The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 277

the French have celebrated the only true worship,—that of Liberty, that
of Reason. There we have formed wishes for the prosperity of the arms
of the Republic. There we have abandoned inanimate idols for Reason,
for that animated image, the masterpiece of nature.”—M. A. Thiers,
History of the French Revolution, vol. 2, pp. 370, 371.
When the goddess was brought into the Convention, the orator took
her by the hand, and turning to the assembly said: “Mortals, cease to
tremble before the powerless thunders of a God whom your fears have
created. Henceforth acknowledge no divinity but Reason. I offer you its
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. (See
Appendix.) In strict justice they are to be charged upon the church.
Popery had poisoned the

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