Basic HTML Version
Two Witnesses
125
Church and State. The fearful results were specially apparent in
those countries that rejected the light of the Reformation. There was
a state of moral debasement and corruption similar to the condition
of Sodom just prior to its destruction, and to the idolatry and spiritual
darkness that prevailed in Egypt in the days of Moses.
In no land had the spirit of enmity against Christ and the truth
been more strikingly displayed than in giddy and godless France.
Nowhere had the gospel encountered more bitter and cruel opposi-
tion. In the streets of Paris, Christ had indeed been crucified in the
person of his saints. The world still recalls with shuddering horror
the scenes of that most cowardly and cruel onslaught, the Massacre
of St. Bartholomew. The king of France, urged on by Romish priests
and prelates, lent his sanction to the dreadful work. The palace
bell, tolling at midnight, gave the signal for the slaughter to begin.
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 three days the butchery went on; more than
thirty thousand perished. The result caused great joy to the hosts of
darkness. The Roman pontiff, sharing in the diabolical rejoicing,
proclaimed a jubilee to be observed throughout his dominions, to
celebrate the event.
[192]
The same master-spirit that urged in the Massacre of St.
Bartholomew, led also in the scenes of the French Revolution. Satan
seemed to triumph. Notwithstanding the labors of the Reformers, he
had succeeded in holding vast multitudes in ignorance concerning
God and his word. Now he appeared in a new guise. In France arose
an atheistical power that openly declared war against the authority of
Heaven. Men threw off all restraint. The law of God was trampled
under foot. Those who could engage in the most Heaven-daring
blasphemy and the most abominable wickedness were most highly
exalted. Fornication was sanctioned by law. Profanity and corrup-
tion seemed deluging the earth. In all this, supreme homage was
paid to Satan, while Christ, in his characteristics of truth, purity, and
unselfish love, was crucified. The Bible was publicly burned. The