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The Great Controversy 1888
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
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the first English missionary to India, kindled anew the flame of mis-
sionary 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