Bible religion, by the
people of France, see H. von Sybel, "History of the French Revolution,"
bk. 5, ch. 1, par. 3-7; H. T. Buckle, "History of Civilization in
England," ch. 8, 12 (N. Y. ed., 1895, Vol. I, pp. 364-366, 369-371, 437,
550, 540, 541); _Blackwood's Magazine_, Vol. XXXIV, No. 215 (November,
1833, p. 739); J. G. Lorimer, "An Historical Sketch of the Protestant
Church in France," ch. 8, par. 6, 7.
Page 266. PROPHETIC DATES.--See note for page 329.
Page 267. EFFORTS TO SUPPRESS AND DESTROY THE BIBLE.--Referring to the
long-continued efforts in France to suppress the Bible--particularly
versions in the language of the common people, Gaussen says: "The decree
of Toulouse, 1229," which established the "tribunal of the Inquisition
against all the readers of the Bible in the vulgar tongue, ... was an
edict of fire, bloodshed, and devastation. In its 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th
chapters, it ordained the entire destruction of the houses, the humblest
places of concealment, and even the subterranean retreats of men convicted
of possessing the Scriptures; that they should be pursued to the forests
and caves of the earth; and that even those who harbored them should be
severely punished." As a result, the Bible "was everywhere prohibited; it
vanished, as it were, underground; it descended into the tomb." These
decrees were "followed for five hundred years by innumerable punishments,
in which the blood of the saints flowed like water."--_L. Gaussen, __"__The
Canon of the Holy Scriptures,__"__ __ part 2, bk. 2, ch. 7, sec. 5, prop.
561; and ch. 13, sec. 2, prop. 641, par. 2._
On the special efforts made to destroy Bibles during the Reign of Terror,
late in 1793, Dr. Lorimer says: "Wherever a Bible could be found it might
be said to be persecuted to death; so much so, that several respectable
commentators interpret the slaying of the two witnesses in the eleventh
chapter of the Apocalypse, of the general suppression, nay, destruction,
of the Old and New Testaments in France at this period."--_J. G. Lorimer,
__"__An Historical Sketch of the Protestant Church in France,__"__ ch. 8,
par. 4, 5._
See also G. P. Fisher, "The Reformation," ch. 15, par. 16; E. Petavel,
"The Bible in France," ch. 2, par. 3, 8-10, 13, 21 (Paris ed., 1864); G.
H. Putnam, "The Censorship of the Church of Rome," Vol. I, ch. 4 (1906
ed., pp. 97, 99, 101, 102); Vol. II, ch. 2 (pp. 15-19); S. Smiles, "The
Huguenots: Their Settlements, Churches, and Indu
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