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.

In the prophecy of Rev. 11:3-13 these events of the wild days of the
French Revolution are specifically referred to as coming at the close of
the prophetic period of the 1260 years. The prophetic picture was so
clear that over a hundred years before the time, Jurieu, an eminent
French student of prophecy, wrote that he could "not doubt that 'tis
France," the chief supporter of the Papacy, that would give the shock
as of an earthquake to the great spiritual Babylonian city. He wrote of
France, one of the ten parts of divided Rome:

"This tenth part of the city shall fall, with respect to the
Papacy; it shall break with Rome, and the Roman
religion."--_"The Accomplishment of the Prophecies" (London,
1687), part 2, p. 265._

And so it came to pass. Far beyond France the movement reached. Canon
Trevor says of the wave of revolt against absolutism that passed over
Europe:

"It is worthy of observation that only those nations which
eschewed popery were able to resist the tide. Every throne and
every church, without exception, that owned the supremacy of
Rome, was prostrated i