"In the books both of Daniel and the Revelation distinct reference is
made to that abnormal national experience known as "The French
Revolution." (See Daniel 11:36-39; Revelation 11:7-10).
The time when the
principles of irreligion and infidelity were given full opportunity to
bud and blossom and bear fruit, that all the world might judge of their
nature; when men were left to show to what deeds of darkness the carnal
heart would lead, unrestrained by any principles of righteousness and
truth, was most appropriately noted in prophecy.
---And the descriptions
given of the character of the last days by the same pen of inspiration,
are such as to show that the masses will then fall, to a large extent,
if not wholly, under the same principles of evil. While such is the
representation of prophecy, it is a serious question in many minds
whether the preliminary stages of this condition of things are not
already appearing before our eyes, and if we may not now be on the
threshold of one of those eras wherein "history repeats itself " in its
worst forms.
The wisest of men has said, "A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and
hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished." (Proverbs
22:3)
Noah was not an alarmist when he warned the world of the
approaching catastrophe of the flood: nor Lot, when he warned the
Sodomites that an all-devastating storm of fire was hanging over their
doomed city; nor our Lord, when he foretold the utter destruction of
Jerusalem, and gave his people directions how to escape it.
---Let us not
be diverted from the real situation by the cry of "alarmist," nor think
that there can be no danger because all do not see it; for St. Paul has
warned us that "when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden
destruction cometh upon them." (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
1. Spiritualism. -- Says Samuel Smucker in his Memorable Scenes
in French History, p. 116: "We find in the records of that period, materials and events which prove that then it was that the impostures of
modern spiritual rappers and mediums were first practiced, in precisely
the same way and for the same results as they are at the present day.
... Count Cagliostro enabled Cardinal Rohan to sup with the deceased
D'Alembert, with the king of Prussia, and with Voltaire, all dead some
years before. He convinced His Eminence that the worker of these wonders
had himself been present with Christ at the marriage in Cana of
Galilee. ... In the triumphs of Cagliostro, of Misner, and of St.
Germain, which at this period were at their greatest hight, we behold
another instance of the uprooting of the firm and stable foundations of
society in an excessive desire for novelties, and a restless itching
after things new, mysterious, and wonderful." As a system of pretended communication with the dead, Spiritualism is as
old, at least, as the Mosaic dispensation, for it was strictly
forbidden in his day; and it has at favorable epochs manifested itself
among men; but its wonder-working phase is peculiar to modern times, and
first manifested itself in this country, according to the prophecy of
Revelation 13.
2. Infidelity. -- ...., says: "Never let it be forgotten that
before the Revolution of 1792, the promoters of infidelity in France are
stated to have raised among themselves, and spent, a sum equal to
£900,000 in one year, -- nay, again and again. -- in purchasing,
printing, and dispersing books to corrupt the minds of the people and
prepare them for desperate measures." ....says: "The way for such a revolution was prepared by the writings
of Voltaire, Mirabeau, Diderot, Helvetius, D'Alembert, Condorcet,
Rousseau, and others of the same stamp, in which they endeavored to
disseminate principles subversive both of natural and revealed religion.
Revelation was not only impugned, but entirely set aside. The Deity was
banished from the universe, and an imaginary phantom, under the name of
the Goddess of Reason, substituted in his place. The carved work of all
religious belief and moral practice was boldly cut down by Carnot and
Robespierre and their atheistical associates. Nature was investigated by
pretended philosophers, only with the view to darken the mind, and
prevent mankind from considering anything as real but what the hand
could grasp or the corporeal eye perceive."
3. Socialism. -- Webster makes this word synonymous with
"communism," which he defines as follows: "The reorganizing of society,
or the doctrine that it should be reorganized, by regulating property,
industry, and the sources of livelihood, and also the domestic relations
and social morals of mankind; socialism, especially the doctrine of a
community of property, or the negation of individual rights in
property."
These principles were carried into practice in France, and as the result
the Revolution blossomed into all its horrid reality. The relations of
the different classes of society were completely changed. The monarchy
was overthrown,and an infidel republic established on its ruins. The
king and queen were beheaded. It was a conflict between the rich and the poor, between capital and
labor. The motto of the Revolution was, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
-- blessed words, but, with the strangest inconsistency, wholly outraged
and misapplied.
The same principles are treated in the same way to-day,
and are shouted as the watchword among the discontented masses and the
labor organizations the world over. The principles of socialism, or
communism, were probably never so widely diffused as at the present
time.
4. Free Love. -- When the existence of the true God was denied,
as it was during the French Revolution, and in his place men set up a
lewd woman as the Goddess of Reason, and the object of their highest
adoration, it was a natural consequence that the sacredness of the
marriage relation should be wholly discarded. Marriage was therefore
declared a civil contract, binding only duringthe pleasure of the
contracting parties. Divorce became general, and the corruption of
manners reached a height never before known in France. One half of the
whole number of births in Paris was illegitimate. Free-loveism is an
integral part of the spiritualistic movement of our day, not so openly
advocated as formerly, but none the less cherished and practiced as a
part of the boasted "freedom" to which the human race is attaining.
5. The Commune. -- This word is derived from a small territorial
district in France governed by an officer called a mayor. It has come to
have a much more extensive application at the present time; but the
origin of the word is not so important as the principles which it is
taken to represent. Of these we have already had a definition from
Webster, and seen a practical illustration in the French Revolution. gives the whole number of persons guillotined during the reign of
terror as 1,022,351, besides massacres of other kinds in other places,
in some of which the population of whole towns perished. says: "Such
was the rapidity with which the work of destruction was carried on,
that within the short space of ten years not less than three million
human beings... are supposed to have perished in that country alone,
chiefly through the influence of immoral principles, and the seductions
of a false philosophy." In connection with this, as showing the tendency of the times, may be
mentioned the "International," an association which, not long since, was
prominent and created a good deal of apprehension. The object of its
members was to overthrow those whom they esteemed their enemies, namely,
kings and capitalists. Its platform was, briefly, the abolition of all
class rule and privileges; political and social equality of both sexes;
nationalization of land and instruments of production; reduction of
hours of labor; education to be controlled by the state, and to be
obligatory, gratuitous, and secular; religion to be ignored; a direct
system of taxation based upon property, not upon industry; the abolition
of all standing armies; and associative production instead of
capitalist production.
It will be seen at once that to put these principles into practice would
be completely to change the present political and social relations of
society. The different branches of this revolutionary body may now go by
different names, as Nihilists in Russia, Communists in Germany,
Anarchists and Monarchists in France, Fenians and Land-Leaguers in
Ireland, the different labor organizations in this country, and
Socialists everywhere. The principles involved are similar in all their
divisions; the end sought, the same; and in the natural order of things,
a great crisis in respect to these movements is inevitable.
The impress of the satanic hand is clearly seen in that the state of
society sought for is exactly the opposite of that established by God in
the garden of Eden.
There God was supreme; Christ, by whom God made all
things, was recognized and honored; God's law was the governing rule; a
spirit of true worship, prompted by love, controlled man's mind; the
marriage relation was sacred; and the Sabbath was honored as God's great
memorial.
In the French Revolution, God was dethroned,
Christianity denounced,
all restraint broken off from the
carnal heart,
worship discarded,
the rest-day abolished,
the marriage
relation annulled,
and society rent into mournful fragments."
Uriah Smith
Q: Can anyone say the 2020's?....i knew you could...
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