o 490- Rome divided into 10 kingdoms
o 496- Clovis gives his power to the Papacy; France is “eldest son of the
Catholic Church”
o 508- Paganism vanquished
o 538- Papacy reigns supreme
o 800- Charlemagne becomes the first Holy Roman Emperor; “Primus inter
pares” (first among equals)
o 1523- France advised to withstand the reformation
o 1534- France becomes the first persecuting nation against Protestantism
o 1572- St. Bartholomew Massacre
o 1789- French Revolution begins
o 1793- God is declared by the legislators not to exist; The Reign of Terror
begins
o 1797- Freedom of religion is granted
o 1871- Statue of Liberty begins to be created (proposition made in 1865)



1788 – The royal treasury is declared empty
1789 –
o June 20 – National Assembly established
o July 14 – Storming of the Bastille
o August 23 & 24 – Declaration of freedom of religion & speech
o August 26 – Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
o October 5 & 6 – Women’s March on Versailles
o December 19 – Church property confiscated to create the Assignat
1790 –
o Food riots
o February 13 – The Assembly forbids the taking of religion vows
o July 28 – The Assembly refuses to allow Austrian troops to cross French
territory to suppress an uprising in Belgium, inspired by the French
Revolution
o September 4 – The National Assembly takes charge of the public treasury
o December 3 – King Louis XVI writes to the King of Prussia, FredrickWilliam II, asking for a military intervention by European monarchs to
restore his authority



1791 –
o March 25 – Diplomatic relations broken between France and the Vatican
o June 20 & 21 – King Louis XVI secretly tries to flee the country
o June 25 – King Louis XVI returns to Paris. The Assembly suspends his
functions until further notice
1792 –
o February 7 – Austria and Prussia sign a military convention to invade
France and defend the monarchy
o March 20 – The Assembly declares war on the Bohemia and Hungary
o August 13 – Royal family imprisoned in temple
o September Massacres
o November 19 – The Convention claims the right to intervene in any country
"where people desire to recover their freedom"
o December 3 – Robespierre demands that the King be put to death
1793 –
o January 21 – King Louis XVI beheaded
o February 1 – The Convention declares war on England and the Dutch
Republic
o February 14 – The Convention annexes the Principality of Monaco
o March 1 – Decree of the Convention annexes Belgium to France
o March 7 – The Convention declares war against Spain
o April 6 – Committee of Public Safety created
o July 27 – Robespierre elected to the Committee of Public Safety
o August 22 – Robespierre is elected the president of the Convention
o September – Reign of Terror begins
—
“Christ was the anointed of God; yet his life was humble and without display. For
thirty years of his life there is scarcely anything on record concerning him. His quiet,
unostentatious life should be a lesson to parents, to guardians, to children, to youth, and
even to manhood.” Youth Instructor, July 20, 1893.
“‘And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.’ The ‘week’ here
brought to view is the last one of the seventy; it is the last seven years of the period
allotted especially to the Jews. During this time, extending from A.D. 27 to A.D. 34, Christ,
at first in person and afterward by His disciples, extended the gospel invitation
especially to the Jews. As the apostles went forth with the good tidings of the kingdom,
the Saviour’s direction was: ‘Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the
Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ Matthew
10:5, 6.
“In the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.’ In
A.D. 31, three and a half years after His baptism, our Lord was crucified.” The Great
Controversy, 327.
“Thus the disciples preached the resurrection of Christ. Many among those who
listened were waiting for this testimony, and when they heard it they believed. It brought
to their minds the words that Christ had spoken, and they took their stand in the ranks
of those who accepted the gospel. The seed that the Saviour had sown sprang up and
bore fruit.” Acts of the Apostles, 60.
“Christ’s ascension to heaven was the signal that His followers were to receive the
promised blessing. For this they were to wait before they entered upon their work. When
Christ passed within the heavenly gates, He was enthroned amidst the adoration of the
angels. As soon as this ceremony was completed, the Holy Spirit descended upon the
disciples in rich currents, and Christ was indeed glorified, even with the glory which He
had with the Father from all eternity. The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven’s
communication that the Redeemer’s inauguration was accomplished. According to His
promise He had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers as a token that He had,
as priest and king, received all authority in heaven and on earth, and was the Anointed
One over His people.” Acts of the Apostles, 38.
“In the prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction Christ said, ‘Because iniquity shall
abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same
shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.’ This prophecy will again be
fulfilled. The abounding iniquity of that day finds its counterpart in this generation. So
with the prediction in regard to the preaching of the gospel.” The Desire of Ages, 633.
“In the days of the early Christians, Christ came the second time. His first advent
was at Bethlehem, when He came as an infant. His second advent was at the Isle of
Patmos, when He revealed Himself in glory to John the Revelator, who ‘fell at His feet as
dead’ when he saw Him.” Manuscript Releases, volume 19, 4.
“But not so did prophets and apostles regard the holy law of God. Said David, ‘I
will walk at liberty; for I seek thy precepts.’ [Psalm 119:45.] The apostle James, who wrote
after the death of Christ, refers to the decalogue as the ‘royal law,’ and the ‘perfect law of
liberty.’ [James 2:8; 1:25.] And the Revelator, half a century after the crucifixion,
pronounces a blessing upon them ‘that do his commandments that they may have right
to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.’ [Revelation 22:14.]”
The Great Controversy, 466.
“The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great
apostasy which would result in the establishment of the papal power. He declared that
the day of Christ should not come, ‘except there come a falling away first, and that man
of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that
is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing
himself that he is God.’ And furthermore, the apostle warns his brethren that ‘the
mystery of iniquity doth already work.’ 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7. Even at that early date
he saw, creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the
development of the papacy.” The Great Controversy, 49.
“It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the civil government,
and this prepared the way for the development of the papacy—the beast. Said Paul:
‘There’ shall ‘come a falling away, . . . and that man of sin be revealed.’ 2 Thessalonians
2:3. So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast.” The Great
Controversy, 443.
“In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power
was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over
the entire church. Paganism had given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the
beast ‘his power, and his seat, and great authority.’ Revelation 13:2. And now began the
1260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation.
Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5–7.” The Great Controversy, 55.
“The influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowledged her dominion is
still far from being destroyed. And prophecy foretells a restoration of her power. ‘I saw
one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and
all the world wondered after the beast.’ Verse 3. The infliction of the deadly wound points
to the downfall of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, ‘his deadly wound was
healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.’ Paul states plainly that the ‘man of
sin’ will continue until the Second Advent. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8. To the very close of
time he will carry forward the work of deception. And the revelator declares, also
referring to the papacy: ‘All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names
are not written in the book of life.’ Revelation 13:8. In both the Old and the New World,
the papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests
solely upon the authority of the Roman Church.” The Great Controversy, 578.
“As we approach the last crisis, it is of vital moment that harmony and unity exist
among the Lord’s instrumentalities. The world is filled with storm and war and variance.
Yet under one head—the papal power—the people will unite to oppose God in the
person of His witnesses. This union is cemented by the great apostate.” Testimonies,
volume 7, 182.
Revelation 11:3–18
“‘When they shall have finished [are finishing] their testimony.’ The period when
the two witnesses 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.’ 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.” The Great Controversy, 268.
“At the same time anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but
human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the enriching of
the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense
of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide
dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending
to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France.”
Education, 227, 228.
“Those who are engaged in proclaiming the third angel’s message are searching
the Scriptures upon the same plan that Father Miller adopted.” Review and Herald,
November 25, 1884.
“Preachers and people have looked upon the book of Revelation as mysterious
and of less importance than other portions of the Sacred Scriptures. But I saw that this
book is indeed a revelation given for the especial benefit of those who should live in the
last days, to guide them in ascertaining their true position and their duty. God directed
the mind of William Miller to the prophecies and gave him great light upon the book
of Revelation.” Early Writings, 231.
“The seven churches of Asia is a history of the church of Christ in her seven
forms, in all her windings and turnings, in all her prosperity and adversity, from the
days of the apostles down to the end of the world. The seven seals are a history of the
transactions of the powers and kings of the earth over the church, and God’s protection
of his people during the same time. The seven trumpets are a history of seven peculiar
and heavy judgments sent upon the earth, or Roman kingdom. And the seven vials are
the seven last plagues sent upon Papal Rome. Mixed with these are many other events,
woven in like tributary streams, and filling up the grand river of prophecy, until the
whole ends us in the ocean of eternity.
“This, to me, is the plan of John’s prophecy in the book of Revelation. And the man
who wishes to understand this book, must have a thorough knowledge of other parts of
the word of God. The figures and metaphors used in this prophecy, are not all explained
in the same, but must be found in other prophets, and explained in other passages of
Scripture. Therefore it is evident that God has designed the study of the whole, even to
obtain a clear knowledge of any part.” William Miller, Miller’s Lectures, volume 2, lecture
12, 178.
“The seals are introduced to our notice in the 4th, 5th, and 6th chapters of
Revelation. The scenes presented under these seals are brought to view in Revelation 6,
and the first verse of Revelation 8. They evidently cover events with which the church is
connected from the opening of this dispensation to the coming of Christ.
“While the seven churches present the internal history of the church, the seven
seals bring to view the great events of its external history.” Uriah Smith, The Biblical
Institute, 253.
“We have now traced the churches, the seals, and the beasts, or living beings, as
far as they will compare as covering the same periods of time. The seals are seven in
number, the beasts but four. And it may be well here to notice, that at the opening of the
first, second, third and fourth seals the first, second, third and fourth beasts are heard to
say ‘Come and see;’ but when the fifth, sixth and seventh seals are opened, there is no
such voice heard. Neither do the last three churches, and the last three seals, compare,
as covering the same periods of time, as the first four churches, and the first four seals
do. But, as we have shown, the churches, seals and beasts do agree, as covering the same
periods of time for the space of nearly 1800 years, till we come down to a little more than
half a century of the present time.” James White, Review and Herald, February 12, 1857.
“At the same time anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but
human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the enriching of
the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense
of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide
dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution--all are tending
to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France.”
Education, 228.
“In India, China, Russia, and the cities of America, thousands of men and women
are dying of starvation. The monied men, because they have the power, control the
market. They purchase at low rates all they can obtain, and then sell at greatly increased
prices. This means starvation to the poorer classes, and will result in a civil war. There
will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. ‘And at that time
shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:
and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to
that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be
found written in the book. . . . Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the
wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall
understand.’” Manuscript Releases, volume 5, 305.
“The less we make direct charges against authorities and powers, the greater work
we shall be able to accomplish, both in America and in foreign countries. Foreign nations
will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis
will come upon our people in all parts of the world.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, 69.
“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, popery 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 Great Controversy, 265.
Psalm 119:105
Psalm 119:130
“The essential and defining difference in the two revolutions can be identified in
their foundational statements. The American Revolution declared to the world on July 4,
1776, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’
“The French Revolution's Declaration of the Rights of Man and its assertion of
‘liberty, equality, and fraternity,’ were based purely on the human assertion of this truth,
as opposed to the American Revolution's basis of the ‘Creator’ and natural law. The
Americans appealed ‘to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our
intentions’ and affirmed their ‘firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.’” Dr.
Richard D. Land, The Christian Post.
“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 bondslaves of ignorance, vice, and superstition. They began to think and act as men.
Monarchs saw it, and trembled for their despotism.” The Great Controversy, 277.
“‘The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God,’ but he can advance no evidence
to sustain his claims; he can only take the position of an objector to the purposes of an allwise God. Atheism can shed no ray of light into the grave. It cannot restrain crime or
quicken the moral energies. It has no power to elevate the character or purity the soul.
On the contrary, it always tends to degenerate the human race; it leads away from purity
and peace. An instance of this is given in the history of the French Revolution. That
period, when the existence of God was denied, and his commandments were abolished,
was the most revolting that is recorded on the pages of human history.” Youth Instructor,
December 24, 1896.
“A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the
liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are
virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready
to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.” Samuel Adams.
“Without Thomas Jefferson and his Declaration of Independence, there would
have been no American revolution that announced universal principles of liberty.
Without his participation by the side of the unforgettable Marquis de Lafayette, there
would have been no French proclamation of The Rights of Man. Without his brilliant
negotiation of the Louisiana treaty, there would be no United States of America. Without
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, there would have been no Virginia Statute on
Religious Freedom, and no basis for the most precious clause of our most prized element
of our imperishable Bill of Rights - the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution.” Christopher Hitchens.
“Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country
as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against
us. Beside, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over
the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.” Patrick
Henry.
“Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we
approve of monarcy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the
King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.”
Thomas Paine.
“Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or
the most abject submission; this is all we can expect - We have therefore to resolve to
conquer or die: Our own Country's Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly
exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world.
Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being,
in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions - The
Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and
praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny meditated
against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole
world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any
slavish mercenary on earth.” George Washington.
“[L]iberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from
our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense
of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.” John Adams.
“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him
down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.” Thomas Jefferson.
“Nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not
tamely submit -- appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or
be free.” Joseph Warren.
“May our land be a land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed,
a name and a praise in the whole Earth, until the last shock of time shall bury the empires
of the whole world in one common undistinguished ruin!” Joseph Warren.
“Rome was not slow to inflame their jealous fears. Said the pope to the regent of
France in 1523: ‘This mania [Protestantism] will not only destroy religion, but all
principalities, nobilities, laws, orders, and ranks besides.’ A few years later a papist
dignitary warned the king, ‘If you wish to preserve your sovereign rights intact; if you
wish to keep the nations submitted to you in tranquillity, manfully defend the Catholic
faith, and subdue all its enemies by your arms.’ 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.’” The Great Controversy, 276.
“‘Scarcely was there a generation of Frenchmen during that 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 land 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 Stateto the stake; no more patriotism to be
chased into banishment.’ And the Revolution, with all its horrors, was the dire result.
“‘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 Great Controversy, 278, 279.
“‘Where also our Lord was crucified.’ 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,” 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, high-born 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,’ 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 life-long 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.’ 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 mountain-side 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, and corpses hanging suspended from the
trees.’ Their country, ‘laid waste with the sword, the ax, the fagot, was converted into a
vast, gloomy wilderness.’ These atrocities were not committed during the Dark Ages, but
in that brilliant era ‘when science was cultivated, and letters flourished; when the divines
of the court and the capital were learned and eloquent men, who greatly affected the
graces of meekness and charity.’ The Great Controversy, 271.
“Instead of holding the masses in a blind submission to her dogmas, her work
resulted in making them infidels and revolutionists. 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.” The Great
Controversy, 281.
“But blackest in the black catalogue of crime, most horrible among the fiendish
deeds of all the dreadful centuries, was the St. Bartholomew Massacre. 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. The great bell of the palace, 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.
“Satan, in the person of the Roman zealots, led the van. 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 extended to all 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.
“‘The pope, Gregory XIII., received the news of the fate of the Huguenots with
unbounded joy. The wish of his heart had been gratified, and Charles IX, was now his
favorite son. Rome rang with rejoicings. The guns of the castle of St. Angelo gave forth a
joyous salute; the bells sounded from every tower; bonfires blazed throughout the night;
and Gregory, attended by his cardinals and priests, led the magnificent procession to the
church of St. Louis, where the cardinal of Lorraine chanted a Te Deum. The cry of the
dying host in France was gentle harmony to the court of Rome. A medal was struck to
commemorate the glorious massacre; a picture, which still exists in the Vatican, was
painted, representing the chief events of St. Bartholomew. The pope, eager to show his
gratitude to Charles for his dutiful conduct, sent him the Golden Rose; and from the
pulpits of Rome eloquent preachers celebrated Charles, Catherine, and the Guises as the
new founders of the papal church.’”
“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 Great Controversy, 272, 273.
Revelation 11:5; 22:18, 19
“Men cannot with impunity trample upon the Word of God.” The Great
Controversy, 268
“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. 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 Great Controversy, 265
Revelation 11:7, 8
“This prophecy has received a most exact and striking fulfillment in the history of
France. During the Revolution of 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
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 the Deity.’ ‘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.’
“France presented also the characteristic 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 licentiousness of France, as it is 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 a state of
mere civil contract of a transitory character, which any two persons might engage in and
cast loose at pleasure. . . . If fiends had set themselves at work to discover a mode of most
effectually destroying whatever is venerable, graceful, or permanent in domestic life, and
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.’’” The Great Controversy, 270.
“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. A writer, speaking of the horrors of the Revolution, says:
“Those excesses are in truth to be charged upon the throne and the church.” 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 Great Controversy, 276.
“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.” The Great Controversy, 282.
“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 decree which
prohibited the Bible passed the French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution
rescinding the decree, and 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 this
once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they
shall know that my name is Jehovah.’ [Jeremiah 16:21.]
“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 more than
two hundred languages and dialects. By the efforts of Bible societies, since 1804, more
than 187,000,000 copies of the Bible have been circulated.
“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. The
devoted Carey, who in 1793 became the first English missionary to India, kindled anew
the flame of missionary effort in England. In America, twenty years later, the zeal of a
society of students, among whom was Adoniram Judson, resulted in the formation of the
American Board of Foreign Missions, under whose auspices Judson went as a missionary
from the United States to Burmah. From this time the work of foreign missions attained
an unprecedented growth.
“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.
“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.’ A century has 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 forever 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.” The Great
Controversy, 286–288.
On October 5, 1793, the law for a new calendar was passed replacing the sevenday week with a ten-day "decade." Also the months were renamed and days allocated
differently. This meant that there was officially no longer a weekly day of worship. This
was the major event that initiated the "dechristinization."
Many of the clergy, both Catholic and Protestant, resigned their posts to join the
revolution. With excitement high, the local and regional governments proclaimed grand
celebrations at the Notre Dame cathedral. That was November 10, 1793 (20th of Brumaire,
by the new calendar). A statue of Liberty would replace the image of the "Blessed Virgin."
The Mayor of Paris called this ceremony the "Festival of Liberty and Reason."
"The ceremony of the 20th Brumaire was very important. The insignia of the
Catholic religion in the Church of Notre-Dame had been covered up, and a mound had
been heaped up, on which stood a Greek temple, with an inscription — 'To Philosophy'
— and with four busts of philosophers. . . . The 'Torch of Truth' flamed upon an altar.
Young girls defiled [marched] in procession; they were clad in white, with tricolour
shashes, wore wreaths of flowers and carried torches. Then there emerged from the
temple a beautiful woman, dressed in a mantle of blue and wearing the red cap. As the
personification of liberty she received the homage of the Republicans, who, stretching
their hands toward her, sang a hymn. . . .
"'Come, holy Liberty, inhabit this temple, Become the goddess of the French
people.'
"The whole scene was enacted artistically and tastefully by actresses from the
Opera.
"Then the Department and the Commune assembled at the bar of the Convention,
where Chaumette declared, in their name, that the people wanted no other priests or gods
than those which nature offers us: 'We, their magistrates, have gathered from their lips
this expression of their wish, and we bring it to you from the Temple of Reason' and he
asked that henceforth Notre-Dame should be known as the Temple of Reason. A decree
to this effect was immediately passed…
"The Worship of Reason was nearly everywhere deistic and not materialistic or
atheistic." (Aulard, Ibid, pp. 106, 107, 111) In Deism, nature is worshiped. It was atheistic
in the sense of replacing the creator of nature with nature itself as the object of worship.
The deism developed from the atheism.
“Faith in God is, for the state, the best guarantee of order and stability, that even
the laws cannot replace…Let all our citizens be today fully reassured: let all, Catholics,
Protestants, baptized or non-baptized, know that it is the will of the legislator, as the will
of the law, that freedom of religion be assured. I wish to renew in your name, the sacred
promise: all religions are free in France.” Camille Jordan, May 1797, in the Council of Five
Hundred.
"A. D. 1797. On the 17th of June, Camille Jourdan, in the 'Council of Five
Hundred,' brought up the memorable report on the 'Revision of the laws relative to
religious worship.' It consisted of a number of propositions, abolishing alike the
republican restrictions on Popish worship, and the Popish restrictions on Protestant.
"1. That all citizens might buy or hire edifices for the free exercise of religious
worship.
"2. That all congregations might assemble by the sound of bells.
"3. That no test or promise of any sort, unrequired from other citizens, should be
required of the ministers of those congregations.
"4. That any individual attempting to impede, or in any way interrupt, the public
worship should be fined, up to five hundred livres, and not less than fifty; and that if the
interruption proceeded from the constituted authorities, such authorities should be fined
double the sum.
"5. That entrance to assemblies for the purpose of religious worship should be free
for all citizens.
"6. That all other laws concerning religious worship should be repealed.
"Those regulations, in comprehending the whole state of worship in France, were,
in fact, a peculiar boon to Protestantism. Popery was already in sight of full restoration.
But Protestantism, crushed under the burthen of the laws of Louis XIV., and unsupported
by the popular belief, required the direct support of the state to 'stand on its feet.' The
report seems even to have had an especial view to the grievances of the church; the old
prohibitions to hold public worship, to have ingress, etc.
"From that period the church has been free in France, and it now numbers
probably as large a population as before its fall. It is a striking coincidence, that, almost
at the moment when this great measure was determined on, the French army under
Bonaparte, was seen invading and partitioning the papal territory. The next year, (1798,)
saw it master of Rome, the popedom a republic, and the Pope a prisoner and an exile.
"The Church and the Bible had been slain in France from November, 1793, till June,
1797. The three years and a half were expended, and the Bible, so long and sternly
repressed before, was placed in honor, and was openly the book of free Protestantism!"
Prophetic Expositions, volume 2, Josiah Litch, 219, 220.