The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Página 217

The European Union in Prophecy
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 benevolence which are the very cornerstone of a nation's prosperity.
"Righteousness exalteth a nation." Thereby "the throne is established." Proverbs
14:34; 16:12. "The work of righteousness shall be peace;" and the effect, "quietness
and assurance forever." Isaiah 32:17.
He who obeys the divine law will most truly respect and obey the laws of his
country. He who fears God will honour the king in the exercise of all just and
legitimate authority. But unhappy France prohibited the Bible and banned its
disciples. Century after century, men of principle and integrity, men of intellectual
acuteness and moral strength, who had the courage to avow their convictions and the
faith to suffer for the truth--for centuries these men toiled as slaves in the galleys,
perished at the stake, or rotted in dungeon cells. Thousands upon thousands found
safety in flight; and this continued for two hundred and fifty years after the opening
of the Reformation.
"Scarcely was there a generation of Frenchmen during the long period that did
not witness the disciples of the gospel fleeing before the insane fury of the persecutor,
and carrying with them the intelligence, the arts, the industry, the order, in which,
as a rule, they pre-eminently excelled, to enrich the lands in which they found an
asylum. And in proportion as they replenished other countries with these good gifts,
did they empty their own of them. If all that was now driven away had been retained
in France; if, during these three hundred years, the industrial skill of the exiles had
been cultivating her soil; if, during these three hundred years, their artistic bent had
been improving her manufactures; if, during these three hundred years, their creative
genius and analytic power had been enriching her literature and cultivating her
science; if their wisdom had been guiding her councils, their bravery fighting her
battles, their equity framing her laws, and the religion of the Bible strengthening the
intellect and governing the conscience of her people, what a glory would at this day
have encompassed France! What a great, prosperous, and happy country--a pattern
to the nations--would she have been!
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