot be found in the Bible. The fruits of faith in the true teachings of the Bible, ennoble a person and makes such a one into a dependable, well contributing person.

[1110] Appendix. PAGE 283. Retribution.--For further details concerning the retributive character of the French Revolution see Thos. H. Gill, The Papal Drama, B.10; Edmond De Pressense, The Church and the French Revolution, B. 3, CH. 1. {GC 689.5}

[1120] Appendix. PAGE 284. The atrocities of the reign of terror.--See M. A. Thiers, History of the French Revolution, Vol. 3, pp. 42-44, 62-74, 106 (New York, 1890, Translated by F. Shoberl); F. A. Mignet, History of the French Revolution, Ch. 9, Par. 1 (Bohn, 1894); F. Chr. Schlosser, Weltgeschichte, 1890, pp. 238-311.; A. Alison, History of Europe, 1789-1815, Vol. 1, ch. 14 (New York, 1872, Vol. 1, pp. 293-312). {GC 689.6} - The Jacobins (a secret society whose symbols are the same as the Masons today), their members Danton and Robespierre were responsible for many atrocities during the revolution.

[1160] John Adolphus (1768-1845), `History of France from 1790 to 1802', London, 1803, Vol. II, p. 379.

[1210] Early on, when sin first reared in the once pure angel, Satan was not destroyed because the angels did not yet understand all that was involved in the great controversy. The principles at stake would need to be more fully revealed. For the sake of mankind, Satan's existence must continue on. Man must also see the contrast between the prince of darkness and the Prince of light. Man must have time to choose whom they would serve.
"Yet Satan was not then destroyed. The angels did not even then understand all that was involved in the great controversy. The principles at stake were to be more fully revealed. And for the sake of man, Satan's existence must be continued. Man as well as angels must see the contrast between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness. He must choose whom he will serve." {DA 761.3; Rev. 12:10 Satan's disguise was torn away.}

[1300] Appendix. PAGE 287. The circulation of the Scriptures.--In 1804, according to Mr. William Canton of the British and Foreign Bible Society, "All the Bibles extant in the world, in manuscript or in print, counting every version in every land, were computed at not many more than four millions. . . . The various languages in which those four millions were written, including such bygone speech as the Moeso-Gothic of Ulfilas and the Anglo-Saxon of Bede, are set down as numbering about fifty." -- What is the Bible Society? Rev. Ed., 1904, P. 23. {GC 689.7}
The American Bible Society reported a distribution from 1816 through 1955 of 481,149,365 Bibles, Testaments, and portions of Testaments. To this may be added over 600,000,000 Bibles of Scripture portions distributed by the British and Foreign Bible Society. During the year 1955 alone the American Bible Society distributed a grand total of 23,819,733 Bibles, Testaments, and portions of Testaments throughout the world. {GC 689.8}
The Scriptures, in whole or in part, have been printed, as of Dec. 1955, in 1,092 languages; and new languages are constantly being added. {GC 689.9}

[1320] Appendix. The missionary activity of the early Christian church has not been duplicated till modern times. It had virtually died out by the year 1000, being succeeded by the military campaigns of the Crusades. The Reformation era saw little foreign mission work, except on the part of the early Jesuits which destroyed more faith in God than made it count. The pietistic revival produced some missionaries. The work of the Moravian Church in the 18th century was remarkable, and there were some missionary societies formed by the British for work in colonized North America. But the great resurgence of foreign missionary activity begins around the year 1800, at "the time of the end." (Daniel 12:4, See also king of the north). In 1792 was formed the Baptist Missionary Society, which sent Carey to India. In 1795 the London Missionary Society was organized, and another society in 1799, which in 1812 became the Church Missionary Society. Shortly afterward the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society was founded. In the United States the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was formed in 1810, and Adoniram Judson was sent out that year to Calcutta. He established himself in Burma the next year. In 1814 the American Baptist Missionary Union was formed. The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions was formed in 1837.
"In A.D. 1800 . . . the overwhelming majority of Christians were the descendants of those who had been won before A.D. 1500 . . . Now, in the 19th century, came a further expansion of Christianity. Not so many continents or major countries were entered for the first time as in the preceding three centuries. That would have been impossible, for on all the larger land masses of the earth except Australia and among all the more numerous peoples and in all the areas of high civilization Christianity had been introduced before A.D. 1800. What now occurred was the acquisition of fresh footholds in regions and among peoples already touched, an expansion of unprecedented extent from both the newer bases and the older ones, and the entrance of Christianity into the larger majority of such countries, islands, peoples, and tribes as had previously not been touched. . ..
"The 19th century spread of Christianity was due primarily to a new burst of religious life emanating from the Christian impulse. . . . Never in any corresponding length of time had the Christian impulse given rise to so many new movements. Never had it had quite so great an effect upon Western European peoples. It was from this astounding vigor that there issued the missionary enterprise which during the 19th century so augmented the numerical strength and the influence of Christianity." [Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, vol. I, The Great Century, A.D. 1800 - A.D. 1914 (New York: Harper & Bros., 1914), pp. 2-4.]

[1400] This article was written about a hundred years ago. Times have changed since it was first penned. While the political landscape has changed with time, there are still some of the same powers at work which were instrumental in Europe and France in particular. America must be aware of politicians who do not know the history or have a vision of it, which leaves out the behind the scenes forces. Many times history will be repeated among nations. People ought to concentrate on getting right with their Maker.

[1500] Calendar of Events of the Revolution.