[Illustration: STORMING OF THE BASTILLE PRISON IN PARIS An event in the French Revolution which marked the ending of the old autocratic order.] FOOTNOTES: [E] The exact date should be 538, as given in the quotation from Schaff's history. "From the death of Silverius [June, 538] the Roman Catholic writers date the episcopacy of Vigilius."--_Bower, "History of the Popes," under year 538._ [Illustration: TAKING THE POPE PRISONER This was accomplished by Berthier, the French general, in 1798.] THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA THE END OF THE 1260 YEARS As the generation in which the papal power rose to supremacy was a turning-point in the history of the world, so, too, was the generation in which the 1260 years of its supremacy came to an end. This measuring line of prophecy does more than run from date to date. It connects two great crises in human history, the events of the first tending to establish the papal rule over men, the events of the second signalizing a breaking of those bands. A Crisis in History Papal supremacy came at that time of which Finlay says, "The changes of centuries passed in rapid succession before the eyes of one generation." The measuring line of 1260 years runs on through the centuries till, lo, its end touches another time of crisis,--Europe in the convulsions of the French Revolution, when again changes, ordinarily requiring centuries, were wrought out before the eyes of men within the space of a few years. Lamartine wrote of that time: "These five years are five centuries for France."--_"History of the Girondists," book 61, sec. 16 (Vol. III), p. 544._ And the events of these times proclaimed the prophetic period of papal supremacy ended at last. Thus, in A.D. 533 came the notable decree of the Papacy's powerful supporter, recognizing its supremacy; and then the decisive stroke by the sword at Rome in A.D. 538, cleaving the way for the new order of popes--the rulers of state. Exactly 1260 years later, in 1793, came the notable decree of the Papacy's once powerful supporter, France,--"the eldest son of the church,"--aiming to abolish church and religion, followed by a decisive stroke with the sword at Rome against the Papacy, in 1798. Significant Events of the French Revolution Of the decree of 1793, W.H. Hutton says:-- "On Nov. 26, 1793, the Convention, of which seventeen bishops and some clergy were members, decreed the abolition of all religion."--_"Age of Revolution," p. 156._ The frenzy of the days of the Terror presented the spectacle of outraged humanity, goaded to desperation by centuries of oppression in the name of religion and divine right, rising up and madly breaking every restraint. Because in the minds of the people the Papacy stood for religion, they blindly struck at religion itself, and at God, in whose name the papal church had done its cruel work through the centuries.