The fear of God was said to be so far from the beginning of wisdom that it was the beginning of folly. All religious worship was prohibited, except that of liberty and the country. The “constitutional bishop of Paris was brought forward to play the principal part in the most impudent and scandalous farce ever acted in the face of a national representation.... He was brought forward in full procession, to declare to the Convention that the religion which he had taught so many years was, in every respect, a piece of priestcraft, which had no foundation either in history or sacred truth. He disowned, in solemn and explicit terms, the existence of the Deity to whose worship he had been consecrated, and devoted himself in future to the homage of liberty, equality, virtue, and morality. He then laid on the table his episcopal decorations, and received a fraternal embrace from the president of the Convention. Several apostate priests followed the example of this prelate.”—Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17. (GC 274.1) MC VC

“And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.”(Revelation 11:10) Infidel France had silenced the reproving voice of God′s two witnesses. The word of truth lay dead in her streets, and those who hated the restrictions and requirements of God′s law were jubilant. Men publicly defied the King of heaven. Like the sinners of old, they cried: “How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High?” Psalm 73:11. (GC 274.2) MC VC

With blasphemous boldness almost beyond belief, one of the priests of the new order said: “God, if You exist, avenge Your injured name. I bid You defiance! You remain silent; You dare not launch Your thunders. Who after this will believe in Your existence?”—Lacretelle, History 11:309; in Sir Archibald Alison, History of Europe, vol. 1, ch. 10. What an echo is this of the Pharaoh’s demand: “Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice?” “I know not Jehovah!” (GC 274.3) MC VC