The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 288

God’s faithful witnesses, slain by the blasphemous power that
“ascendeth out of the bottomless pit,” were not long to remain silent.
“After three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into
them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them
which saw them.” Revelation 11:11. It was in 1793 that the decrees
which abolished the Christian religion and set aside the Bible passed the
French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution rescinding
these decrees, thus granting toleration to the Scriptures, was adopted by
the same body. The world stood aghast at the enormity of guilt which
had resulted from a rejection of the Sacred Oracles, and men recognized
the necessity of faith in God and His word as the foundation of virtue and
morality. Saith the Lord: “Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed?
and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes
on high? even against the Holy One of Israel,” Isaiah 37:23. “Therefore,
behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know
My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is Jehovah.”
Jeremiah 16:21, A.R.V.
Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: “And
they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.
And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld
them.” Revelation 11:12. Since France made war upon God’s two
witnesses, they have been honored as never before. In 1804 the British
and Foreign Bible Society was organized. This was followed by similar
organizations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of Europe.
In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded. When the British
Society was formed, the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty
tongues. It has since been translated into many hundreds of languages
and dialects. (See Appendix.)
For the fifty years preceding 1792, little attention was given to the
work of foreign missions. No new societies were formed, and there were
but few churches that made any

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