The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 266

Chap. 15 - The Bible and the French
Revolution
In the sixteenth century the Reformation, presenting an open Bible
to the people, had sought admission to all the countries of Europe.
Some nations welcomed it with gladness, as a messenger of Heaven.
In other lands the papacy succeeded to a great extent in preventing its
entrance; and the light of Bible knowledge, with its elevating influences,
was almost wholly excluded. In one country, though the light found
entrance, it was not comprehended by the darkness. For centuries, truth
and error struggled for the mastery. At last the evil triumphed, and the
truth of Heaven was thrust out. “This is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.” John
3:19. The nation was left to reap the results of the course which she
had chosen. The restraint of God’s Spirit was removed from a people
that had despised the gift of His grace. Evil was permitted to come to
maturity. And all the world saw the fruit of willful rejection of the light.
The war against the Bible, carried forward for so many centuries
in France, culminated in the scenes of the Revolution. That terrible
outbreaking was but the legitimate result of Rome’s suppression of the
Scriptures. (See Appendix.) It presented the most striking illustration
which the world has ever witnessed of the working out of the papal
policy—an illustration of the results to which for more than a thousand

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