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Eureka

AN EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE
Sixth Edition, 1915
By Dr. John Thomas (first edition written 1861)

 

 

Chapter 11

Section 2+3 Subsection 16

"And they gave Glory to the Deity of the Heaven"


 
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This was the last demonstration of "the Earth" in its extraordinary agitations. In the prophecy four things are particularly noted as characteristic of the Great Earthquake which consummated the Sixth Trumpet, or Second Woe, namely:

1. The Fall of the Tenth of the City;

2. The putting to death of Seven Thousand Names of Men;

3. The affrighting of the Rest; and

4. The Ascription of Glory to the Deity of the Heaven.

These four characteristics have met in no other revolution of past ages than in that of the French Epoch from A.D. 1789 to A.D. 1794. It was the earnest of what is yet to come on a grander scale when the whole of the spiritual Sodom and Egypt, that is, of the Great Papal City with all its kingdoms, or Tenths, and all its clerical and aristocratic orders, Romish, Protestant, and Greek, shall be destroyed; not by "the Earth," however, but by the Cloud-Invested Angel of the Bow. There will be this difference in the executing of the judgment by the saints. Their judgment will be more sanguinary and terrific; but in executing it, they will be guiltless of personal crimes. They will execute judgment in righteousness. This was not the judgment executed by Marat, Fouquier, Tinville, Collot d’Herbois, Robespierre, and the like. These were bloodthirsty villains, who, in blindly punishing the blasphemous worshippers of saint-ghosts, relics, and images, aristocratic, clerical, and plebeian, accumulated upon their own heads heaps of trespasses, that could only be cancelled by the blood of the transgressors. They were thieves, adulterers, whoremongers, murderers, hypocrites, and atheists. These were the characters that flourished in the work of French regeneration as they styled it and were always babbling about virtue, integrity, fraternity, justice, and so forth; to all of which, in a scriptural sense, they were utter strangers. Nevertheless, they were not worse than the creatures they put to death. They were the mire and dirt of society which is itself infected and foul; and when stirred up from its lowest depths, throws upon its surface its putrefactions. In the reign of death, these were swept into the common sewer of headless humanity. The guillotine, which they termed "holy," was just and impartial in its vengeance; so that those who worked at it with revolutionary fury, were themselves at length compelled to pay justice with their lives.

As we have seen, in the total abolition of the names of men, the CATHOLIC NAME was abolished also. The destruction of this name in France was, in effect, to the glory of God; although its ruin was by the agency of a set of dissolute, fanatical, atheists. But these creatures marred the good work by decreeing likewise, that there was no Supreme Being, who was before all things, who made all things, and by whose power all things are sustained. "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God." The denial of Deity, and the deification of Reason, was, therefore, the work of fools. The prime movers of this blasphemy, however, were soon afterwards sent to the guillotine, which silenced their folly for ever.

The proclamation of the Parisian authorities denying the existence of Deity was exceedingly offensive to the deists of the Committee of Public Welfare and the Convention. The former had paid homage to moral ideas by making "integrity, justice, and all the virtues, the order of the day;" it could not, therefore, tolerate the atheistic deification of reason, which made such order impossible. "They beheld anarchy," says M. Thiers, "rejecting all belief in God, effeminacy and corruption rejecting all idea of order, mental delirium rejecting all idea of morals. They then conceived the republic as virtue assailed by all the bad passions at once. The word virtue was everywhere: they placed justice and integrity upon the order of the day. It yet remained for them to proclaim the belief in God, the Immortality of the Soul, all the moral creeds; it yet remained for them to make a solemn declaration, to declare, in short, the Religion of the State. They resolved, therefore, to pass a decree upon the subject. In this manner they should oppose order to the anarchists, faith in God to the Atheists, and morals to the dissolute. Their system of virtue would be complete. The deistical committee made it above all a particular point to remove from the republic the stigma of impiety with which it was branded throughout all Europe. They resolved to say what is always said to priests who accuse you of impiety because you do not believe in their dogmas -- WE BELIEVE IN GOD."

The deistical dictators "had other motives for adopting a grand measure in regard to religion. The ceremonies of the new worship of reason had been abolished; festivals were required for the Decades or Tenth Days; and it was deemed of importance, when attending to the moral and religious wants of the people, to think of their wants of the imagination, and to furnish them with subjects of public meetings. Besides, the favorable condition of public affairs caused them to deem the moment most favorable for prostrating the republic at the feet of the Almighty. The occasion was grand and touching for those who believed. It was seasonable for those who merely complied with political ideas."

"Let us remark," continues M. Thiers, "one singular circumstance. Sectaries, for whom there existed no human convention that was respectable (so he designates the political witnesses of Jesus; and truly affirms, that for the witnesses of both classes, there doth exist no human convention that is respectable) who, from the extraordinary contempt in which they held all other nations and the esteem with which they were filled for themselves, dreaded no opinion, and were not afraid of wounding that of all the world; who, in matters of government had reduced everything to just what was absolutely necessary; who had admitted no other authority but that of a few citizens temporarily elected; who had not hesitated to abolish the most ancient and most stubborn of all religions -- the Romish; such sectaries paused before two ideas, morality and faith in God. After rejecting all those ideas from which they deemed it possible to release man, they remained under the sway of the two last, and sacrificed a party to each idea. If some of them did not believe, they nevertheless all felt a want of order among men, and for the support of this human order, the necessity of acknowledging in the universe a general and intelligent order. This is the first time in the history of the world that the dissolution of all the authorities left society a prey to the government of purely systematic minds, and those minds which had outstripped all the received ideas adopted, retained the ideas of morality and faith in God. This example is unparalleled in the history of the world: it is singular, it is grand, it is beautiful: history cannot help pausing to remark it."

M. Thiers did not know that he was pausing to remark upon an event that had been predicted eighteen centuries before by the Exile of Patmos -- by that beloved companion of Jesus, who had distinctly spoken of these so-called "sectaries;" and expressly declared that they should do that "singular, grand, and beautiful" thing, of pausing before the idea of faith in God, in "giving glory to the God of the heaven" in the throes of a grand convulsion, that should abolish monarchy, the names of men, and "the most stubborn of all religions." It was an event which no historian of repute could venture to ignore.

Robespierre was reporter on this interesting occasion. He was the head of the Committee of Public Welfare, was consulted on all matters, and spoke only on important occasions. "For him," says M. Thiers, "were reserved the high moral and political questions, as more worthy of his talents and his virtue. The duty of reporter on the question belonged to him of right. None had spoken out more decidedly against atheism, none was so venerated, none had so high a reputation for purity and virtue, none, in short, was so well qualified by his ascendancy and his dogmatism for this sort of pontificate.

"On May 7, 1794, about ten weeks before he lost his head, he addressed the National Convention upon the subject of ‘giving glory to the God of the heaven.’ He was listened to with profound attention. He justly observed, that it was not as the authors of systems that the representatives of the nation ought to discourage atheism and to proclaim DEISM, but as legislators seeking what principles are most suitable to man in a state of society. In the eyes of the legislator, all that is beneficial to the world and good in practice, is truth. The idea of the Supreme Being and of the immortality of the soul is a continual recall of justice; it is therefore social and republican."

In his address he strove to counteract the idea that, in proclaiming the worship of the Supreme Being, the government was laboring for the benefit of the priests. "What is there in common," said he, "between the priests and God? The priests are to morality what quacks are to medicine. How different is the God of Nature from the God of the priests! I know nothing that so nearly resembles atheism as the religions which they have framed. By grossly misrepresenting the Supreme Being, they have annihilated belief in him as far as lay in their power. The priests have created a God after their own image: they have made him jealous, capricious, greedy, cruel, and implacable: they have confined him in heaven as in a palace, and have called him to earth only to demand of him, for their own interest, tithes, wealth, honors, pleasures, and power. The real temple of the Supreme Being is the universe; his worship, virtue; his festivals, the joy of a great nation, assembled in his presence to knit closer the bonds of universal fraternity, and to pay him the homage of intelligent and pure hearts."

He finished his report amidst the warmest applause, and proposed the following decree, which was adopted by acclamation:

"Art. 1. The French people acknowledges the existence of the Supreme Being and the Immortality of the Soul.

"Art. 2. It acknowledges that the worship most worthy of the Supreme Being is the practice of the duties of man."

A solemn festival was ordered for June 8. The decree was read at a meeting of the Jacobins, who caused an address to be drawn up, and presented to the Convention by a deputation of their body. Their address concluded thus: "The Jacobins come this day to thank you for the solemn decree that you have just issued; they will come and join you in the celebration of that great day on which the festival of the Supreme Being shall assemble the virtuous citizens throughout all France to sing the hymn of virtue." To this the president replied: "It is worthy of a society which fills the world with its renown, which enjoys so great an influence upon public opinion, which has associated at all times with all the most courageous of the defenders of the rights of man, to come to the temple of the laws to pay homage to the Supreme Being."

A member of the Committee, named Couthon, then made a violent speech against atheists and corrupt men; and concluded by proposing on that solemn day of joy and gratitude to declare that ever since the commencement of the Revolution, the Jacobins had not ceased to deserve well of the country. This suggestion was adopted amidst thunders of applause. The Convention broke up in transports of joy, nay, indeed, in a sort of intoxication.

Congratulatory addresses to the Convention for proclaiming belief in the Supreme Being were very numerous. "The contagion of ideas and words," says M. Thiers, "spread with extraordinary rapidity among the French. Among a prompt and communicative people the idea that engages some few minds soon engages the attention of the public generally; the word that is in some mouths is soon in all. Addresses poured in from all parts, congratulating the Convention on its sublime decree, thanking it for having established virtue, proclaiming the worship of the Supreme Being, and restored hope to man. The section of Marat of Paris, appearing at the bar, addressed the assembly, saying: ‘O beneficent Mountain! protecting Science! accept also our expressions of gratitude and congratulation for all the sublime decrees which thou art daily issuing for the happiness of mankind. From thy boiling bosom darted the salutary thunderbolt, which, in crushing atheism, gives us genuine republicans the consolatory idea of living free, in the sight of the Supreme Being, and in expectation of the immortality of the soul.’

"From that day, the words virtue and Supreme Being were in every mouth. Instead of the inscription, TO REASON, placed on the fronts of the temples, there was now inscribed, TO THE SUPREME BEING."

The day fixed for the festival in honor of the Supreme Being at length arrived. The principal part in the performance was unanimously assigned to Robespierre, whom his colleagues strove to flatter and to soothe by dint of honors. Vast preparations had been made, and the festival was to be magnificent. The multitude had collected, and after a considerable time, Robespierre appeared in the midst of the Convention. He was dressed with extraordinary care. His head was covered with feathers, and in his hand he held, like all the representatives, a bunch of flowers, fruit, and ears of corn. In his countenance, usually so gloomy, beamed a cheerfulness that was uncommon to him. An amphitheatre was erected in the centre of the garden of the Tuileries. This was occupied by the Convention; and on either side were several groups of boys, men, aged persons, and females. The boys wore wreaths of violets, the youths of myrtle, the men of oak, the aged people of ivy and olive. The men held their daughters by the hand, and carried baskets of flowers. Opposite to the amphitheatre were figures representing Atheism, Discord, Selfishness. These were destined to be burned. As soon as the Convention had taken its place, the ceremony was opened with music. The president then delivered a first discourse on the object of the Festival. "Republican Frenchmen!" said he, "the ever fortunate day which the French people dedicated to the Supreme Being is at length arrived. Never did the world which He created, exhibit a spectacle so worthy of His attention. He has beheld tyranny, crime, and imposture reigning on earth. He beholds at this moment a whole nation assailed by all the oppressors of mankind, suspending the course of its heroic labors, to lift its thoughts and its prayers towards the Supreme Being, who gave it the mission to undertake and the courage to execute them."

After proceeding in this manner for a few minutes, he descended from the amphitheatre, and seizing a torch, set fire to the figures of Atheism, Discord and Selfishness. From amidst their ashes rose the statue of Wisdom, blackened by the flames from which it issued. Robespierre returned to his place, and delivered a second speech on the extirpation of the vices leagued against the Republic. After this first ceremony, the Assembly set out in procession for the Field of Mars. The pride of Robespierre seemed redoubled, and he affected to walk very far before his colleagues. But some indignantly approached, and lavished upon him the keenest sarcasms. Some laughed at the new pontiff, and said, in relation to his smoky statue of Wisdom, that his wisdom was darkened. Others uttered the word "tyrant," and exclaimed that there were still Brutuses. A deputy addressed to him the prophetic words: "The Tarpeian rock is close to the Capitol."

The procession at length reached the Champs de Mars. There arose a lofty mount, on the summit of which was a tree, beneath whose boughs the Convention seated itself. On each side of the mount the different groups of boys, old men, and women, took their places. A symphony commenced; the groups then sang stanzas, alternately answering one another; at length, on a given signal, the youths drew their swords, and swore to the elders to defend their country; the mothers lifted their infants in their arms; all present raised their hands towards heaven, and the oath to conquer was mingled with the homage paid to the Supreme Being. They then returned to the garden of the Tuileries, and the Festival concluded with public diversions.

Such was the famous festival in which "they gave glory to the Deity of the Heaven" -- a glory or homage based on the abolition of the Catholic worship of the Roman God, "the deity of the earth," before whom they had stood witnessing in sackcloth over twelve centuries. The "they" who gave the glory were the constituted authorities in the republican heaven, and who had been unwittingly invited up thither by the royal edict, and had ascended to their sovereign position "in the cloud." They were as impious, sanguinary and cruel as "Yahweh’s Anointed Shepherd," Cyrus, and "his sanctified ones," the Medes and Persians, who ravished wives, spoiled houses, had no pity on the fruit of the womb, dashed children to pieces, and destroyed adults without mercy. This was the spirit that inspired Robespierre and his colleagues of the Convention and its committees, who all figured in this festival. On the days preceding and following that on which they were giving glory to the Supreme power of the heaven, they sent forty-three victims to the guillotine. Some of his colleagues did not like the festival. They said it had alienated many minds, and that those ideas of the Supreme Being, of the Immortality of the Soul, and those pompous ceremonies, looked like a return to the superstition of former times, and were likely to give a retrograde impulse to the Revolution. Robespierre was irritated by these remarks, and insisted that he never meant to make the revolution retrograde, but had done everything to accelerate its course; in proof of which he had drafted a law to make the Revolutionary tribunal still more sanguinary. The law was passed, and in the forty-nine days succeeding the festival 1386 victims lost their heads on no other ground than suspicion. We are not, therefore, to suppose that the glory given commended the actors in the festival to Deity. John merely predicted it as an event that would obtain in the great earthquake, and as a sign by which that revolutionary crisis might be known to be the epoch of the ascent of the TERRIBLE WITNESSES against the Romish Idolatry to power.
 
  

 

 

 

 


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