noblest and purest image ; if you must have idols , sacrifice only to such as this . . . . Fall before the august Senate of Freedom , oh ! Veil of Reason !"" The goddess , after being embraced by the president , was mounted on a magnificent car , and conducted , amid an immense crowd , to the cathedral of Notre Dame , to take the place of the Deity . There she was elevated on the high altar , and received the adoration of all present ." --Alison , vol . 1 , ch . 10 . This was followed , not long afterward , by the public burning of the Bible . On one occasion " the Popular Society of the Museum " entered the hall of the municipality , exclaiming , " Vive la Raison !" and carrying on the top of a pole the half-burned remains of several books , among others breviaries , missals , and the Old and New Testaments , which " expiated in a great fire ," said the president , " all the fooleries which they have made the human race commit ." -- Journal of Paris , 1793 , No . 318 . Quoted in Buchez-Roux , Collection of Parliamentary History , vol . 30 , pp . 200 , 201 .
It was popery that had begun the work which atheism was completing . The policy of Rome had wrought out those conditions , social , political , and religious , that were hurrying France on to ruin . Writers , in referring to the horrors of the Revolution , say that these excesses are to be charged upon the throne and the church . In strict justice they are to be charged upon the church . Popery had poisoned the minds of kings against the Reformation , as an enemy to the crown , an element of discord that would be fatal to the peace and harmony of the nation . It was the genius of Rome that by this means inspired the direst cruelty and the most galling oppression which proceeded from the throne .
The spirit of liberty went with the Bible . Wherever the gospel was received , the minds of the people were awakened . They began to cast off the shackles that had held them bondslaves of ignorance , vice , and superstition . They began to think and act as men . Monarchs saw it and trembled for their despotism . Rome was not slow to inflame their jealous fears . Said the pope to the regent of France in 1525 : " This mania [ Protestantism ] will not only confound and destroy religion , but all principalities , nobility , laws , orders , and ranks besides ." -- G . de Felice , History of the Protestants of France , b . 1 , ch . 2 , par . 8 . A few years later a papal nuncio warned the king : " Sire , be not deceived . The Protestants will upset all civil as well as religious order . . . . The throne is in as much danger as the altar . . . . The introduction of a new religion must necessarily introduce a new government ." - D ' Aubigne , History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin , b . 2 , ch . 36 .
And theologians appealed to the prejudices of the people by declaring that the Protestant doctrine " entices men away to novelties and folly ; it robs the king of the devoted affection of his subjects , and devastates both church and state ." Thus Rome succeeded in arraying France against the Reformation . " It was to uphold the throne , preserve the nobles , and maintain the laws , that the sword of persecution was first unsheathed in France ." --Wylie , b . 13 , ch . 4 . Little did the rulers of the land foresee the results of that fateful policy . The teaching of the Bible would have implanted in the minds and hearts of the people those principles of justice , temperance , truth , equity , and
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