"There's a dear and precious book,
Though it's worn and faded now,
Which recalls those happy days of long ago;
When I stood at mother's knee
With her hand upon my brow,
And I heard her voice in gentle tones and low.
Blessed book, precious book
On thy dear old tear-stained leaves I love to look;
Thou art sweeter day by day,
As I walk the narrow way,
That leads at last, to that bright home above."
--M. B. Williams.

[4] Rom. 1. 27.

XLVIII

A HALF-CENTURY OF BIBLE SUPPRESSION IN A NATION, OR FRANCE, DURING THE
PERIOD, 1572 TO 1795.

THEISM, DEISM, PHILOSOPHISM.--APPEAL FOR BREAD.--MORAL AND FINANCIAL
BANKRUPTCY.--FIRST POPULAR ASSEMBLY.--REPUBLIC OF FRANCE.--REIGN OF
TERROR.--PEOPLE UNPREPARED FOR FREEDOM.--INSURRECTION OF
WOMEN.--RESULTS.--LAND OF JOHN CALVIN.--LAFAYETTE.--ROMANISM, BEHIND THE
TIMES.--HUMAN REASON, BLIND.--LIGHT, LIFE AND LIBERTY.

"The entrance of thy word giveth light, it giveth understanding to
the simple. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things
out of thy law."--David.

An American citizen does not need to go to far-off India or Africa to
learn how people live without the Bible. Every heathen nation, living in
ignorance and degradation furnishes a practical illustration. This
illustration may be found by visiting the countries on the other side of
the southern boundary line of the United States, where for several
centuries under dominant catholic influence the Bible has been a
forbidden book in the few public educational institutions of the
country. The result may now be seen in the general prevalence of
ignorance, poverty and oppression; the ownership of land limited to a
comparatively few persons, corruption and rapacity on the part of public
officials, general improvement checked and the country impoverished by
frequent insurrections and revolutions, that indicate incapacity for
stable and prosperous self-government.

France, however, once made the actual experiment of suppressing the
Bible and Bible readers for two centuries, during the period from 1572
to 1795, while the Reformation of the 16th century was progressing in
Germany, Switzerland, Britain and other countries.

Thomas Carlyle, in his history of the French Revolution, that occurred
1788 to 1795, has very dramatically portrayed scenes and incidents,
which become pregnant with new and thrilling interest, when b