They were not only to be thus restored, but were to be elevated far above
their former position. Since that epoch, have been made all those great
efforts to evangelize the world, by means of missionary, tract, Bible, and
other benevolent societies, which have caused the _Scriptures_ to be
translated into nearly all known languages, and carried by the _living
preacher_ to the ends of the earth. The very room in which Voltaire
uttered his famous prediction—that “the time would arrive when the Bible
would be regarded only in the light of an old curiosity,”—is now used for
a Bible depository, and is “piled to the ceiling with that rare old book.”
Copies of the Bible have been multiplied a million fold, and scattered
broadcast over the earth. The other witness,—the church, has since then,
also, been greatly magnified. In this age of missions and Bibles, the
number of believers has been greatly multiplied; and missionaries have
penetrated all lands. The last half-century has been distinguished for its
wonderful revivals; and the servants of the cross have “prophesied [or
testified] again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and
kings,” 10:11.
The same hour, is the time of the slaughter of the witnesses. Its epoch
was to be marked by a great political revolution, which, in the
Apocalypse, is symbolized by an earthquake. In the year in which
Christianity was suppressed by France, they beheaded their king, abolished
the monarchy, and entirely revolutionized the government. In the reign of
terror following, the best blood of the nation was shed like water, and no
man of influence could consider his life secure. Men, women and children
were dragged before the revolutionary tribunals, had their accusations
read to them, and were immediately condemned, and hurried off in crowds
without a trial, to be shot, drowned or beheaded. At Lyons thirty-one
thousand persons were thus slain; at Nantes thirty-two thousand,—and
throughout France in proportion. The number thus slain, has been estimated
at over one million,—a number hardly credible, and which might well be
symbolized by seven thousand—a perfect number. Well might the remnant be
affrighted, and hasten to give glory to the GOD of heaven, by the
restoration of that book, the setting aside of which had involved them in
such dire calamities.
The tenth of the city which fell, must be the tenth of the Roman
hierarchy, which is symbolized by the city. With the suppression of
religion, the Catholic church was prohibited, with all others. France was
one of the ten kingdoms, and the overthrow of the church in France, would
be the fall of one-tenth of that city.
Thus passed the second woe—the prelude to the third woe, which cometh
quickly.
The Seventh Trumpet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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