Chapter XVIII: Part IV: The Bible in the Public School and Nation (2)

There is no visible government. Its principal representative is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or king's treasurer; and "Deficit of revenue" is his constant announcement, to the feudal lords, who exercise local government. In 1787 Cardinal Lomenie becomes the king's new treasurer. His predecessor has been ousted because the treasury was bankrupt, but his unscrupulous methods continue to be adopted because no better ones can be devised. As late as the next year the cardinal demands the infliction of the death penalty on all Protestant preachers.

The period has become one of spiritual and moral bankruptcy. The Bible has been suppressed and blind human reason has been exalted. There is no bond of morality to hold the people together. Men become slaves of their lusts and appetites, and society, a mass of sensuality, rascality and falsehood. Infidelity, despotism and general bankruptcy prevail every where. There is no royal authority and the palace of justice at Versailles is closed.

The poverty and misery, experienced by the peasants in their comfortless hovels, awakens a feeling of discontent and protest. This feeling of protest, among the poor and illiterate, permeates upward and becomes more intense as it proceeds. In this unorganized protest the hand of one is arrayed against his fellow man. The common people are arrayed against the nobles; the nobles, against each other, and both nobles and people are bitter against the government. Townships are arrayed against townships and towns against towns. Gibbets are erected everywhere and a dozen wretched bodies may be seen hanging in a row. The mayor of Vaison is buried alive; the mayor of Etampes, defending a supply of food, is trampled to death by a mob exasperated with hunger, and the mayor of Saint Denis is hung at Lanterne. The ripening grain is left ungathered in the fields, and the fruit of the vineyards is trodden under foot. The bloody cruelty of universal madness prevails everywhere.

A frightful hail storm, that destroys the grain and fruits of the year at the beginning of harvest, is followed by a severe drought in 1788. Foulon, an official grown gray in treachery and iniquity, when asked,

"What will the people do?" makes response,

"The people may eat grass."

The royal government is now described, as existing only for its own benefit; without right, except possession; and now also without might. "It foresees nothing, and has no purpose, except to maintain its own existence. It is wholly a vortex in which vain counsels, falsehoods, intrigues and imbecilities whirl like withered rubbish in the meeting of the winds."

Commerce of all kinds, as far as possible, has come to a dead pause, and the hand of the industrious is idle. Many of the people subsist on meal-husks and boiled grass. Armed Brigands begin to make their appearance and a "reign of terror," is ushered in.

FIRST POPULAR ASSEMBLY

On May 4, 1789, the first popular assembly meets at Versailles, more churches than other buildings having been used as polling places, at this first election in France. The assembly is composed of nobles, clergy and commoners, the last representing the people.

Six "parlements," consisting only of nobles, have previously been convened by the king's treasurer, and as often have been dismissed by the king, because they were not willing to tax themselves more, to increase the revenues of the king. In this assembly, there are six hundred commoners, who, when the king dismissed the assembly, under the leadership of Mirabeau refused to be dismissed, and bind themselves by an oath, to remain in session, until they have framed and adopted a constitution.

This act of the commoners is the beginning of the French Revolution. This Revolution has been defined, as "An open, violent rebellion and victory of unimprisoned anarchy, against corrupt worn-out authority; breaking prison, raging uncontrollable and enveloping a world in fever frenzy, until the mad forces are made to work toward their object, as sane and regulated ones."

These commoners are shut out of their hall and their signatures are attached to their oath in a tennis court. They are later joined by Lafayette, the friend of Washington, and by other nobles and 149 Roman clergy. They are treated offensively, but cannot be offended. They are animated with a desire to prepare a constitution, that will regenerate France, abolish the old order and usher in a new one.

Paris, always very demonstrative under excitement, grows wild with enthusiasm for the commoners, and others, who compose their first National Assembly. They go simmering and dancing, thinking they are shaking off something old and advancing to something new. They have hope in their hearts, the hope of an unutterable universal golden age, and nothing but freedom, equality and brotherhood on their lips. Their hopes, however, are based on nothing but the "vapory vagaries of unenlightened human reason," instead of the unchanging truths and principles of Divine Revelation. They experience an indescribable terror, of the unnumbered hordes of Europe rallying against them, in addition to the constant dread of their own cruel, armed brigands and inhuman official executioners.

Unfortunately the commoners had not been previously trained in the art of statesmanship, and after a long session, that lasted until September 14, 1791, the constitution then proposed was still incomplete; and had to be submitted to another assembly to be completed. They however accomplish some things worthy of note. In 1789 they abolish feudalism, root and branch; and the payment of tithes. The latter meant the separation of church and state, in matters of support and government; and this event seemed to the deists, like a time of Pentecost.

REPUBLIC OF FRANCE

On Sept. 22, 1792 the Republic of France is declared. On Jan. 1, 1793, King Louis XVI, who had become a runaway king, and on October 16th following, Marie Antoinette, the queen, are executed. These events are followed by another reign of terror, the plundering of churches and a war with Spain.

The Republic of France, when first established, proves to be one of a mob, robbing and murdering those, who had property. The people become despotic as soon as they have disposed of their useless king, and queen. There were only nine prisoners in the Bastille, when it was destroyed, but now in two days and under the name of liberty, eight thousand innocent persons are massacred in prison. Walter Scott in his Life of Napoleon adds: "Three hundred thousand other persons, one third of whom are women, are ruthlessly committed to prison," the executioners usurping the place of the judges and, without trial, "pronouncing sentence against them." Their watchwords, while the Revolution continues, are, "Unity, Brotherhood or Death." These principles are enforced by edicts of exile, imprisonment, or death by the guillotine.

REIGN OF TERROR

This reign of terror continues until July 28, 1794, when the cruel hearted Robespierre and his consorts are condemned to death on the guillotine, a cunningly devised beheading machine, on which he had been practicing with innocent and helpless victims, for twenty-two years.

In 1795 a new constitution is adopted, and after the suppression of a number of bloody riots and insurrections that year, by the young Napoleon with his batteries of artillery, public order is restored and the Revolution is regarded as ended.

PEOPLE UNPREPARED FOR FREEDOM

These are but a few of the many riotous and disorderly events that occurred in France just at the close of the American Revolution, in which Lafayette co-operated with so much honor to himself and his country. These suffice to show how unprepared the people were for any great or concerted movement, and how destitute the nation was of men, fit to serve as leaders in thought and action, until the rise of Napoleon with his genius for military affairs. Mirabeau, their first trusted leader, dies before the end of their first assembly. Lafayette, a prominent member of the first assembly, when made military commander at Paris, finds the rabble will not listen to his counsels, and he resigns. In 1782 he makes another attempt to re-instate authority in Paris, and the attempt proving a failure he retires from further participation in public affairs.

No one is able to anticipate the next movement of the populace, or win and hold their confidence, any length of time. One event follows another "explosively." Men, fearing to remain longer in their huts or homes, fugitively rush with wives and children, they know not whither. Under the leadership of the infidels, Rosseau and Robespierre, they experience terrors such as had not fallen on any nation, since the fall of Jerusalem.

INSURRECTION OF WOMEN

An insurrection of women is suddenly started in Paris, in October 1789, at the call of a young woman who seizes a drum and cries aloud, "Descend O Mothers; Descend ye Judiths to food and revenge!" Ten thousand women, quickly responding to this call, press through the military guard to the armory in Hotel de Ville, and when supplied with arms march on foot to Versailles, and, taking the king and his family captives, bring them and the National Assembly to Paris the next day, October 5th, followed by a good natured crowd, estimated at 200,000. Now that the king occupies the palace of the Tuileries at Paris, the people hungry, but hopeful, shake hands in the happiest mood, and assure one another "the New Era has been born."

RESULTS

The principal results of the French Revolution may be briefly summarized as follows:

Good riddance of a half century line, of worse than useless, atheistic kings and queens; the suppression of the tyrannous feudal system, that prevented the common people from acquiring ownership of land, the suppression of the Bastille, a feudal prison and robber den, and of the guillotine; the suppression of religious persecution, and the separation of church and state in matters of government and support; and the adoption of a constitution, that provides for the people to have a voice, in the management of the affairs of the government.

LAND OF CALVIN AND LAFAYETTE

France is the land that gave birth and education to John Calvin, the pioneer advocate of civil and religious liberty, and in his day the good work of the Reformers had gained an encouraging foot hold in his native land, but after the lapse of a century of cruel extermination, one looks in vain to see the expected fruits of his great work. A century, of Bible suppression and persecution of Bible readers, has left the people in ignorance of the Word of God, which is the Light and Life of the World, and in its place catholicism and infidelity, like hoar frosts or destructive black clouds, have spread over the land. Oppressed with a feeling of need and seeking something not clearly defined, the people grope in darkness and stumble on events, as if playing blind-man's-buff. The one hundred and forty-nine Roman clergy in the first assembly are so lacking in intelligence and patriotism, they exert no special influence worthy of note.

Very different were the scenes that Lafayette witnessed, during the period he co-operated with the colonies of America, in their struggles for liberty and independence. Here he met many of the descendants of the very people, whom the bitter persecutions in France had driven to this country. Many of them, as early settlers in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, exerted a considerable influence, in moulding the character of the American people. He found all the people engaging intelligently in the cause of freedom. Their leaders knew what they were endeavoring to achieve, and every movement was characterized by good order, patriotism and superior wisdom.

ROMANISM BEHIND THE TIMES

This historic contrast of the good fruits of the open Bible among the people in America, with the sad and deplorable results of Romanism and infidelity in France, previous to the great revolutions, that occurred in both countries in the days of Lafayette, is certainly very interesting and instructive.

Other countries in which Romanism has been dominant and the Bible suppressed, as Ireland, Spain, Mexico, the Philippine Islands and the states of Central and South America, show a similar unfavorable contrast. In South America, where Romanism has suppressed the Bible for centuries, only two percent of all the college students in 1913, according to Bishop Kensolving of the Episcopal church in Brazil, "affirm their allegiance to any religious faith."

In Spain, according to a recent issue of the Herald of Madrid, there are 30,000 towns and rural villages, that are yet without schools of any kind. There are thousands of the people whose homes can be reached only by bridle-paths. They lack schools, roads and railroads. Seventy-six per cent of the children and youth are unable to read and write. In Spain, Mexico and South America, Romanism has proven itself to be, but little more than a pious form of paganism, an oppressive and widespread relic of ancient, pagan Rome.

During the two hundred years preceding the Revolution in France no one was ever persecuted for being an atheist, deist, infidel or Roman catholic, but all of these united in suppressing the general use of the Bible and the presence of Bible readers, to the great injury of the public welfare. If that country had not foolishly and wickedly exterminated the people, that were fast becoming Bible readers at the time of the Reformation, it would no doubt have been saved from many of the blind and bloody scenes of the period of the Revolution.

Romanism, by suppressing the Bible, encourages ignorance, superstition and bigotry. It also tends to break down the sanctity of the Sabbath as the Lord's day; winks at the liquor traffic, and by its confessional strikes at the very foundation of free manhood, freedom of thought and liberty of conscience.

This contrast, shows clearly that Romanism, whatever good it may have done, is now many centuries behind the times. This is a very serious defect. It has the Bible, a Latin version called the Vulgate which it claims as its own. It has the New Testament and for that reason it is classed as a christian religion. It has however, opposed and suppressed the reading of the Bible by the people, lest the spread of intelligence, through a personal knowledge of its contents, would lessen the respect and obedience of the people to the false claims of the pope, clerical orders and priesthood.

Several generations of slave holders in this country gave this same reason, as a good one for not providing educational facilities for their slaves, fearing that intelligence, which greatly increases the value of the workman, would tend to lessen their authority over them. It serves to illustrate the old worn-out adage, that "might makes right," instead of the newer and better one, "God is with the right."

The ability to rule, in both cases, is based on the ignorance, instead of the intelligence of the subject. When thus expressed in plain words, it certainly does not sound very creditable, or as if it were the best policy. It is not uncharitable to say, that as a policy, it is "out of date." Our Lord Jesus was a teacher as well as Saviour. He went from place to place, teaching and encouraging the people to "search the scriptures," that they might know, what to believe concerning Him, in order to inherit eternal life and "have life more abundantly."

This is one of the good features of Protestantism. It is based on a personal knowledge of the Bible and the general intelligence of the people. Its motto is "Let the Light Shine." Truth is mighty and in the end will prevail, for "justice and judgment are the habitation of God's throne."

HUMAN REASON BLIND

When the Bible was suppressed in France and human reason exalted, all the infernal elements of a depraved human nature held high carnival. Enthusiasm and fanaticism, the allies of ignorance and superstition, caused the people to think and act wildly. If in his heart there is no devout faith, to develop the sense of personal responsibility and duty, man becomes ready for any evil under the sun. Sin, however, has been and always will be the parent of misery. "The wages of sin is death." This one terrific experiment, of a half-century in France without the Bible, should be enough for a thousand worlds, through countless years.

LIGHT, LIFE AND LIBERTY

The life-giving word of Divine Truth is the salt, that preserves learning and a sense of personal obligation to do that which is right, amid the changing scenes of time and life. Learning is knowledge based on fact, and not on fiction or unbelief. Duty as a practical matter has regard for that "righteousness, that exalteth a nation," as well as the salvation that saves the individual.

"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." A knowledge of the truth tends to produce that self-restraint, that is essential to freedom; and that sense of duty and right, that results in faithful public service. Genuine liberty has never been realized, where there has not been also an intelligent self-restraint.

The fundamental principle of the Reformation was expressed by Luther as follows: "The Word of God, the whole Word of God, and nothing but the Word of God."

This was based on the following passage from Augustine in the fourth century: "I have learned to pay to the canonical books alone, the honor of believing very firmly, that none of them has erred; as to others, I believe not what they say, for the simple reason, that it is they who say it;" and the previous saying of Paul, "Should we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed, for it is written, the just shall live by faith."

This principle of the Reformation appears in our common form of attestation, "The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth;" and in the patriotic motto of Pennsylvania, "Virtue, Liberty and Independence."

Think on these things. Search the scriptures. Know that the Bible is the Word of God to all people, that it is the sword of the Spirit, and the Truth that makes you free. The Master hath need and calleth for thee. Be of good courage. Be loyal to the truth and let it shine through you.

THE END

INDEX

Ahrens, Bertha L. 127, 154, 289, 300, 310

Aid Society 300

Allen, Fredonia 149

Allotment of lands 3, 154

Alverson, Noah S. 289, 342

Apiary 294

Arch of Character 257

Arnold, Olivia, Mrs. R. D. 378

Baird, Phil C. D. D. 226, 325

Bartholomew St. Massacre 77

Bashears, Charles 287

Beatty, Doll 353

Bees, Double Swarm 299

Becker, Mary O. 141

Benediction, Endeavor 259

Bethel, M. L. 226, 353

Bethesda Mission 70

Bibbs, Samuel S. 151;
Lee, Charles 287-9

Bible, first book, 71;
Cause of Reformation, 76;
in Public School, 35, 391;
Memorized, 173;
Uplifting Power, 181;
Only Standard of Morality 406

Biddle University 70

Boggs, V. P. Mrs. 90, 158

Boll Weevil 218, 290

Books, Value of 256

Book Marks 267

Boys' Hall 135, 204, 217

Brasco, Livingston 192

Brackeen, Rosetta 275

Brown, Lucretia C. 151, 224;
Matt 379

Buds of Promise 146

Buchanan, Solomon 160, 224, 300, 322

Building the Temple 227

Burrows, Emma 137

Butler, William Rev. 148, 183, 226, 290, 370;
Elijah 378, 381

Calvin, John 72, 427

Campbell, Anna E. 108, 112, 119

Candidates for Ministry 276, 342

Carroll, William H. Rev. 159, 224, 289, 327

Character, Formed 33, 157, 227, 241

Chautauqua, First 277

Cherokees 7, 19

Chickasaws 7

Choctaws 7, 14

Claypool, John Mrs. 159, 318

Clear Creek 11

Churches: Beaver Dam, Oak Hill (101), New Hope, St. Paul, Mt. Gilead 345

Colbert, Richard D. Rev. 146, 353, 373

Concert, Closing 326

Constitutional Amendments 49

Cowan, Edward L. Rev. 91

Craig, Carrie 137

Crabtree, James R. 277, 353

Crawford, Dan 40

Creek Indians 8

Crittenden, Henry 101, 109, 377

Crusaders 67

Crowe, Carrie, Mrs. M. E. 116, 137, 142

Daly, Sam 200

Decision Days 183, 192

Doaksville 29

Domestic Training 198

Donaldson, Mary A. 160, 321

Donors, Oak Hill 305

Early, Lou K. 137, 193

Eaton, Adelia M. 155, 159, 288, 315

Education 62, 93

Edwards, John Rev. 15, 22, 105

Elliott, Alice Lee, David IV, 212

Elliot Hall II, 205, 208, 210, 326

Emancipation Day 42, 292

Farewell 331

Farmer's Institutes 287

Fields, Rilla 137

Fisher, Jessie 137

Flag, Salute 268

Flickinger, R. E. and Mrs. 155, 160, 308

Flournoy, William R. 329, 353

Folsom, Iserina, Martha, 137, 149;
Samuel, 150, 160, 224;
Simon 330, 378

Forest Church 125, 130

Fort Towson 28

France, Bible Suppressed 418

France, Republic of 425

Freedmen, Homeless, 42;
Choctaw 65

Fruits, Bulletin 256, 330

Gaston, John Rev. 91

Gideons 417

Girls Hall, Weimer Photo 109, 132, 210

Gladman, Samuel Rev. 373

Going to School 274

Gordon, Mary, Lela, Inez 137, 275

Gossard, Verne 137

Graces at Meals 279

Grandfather Clause 51

Green, Fannie 137

Hall, Malinda A. 149, 224, 277, 289, 320

Harris, Nannie, Sam, 149, 300, 379;
New Home of Catherine 406

Hartford, Eliza 107, 115, 121

Haymaker, Edward G. and Mrs. 108, 134, 339, 379

Haymaker, Priscilla G. 108, 111, 118

Hawley, Rev. F. W. 301

Headache 299

Health Hints 298

Hen House 295

Highland Park College 199

Hodges, Celestine 147, 149

Homer, Wiley Rev. 148, 226, 277, 302, 360

Homer, Hattie, Mary, Susan 147

Homes Representative 406

Huguenots of France 75

Hunter, Anna, Mattie 116, 137

Huss, John 70

Idleness 247

Improvements 166, 202

Independent Ownership of Land 78, 193, 197

Indian Schools and Churches 15

Indian Territory, Slavery 7, 19, 106

Inquisition, The 76

Intolerance, Rise and Fall 408

Investments 272

Johnson, Isaac 277, 291, 378

Jones, Edward T. 149;
Josie, 137, 379;
Fannie, Marie, Martha 147, 149

Key Words 260

Kingsbury, Cyrus, Rev. 28, 65, 105

Knox, John 75

Lafayette, Land of 427

Land Funds 303

Lee, Lilly E. 137

Liberty, Civil, Religious 81, 431

Licentiates 276

Lincoln, Abraham 172

Lincoln University 71, 88

Log House, Old 109, 257

Luther, Martin 72, 431

Massacres of Bible Readers 77

Maxims, Character, Success 241

McBride, James F. and Mrs. 131, 136

McGuire, James 117

McNiell, Sadie B. 224

Meadows, Plant S., Rev. 326, 353

Memory Trained 175

Methodism, Rise of 80

Ministers, Dearth of, Teachers 340, 342

Moore, Ruby 160

Mottoes, Wall 259

Murchison, Fidelia 148, 287

Mexico 418

Negro, American, Voices 39, 59, 96

Newspapers, First 82

Normals, Summer 275

Oak Hill, Church, School, 12, 101, 103;
Groups in 1902 and 1903 299

Orchestra, Buchanan, Flournoy, Dixon, Ashley and Alonza McLellan,
Clarence and Herbert Peete, Harris, Smith 274

Painting 297

Park College 194

Perkins, Charles, Fidelia 149, 355, 378

Perry, Ora Maxie 160, 294

Picnics 282

Pig Pen 203, 295

Pledges, Endeavor, Self-help 169

Porto Rico 394

Prayers, Forms of 280

Presbyterian Church, Board 84, 90

Presbytery, Indian, Meetings 17, 282

Presbytery, Kiamichi; at right, Homer, Onque, Bibbs, Alverson, Bridges,
Starks, Crabtree, Frazier, Harris, Richard; 3d row, Elisha Butler,
Mills, Wm. Butler, Edmunds, Lewis 335, 352

Prince, Caroline, Henry 406

Pulling Stumps, Percy, Ashley, Alonza, Dee, Mark, Herbert, Thomas 207, 298

Reformation, The 72, 392

Reid, Alexander, Rev. 15, 23, 105, 146

Richard, Everett 224

Romanism, Behind Times 428

Rules, Mottoes 259

Rutherford, Matthew 121

Sands, Rev. Marie Jones 148

Schools, Colonial 395

Scott, Mary 137, 299

Seats, Celestine 275

Seed Corn, Cotton, Improved 298

Self-control, Education 174, 244, 247

Self-help, Support 163, 185

Shaw, Sadie 137

Shoals, John Ross, Johnson 149, 277, 287, 378

Shoals, Virginia Wofford, Perry 148, 160

Study, Course 268

Success, What, How Attained 260

Sunday Schools 80, 271, 413

Sweepers, Rosetta, Mary, Helen, Beatrice, Emma, Evelina, Ellen 274

Synod of Canadian 382

Spain 429

Teachers, Christian, Aim of 36, 266, 270

Teachers in 1899, Mr. and Mrs. Haymaker, Anna Hunter (sitting), Mrs. M.
E. Crowe, Visitor, Josie Jones; photo by Mattie Hunter 379

Uncle Wallace 25

Uplifting Influences, Inventions 65, 82

Vacation Workers 188

Valliant 12

Voice Culture 157

Wallace, Sarah L. 160

Waldo, Waldenses 69

Washington, Booker T. 199

Watt, Lizzie 150

Webster, Daniel 410

Weimer, Mary I. 159, 193, 275, 318

Weith, Rev. Charles C. 278

Westminister Assembly 79

Wiclif, John 70

Williams, Henry, Virginia 147, 149

Wit, Humor 257

Wheelock Academy 21

Wolcott, Jo Lu 159, 320

Working by Rule 162, 208, 264

Women's Miss. Soc. Oak Hill, 304;
Synod 386

* * * * *

CORRECTIONS

Page 208, Line 22, read "pigpen," instead of "loghouse."

Page 403, Line 9, read "1812." instead of "1892."

End of Project Gutenberg's The Choctaw Freedmen, by Robert Elliott Flickinger