Bible and the French Revolution
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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 con-
tinued 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.
“When the news of the massacre reached Rome, the exultation
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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, attended by the
cardinals and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, went in long procession
to the church of St. Louis, where the cardinal of Lorraine 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.’”—Henry White, The
Massacre of St. Bartholomew, ch. 14, par. 34.
The same master spirit that urged on the St. BartholomewMassacre
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.