Later, when the phrase "Common schools" had come into use, he emphasized morals and religion as their fore-most objects. "The advantage to morals, religion, liberty and good government, arising from the general diffusion of knowledge, being universally admitted, permit me to recommend this subject to your deliberate attention."

In 1804, his successor, Governor Lewis, emphasized the necessity of establishing common schools in the following words: "In a government resting on public opinion, and deriving its chief support from the affections of the people, religion and morality cannot be too sedulously inculcated. Common schools, under the guidance of respectable teachers, should be established in every village and the poor be educated at the public expense."

In 1810, his successor, Governor Tompkins, brought the matter anew to the attention of the legislature. "I cannot omit inviting your attention to the means of instruction for the rising generation. To enable them to perceive and duly estimate their rights, to inculcate correct principles, and habits of morality and religion, and to render them useful citizens, a competent provision for their education is all essential."

In 1811, in response to these successive appeals, the legislature of New York appointed five commissioners, to report a system for the organization and establishment of common schools to carry forward the educational work, that had been previously maintained by the voluntary contributions of christian people in their various communities.

These commissioners, in their report, recommending the establishment of common schools for the state of New York, expressed their own sentiments and those of the people they represented, as follows:

"The people must possess both intelligence and virtue; intelligence to perceive what is right, and virtue to do what is right. Our republic may justly be said to be founded on the intelligence and virtue of the people, and to maintain it, 'the whole force of education is required.' The establishment of common schools appears to be the best plan, that can be devised, to disseminate religion, morality and learning, throughout a whole country."

In referring to the branches to be taught there is added in this report, as follows: "Reading, writing, arithmetic and the principles of morality (Bible) are essential to every person, however humble, his situation in life. Morality and religion are the foundation of all that is truly great and good and are consequently of primary importance."

After calling attention to the "absolute necessity of suitable qualifications on the part of the master," the report continues in regard to the Bible, as one of the books to be used:

"Connected with the introduction of suitable books, the commissioners take the liberty of suggesting that some observations and advice, touching the reading of the Bible in the schools, might be salutary. In order to render the sacred volume productive of the greatest advantage, it should be held in a very different light, from that of a common school book. It should be regarded not merely as a book for literary improvement, but as inculcating great and indispensable moral truths. With these impressions, the commissioners are induced to recommend the practice, introduced into the New York Free School, of having select chapters read at the opening of the school in the morning and the like at the close in the afternoon. This is deemed the best mode of preserving the religious regard, which is due to the sacred writings."

This admirable report closes with these significant words: "The American empire is founded, on the virtue and intelligence of the people. The commissioners cannot but hope that Being, who rules the universe in justice and mercy, who rewards virtue and punishes vice, will graciously deign to smile benignly, on the humble efforts of a people in a cause purely his own; and that he will manifest this pleasure, in the lasting prosperity of our country."

The public school system of New York, with the Bible as its corner stone, was established the next year, 1812. Ten years later, Governor DeWitt Clinton, encouraging their liberal support, said, "The first duty of a state is to render its citizens virtuous, by intellectual instruction and moral discipline, by enlightening their minds, purifying their hearts and teaching them their rights and obligations."

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

The status of the Bible, in the early schools of Pennsylvania, may be gathered from the following extract from a report, approved by the National Convention of the friends of public education, that met in Philadelphia in 1850.

"In the common schools, which are open for the instruction of the children of all denominations there are many whose religious education is neglected by their parents, and who will grow up in vice and irreligion, unless they receive it from the common school teacher. It seems to us to be the duty of the state, to provide for the education of all the children, morally as well as intellectually; and to require all teachers of youth, to train the children in the knowledge and practice of the principles of virtue and piety.

"The Bible should be introduced and read in all the schools in our land. It should be read as a devotional exercise, and be regarded by teachers and scholars, as the text book of morals and religion. The children should early be impressed with the conviction, that it was written by inspiration of God, and that their lives should be regulated by its precepts. They should be taught to regard it, as their manual of piety, justice, veracity, chastity, temperance, benevolence and of all excellent virtues. They should look upon this book, as the highest tribunal to which we can appeal, for the decision of moral questions; and its plain declarations, as the end of all debate."

It was about the year 1840, that the Catholics in Pennsylvania began to manifest opposition to the reading of the Bible, in the schools of that state. In view of this opposition the board of directors, for the Fourth section in Philadelphia, adopted the following resolutions:

(1) "That we will ever insist on the reading of the Bible, without note or comment in our public schools; because we believe it to be the Word of God, and know that such is the will, of the vast majority of the commonwealth."

(2) "That we look on the effort of sectarians to divide the school fund, as an insidious attempt to lay the axe at the root of our noble public school system, the benefits of which are every day manifested in the training of our youth."

(3) "That we will use every means proper for christians and citizens to employ to maintain our present school system, and to insure the continuance of the reading of God's holy word in all our schools."

BOARD OF NATIONAL EDUCATION

The constitution of the Board of National Popular Education contains in its sixth article, the following pledge, as one required of teachers, as well as the board. "The daily use of the Bible in their several schools, as the basis of that sound christian education, to the support and extension of which, the board is solemnly pledged."

In its fifth annual report, which is for the year 1852, the necessity of a free and open Bible in our common schools was emphasized as the only possible way, in which our nation can continue to be self-governed. The Bible, for the masses, is God's great instrument for governing men and nations. "There is but one alternative," said Mr. Sawtell, "God will have men and nations governed; and they must be governed by one of the two instruments, an open Bible with its hallowed influences, or a standing army with bristling bayonets. One is the product of God's wisdom; the other, of man's folly; and that nation that discards or will not yield to the moral power of the one, must submit to the brute force of the other. The open Bible, in our schools, is the secret of our ability to govern ourselves. Take from us the open Bible and, like Samson shorn of his locks, we would become as weak as any other people. Take away the Bible, and like Italy, Austria and Russia, we would need a despot on a throne, and a standing army of a half-million to keep the populace in subjection."

JESUS, THE GREAT TEACHER

It was our Lord Jesus himself, who said, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." He did not suggest, that they be sent for moral instruction to the schools of the Pharisees, or the unbelieving Sadducees, but that they should come to him, and receive his word and blessing. He saw no sectarianism in the message of love, life and forgiveness, he brought from the Father; for he described it, as, "living water," "living bread which came down from heaven," "the light of the world," and its object, "that they might have life more abundantly." He knew, it was a matter of utmost importance to every individual, to receive that message in childhood and youth.

THE BIBLE, THE STANDARD OF MORALITY

The Word of God is supreme in all matters of conscience or morality. The man, whose conscience is in harmony with the Word of God, must be recognized as on the side of God and right. Elijah on Mount Carmel, having only the Word of God, prevails over four hundred misguided prophets of Baal. When those, who were prejudiced against the gospel in the days of Peter, imprisoned and undertook to silence him and others, he gave the right answer, when he said, "We ought to obey God rather than men." Peter and Elijah, teaching the Word of God, were progressive up-builders of the Kingdom of God, while their suppressors were merely blind opposers and destructionists. The enlightened consciences of Peter and Elijah were of more value and more to be respected, than those of the hosts of souls, in the darkness of unbelief, arrayed against them. Whilst the work of Peter and the apostles tended to make the world better, and better men of all their opposers, the work of the latter, tended to put a real check, on the cause of human progress. Those, who oppose the reading of the Scriptures in the public schools of this, or any other land, commit the very same folly.

The Bible is the Word of God to all mankind. It is his provision for our intellectual, moral and spiritual natures, as the light, air, water and food have been provided for our physical natures. It was originally written in the language of the people to whom it was given, the Old Testament in Hebrew to the Hebrews; and the New Testament in Greek to the Greek speaking Jews, in the time of Christ.

Our English version was made from the original languages in the time of King James, and it is an error in judgment to call it, either a Protestant or Sectarian Bible. There is, indeed, a sectarian version of the Bible in use in this country. It is printed in the Latin language, the language of pagan Rome, which the common people no longer use or understand.



It seems a queer freak of our human nature, that those who use the Bible in a dead, foreign language, unsuited for use in our public schools, should call our English version of the scriptures a sectarian book, and then oppose its use in our public schools.

Our English version of the Scriptures is no more a sectarian book, than are the ordinary books on astronomy, geology, botany, and natural history. Nevertheless when Romanists oppose its use, others of all sorts in the community, who like them need its gracious message of light, life and love, but instead profess not to regard it as a message from God, are liable to unite with them in their unfortunate opposition.

No one has an inherent right, to exclude the Bible from the public schools of America. As the one authoritative book of God, it ought to be there. As the charter of American liberty, and the corner stone of our system of public education and jurisprudence, it ought to be there. No one has any more right to exclude the Bible from the public schools of America, than he has to exclude the sun, for both are God's own provision of light. It is intended of God to be the one unchanging standard of morality and purity, for old and young; and to be as free for all, as the common air that we breathe. Its use, at an early age, tends to develop the conservative principles of virtue and knowledge, which serve as the world's best protectors against ignorance, barbarism and vice.

RISE AND FALL OF INTOLERANCE

Excluding the Bible, from the public schools of America, is an old world innovation. In some countries of Europe, books on science, literature or philosophy have not been permitted to be published, without the previous approval of the government. "The Bible itself, the common inheritance, not merely of Christendom, but of the world, has been put exclusively under the control of government, and has not been allowed to be seen, heard, or read, except in a language unknown to the common inhabitants of the country. To publish a translation in the language of the people, has been in former times a flagrant offense." (Story on the Constitution, page 263.) [Internal link: page 263.]

The popes, as early as the eighth century, condemned the circulation and reading of all writings unfriendly to the papacy. In 1515, after the art of printing had been invented, the papal decree was issued, "That no book should be printed without previous examination by the proper ecclesiastical authority, the Inquisition." The books prohibited by it included the bible in the English and German languages, and all the books published by Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and other Reformers. While the Reformers were called, heresiarchs, they proved themselves to be the world's greatest benefactors, by giving the people the Bible.

When Roman Catholicism was the state religion of Italy, France, Spain and Britain, it was intolerant, and by massacres and persecutions endeavored to suppress the reading of the Bible and also its publication in the language of the people.

In 1531, when the bishops were almost universally statesmen, lawyers or diplomats. Henry, the King of England, by an act of parliament, which consisted of a convocation of the clergy, became the recognized head of the church in England, instead of the pope at Rome. The principle now begins to prevail, that "Truth possesses the power to defend itself." As a result Wiclif, Tyndale, Sir Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Archbishop Cranmer, Miles Coverdale and others, with the approval of the king successively, encourage the translation, publication and circulation of the Scriptures among the clergy and people. It was at this time and in this way, that the principle of toleration in matters of religion had its beginning, and the first check was put upon the cruel intolerance of the church of Rome in England. The church of England, episcopal in form then became the established, or state church; and it is so still, but the king is no longer the head of it and the parliament no longer consists of the clergy, as in the days of King James. It was in 1566 that the Puritans, followers of Calvin and other foreign reformers, withdrew from the established church of England, because they did not approve all the forms and ceremonies, then required in the public worship of the established church.

The official act of religious toleration in England was passed during the reign of William III, 1689-1702, (and Mary), who, as the prince of Orange and founder of the Dutch republic in 1680, had previously distinguished himself as the friend of liberty.

Roger Williams, founder of the Colony of Rhode Island 1636 to 1647, established there the first government in America, upon the principle of universal toleration. William Penn, founder and proprietor of Pennsylvania, in 1684 incorporated the same principle in the government of that colony; and, as the expression of his own views and sentiments, respecting religion and civil government. These men exercised government, by instilling into the minds of the people the principles of religion, morality, forbearance and friendship. Americans do well to cherish the memory of these men, who wrought so nobly a century before the American Revolution.

NOBLE DEFENSE BY DANIEL WEBSTER

Our American public school system represents the accumulated wisdom of many generations of Bible readers, and in promoting it we preserve for future generations the foundations so wisely laid in the earlier years of our history.

Daniel Webster, one of the advocates of the system and early defenders of the Bible in it, stated its fundamental principle when he said, "In all cases there is nothing, that we look for with more certainty, than this general principle, that Christianity is part of the law of this land." He explained its object and motive in the following passage, which is worthy to be repeated in every generation.

"We seek to educate the people. We seek to improve men's moral and religious condition. In short, we seek to work upon mind as well as upon matter; and this tends to enlarge the intellect and heart of man. We know that when we work upon materials, immortal and imperishable, that they will bear the impress which we place upon them, through endless ages to come. If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it. If we rear temples, they will crumble to the dust. But, if we work on men's immortal minds—if we imbue them with high principles, with the just fear of God, and of their fellow men,—we engrave on those tablets, something which no time can efface, but which will brighten and brighten to all eternity."

The exclusion of the Bible from the public schools in New York state had its rise in 1838 and concerning this movement, Mr. Webster said, "This is a question which in its decision is to influence the happiness, the temporal and the eternal welfare of one hundred millions of human beings, alive and to be born in this land. Its decision will give a hue to the character of our institutions. There can be no charity in that system of instruction from which the Bible, the basis of Christianity, is excluded."

The public school, with daily instruction to the young in the Bible, is an American system of education. It had its origin in the belief of its founders, that general instruction in the Bible was essential to the permanency of that freedom, civil and religious, and that independent ownership of land, they came to America to enjoy. If the early Pilgrims, more particularly those of Massachusetts and Connecticut, had not struggled and toiled for this great object, and if they had not been immediately succeeded by men, who imbibed a large portion of the same spirit, the free school system of New England would never have been extended to all parts of our land. We have inherited the public school through the Bible, and the feeling prevails, that only by maintaining a general knowledge of the Bible, among the young and rising generation through it can the countless blessings, that flow from it, be conserved for future generations.

THE FREEDMAN'S BEST BOOK

These historic facts, relating to the original establishment of free schools among the colonies, during the period of the early settlement of this country, and the place accorded the Bible in them by their faithful founders, are well suited to be suggestive, and to prove an inspiration to every friend of freedom, to promote the good cause of maintaining the daily reading of the Bible, in all of our public schools at the present time.

Christian parents among the Freedmen, having children that are bright and studious, are encouraged by these facts, to train one or more of them to be teachers and helpers, in promoting the educational and moral uplift of the race. All are encouraged to co-operate with your teachers, in making the public school of your neighborhood, an attractive and inviting place for your own and your neighbor's children.

Send the children regularly to school during the term, for the terms are short. Do all you can, as long as you live, to supply your public schools with bibles and christian teachers, in order that they may attain the highest degree of efficiency, and bring the greatest amount of public good, to you and your children. Remember, that the Bible is the mother of the public school and that it awakens a desire for more knowledge, drives back the darkness of ignorance and inspires the courage to do right.

Many have been led astray by reading bad books and papers, but none from reading the Bible. Its blessings of comfort and guidance to individuals, and of civil and religious liberty to nations, have come to us like the dew of Hermon, that made "the wilderness and solitary place to be glad, and the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose."

In view of these important historic facts, it is certainly strange that any parents, who permit their children to read all sorts of trashy and worthless books, without protest, should pretend they do not want them to read the Bible, the one infallible and incomparable book, that does not become old and out-of-date like the best of other books, but is as fresh and life giving to day as twenty centuries ago. The number of those, who have opposed the reading of the Bible in the public schools have comprised but a small part of the entire population of our land, and they have always represented that part of it, that have most needed its enlightening and uplifting influence.

One million immigrants from other lands are now coming to our shores every year, that they may enjoy the civil and religious privileges, that have here been secured, through the influence of the Bible. One of their greatest needs, immediately on their arrival, is faithful instruction in the living and eternal truths of God's Holy Word, that they may know and understand the genius or spirit of our American, civil and religious institutions.

There is urgent need to day for more of that holy compulsion that Jesus exercised, when, surrounded by a lot of hungry people, he required the disciples to "Make the men sit down," and then added, "Give ye them to eat."

THE CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL

When Jesus said, "The son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister," he gave to the world one of its clearest visions of the Kingdom of God, and his own, the highest ideal of life, the one that produces the noblest type of manhood.

It is the great business of the church to bring all its children and youth to this true conception of life, and it aims to do this through the christian home, the Sunday school, young peoples' meetings and church services. But these alone are not adequate, to reach all the children and youth of the land, including those of the one million immigrants, arriving annually from other lands.

Margaret Slattery in the Charm of the Impossible has very truly remarked:

"Men of all creeds and of none agree, that religious instruction ought to be given, to all the children and youth of the land, but the task of attempting it is a tremendous one, and the best manner of doing it is not clear to all. Some say religious instruction should be given in the home. This is usually done, in the intelligent christian home; but there are many homes, where it is impossible, and others indisposed. The fact that the church has seen, as if with a new vision, the method of Jesus, the Great Teacher of all men, reveals itself more clearly in the Sunday school, than in any other department of its work. There it attempts the task of religious education by instruction from the Bible, and endeavors to inspire the child, youth and man with the purest and greatest motives for action."

MAKE THE PUBLIC, A BIBLE SCHOOL

There is, however, no instrumentality in our country, so convenient and favorable for giving all the children and youth of our land a general knowledge of the Bible, as the public school. The Bible is the embodiment of all lofty ideals, and when it is daily read in all of our schools, there is in them a uniform standard of morals. Schools, that neglect or suppress the daily reading of the Bible, do not keep the vision of those attending them on the christian ideal, or develop the christian motive in them, during the most impressionable period of their lives.

The Bible is the light of the intellect, the fore runner of civilization, the charter of true liberty and secret of national greatness. The Bible is the one, all-important book for the Freedmen and their children. Its weekly use, in the church and Sunday school, is to be appreciated and promoted; but the home and the public school are the golden places, where its daily use should be required, and the opportunity be magnified.

American patriotism relies on the public school, conducted with moral and social aims, as the one pre-eminent, assimilating agency to bind together the older and newer elements of our population, in a common devotion to our common country. It has been "America's greatest civil glory and chief civil hope." The enthusiasm, that led to its establishment, was well nigh sacred. It needs to day the support of a public spirit, that will insist on the restoration of the daily reading of the Bible, as the basis of moral instruction in it.

Concerning its educational value President Woodrow Wilson has recently very truthfully said, "The educational value of the Bible is, that it both awakens the spirit to its finest and only true action, and acquaints the student with the noblest body of literature in existence; a body of literature, having in it more mental and imaginative stimulus, than any other body of writings. A man has deprived himself of the best there is in the world, who has deprived himself of the Bible."

How true to day is Paul's description of the people that were living without the Bible in his day. He describes them as "filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, deceit, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, unmerciful."[4]

Our own and every heathen land furnishes abundant proofs, that whenever the gracious promises of the Bible are gratefully received, the proud become humble, the disobedient dutiful, the drunkard sober, the dishonest, honorable; the profligate, prudent; and the miserable become happy. Nothing else has ever done this, but the gospel of Christ always does it, when gratefully received.

ENCOURAGING MOVEMENTS

The legislature of Pennsylvania, in 1913, restored the use of the Bible in the public schools of that state, by a statute requiring the daily reading of at least ten verses of the Bible, in the hearing of all the pupils under every teacher, and making a neglect of this duty a proper cause, for the suspension of the teacher.

The National Reform Association at its last meeting in Portland, Oregon, in 1913, resolved to raise $25,000, for the purpose of undertaking to place a copy of the Bible, in every public school in the land, from which it may have been excluded; and to aid in keeping it, where it is now adopted, as the standard of moral instruction.

Commissioner Claxton, in welcoming the members of the council of church Boards of Education, representing fourteen denominations, at their third meeting in Washington, D. C., in January 1914, very correctly stated the leadership of the church in the educational work of our country, and the importance of its continued relation to it, in the following language:

"The church has been the leader in educational development, at a time when the state was unable and unwilling to pay the large cost for education. Honor should be given the church for its splendid, formative work in education, during the time the state was occupied in building up its political relations. It is indeed a happy thing, that the church is so deeply interested in education, as to maintain national agencies, known as boards."

In regard to the secondary schools he prophetically added, "The day will come, when the Bible will be read in the public schools, just as any other book. There is no good reason, why the Bible should not have its rightful place, in our public school curriculum."

The Gideons, an organization among traveling salesmen, are endeavoring to place a copy of the Bible in every bedroom of all the public hotels in the United States. At the end of 1913 they had supplied bibles for 220,000 rooms, and had reached all but three states, Utah, Nevada and Washington.

These are movements in the right direction and suggest the proper attitude of every christian parent, teacher and legislator. Do not hesitate to advocate the daily reading of the Bible, and the employment of christian teachers, in all the public schools, provided for the Freedman and his children.

"There's a dear and precious book, Though it's worn and faded now, Which recalls those happy days of long ago; When I stood at mother's knee With her hand upon my brow, And I heard her voice in gentle tones and low. Blessed book, precious book On thy dear old tear-stained leaves I love to look; Thou art sweeter day by day, As I walk the narrow way, That leads at last, to that bright home above." —M. B. Williams.

[4] Rom. 1. 27.



XLVIII

A HALF-CENTURY OF BIBLE SUPPRESSION IN A NATION, OR FRANCE, DURING THE PERIOD, 1572 TO 1795.

THEISM, DEISM, PHILOSOPHISM.—APPEAL FOR BREAD.—MORAL AND FINANCIAL BANKRUPTCY.—FIRST POPULAR ASSEMBLY.—REPUBLIC OF FRANCE.—REIGN OF TERROR.—PEOPLE UNPREPARED FOR FREEDOM.—INSURRECTION OF WOMEN.—RESULTS.—LAND OF JOHN CALVIN.—LAFAYETTE.—ROMANISM, BEHIND THE TIMES.—HUMAN REASON, BLIND.—LIGHT, LIFE AND LIBERTY.

"The entrance of thy word giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."—David.

An American citizen does not need to go to far-off India or Africa to learn how people live without the Bible. Every heathen nation, living in ignorance and degradation furnishes a practical illustration. This illustration may be found by visiting the countries on the other side of the southern boundary line of the United States, where for several centuries under dominant catholic influence the Bible has been a forbidden book in the few public educational institutions of the country. The result may now be seen in the general prevalence of ignorance, poverty and oppression; the ownership of land limited to a comparatively few persons, corruption and rapacity on the part of public officials, general improvement checked and the country impoverished by frequent insurrections and revolutions, that indicate incapacity for stable and prosperous self-government.

France, however, once made the actual experiment of suppressing the Bible and Bible readers for two centuries, during the period from 1572 to 1795, while the Reformation of the 16th century was progressing in Germany, Switzerland, Britain and other countries.

Thomas Carlyle, in his history of the French Revolution, that occurred 1788 to 1795, has very dramatically portrayed scenes and incidents, which become pregnant with new and thrilling interest, when briefly summarized to illustrate the folly and sad consequences of suppressing the Bible and Bible readers in that nation. The historic value of these incidents should make this story interesting and instructive to every student and teacher.

ATHEISM, DEISM, PHILOSOPHISM

Louis XV, king of France, at the end of a reign of fifty-nine years, dies unwept and unmourned in 1774. Affirming there is no God or heaven, at the beginning of his long reign, and not permitting any of his courtiers to mention the word "death" in his presence, he abandons himself to a life of forbidden pleasure, humiliates and scandalizes the people of France instead of enlightening and elevating them. He inherits and maintains the tyrannous and oppressive feudal system, that prevents the common people from acquiring ownership of land. His career has been described, "as an hideous abortion and mistake of nature, the use and meaning of which is not yet known." The persecution of Bible readers, or Protestants, is begun with a general massacre at Paris, on the anniversary of Saint Bartholomew in 1572. Those who escape the bloody horrors of that occasion, are commanded to emigrate from France, on pain of death. The following events occur, during the latter part of the last half century, preceding the French Revolution.

The leaders in thought are the shameless and selfish infidels and deists, Voltaire, Rosseau, Robespierre and others like them. Paris admires her deistical authors and makes them the objects of hero-worship. They are called "Philosophs," and Bible readers must not stand in their way. Philosophism sits joyful in glittering saloons, is the pride of nobles and promises a coming millennium. Crushing and scattering the last elements of the Protestant Reformation, they blindly and falsely talk of a Reformed France. The people applaud, instead of suppressing these false teachers. The highest dignitaries of the church waltz with quack-prophets, pick pockets and public women. The invisible world of Satan is displayed and the smoke of its torment goes up continually. No provision is made for the general education of the common people and yet the government is fast becoming bankrupt.

In 1774 Louis XVI succeeds his father, as the last King of France. He is youthful, uneducated, imbecile. He is wedded to a giddy superficial queen. Both are infidels and incapable of any intelligent acts of government. With imbecility and credulity on the throne, corruption continues to prevail among high and low. Instead of individual thrift and general prosperity, poverty and famine prevail throughout the land.

APPEAL FOR BREAD

In 1775, impelled by a scarcity of bread, a vast multitude from the surrounding country gather around the royal palace at Versailles, their great number, sallow faces and squalid appearance indicating widespread wretchedness and want. Their appeal for royal assistance is plainly written, in "legible hieroglyphics in their winged raggedness." The young king appears on the balcony and they are permitted to see his face. If he does not read their written appeal, he sees it in their pitiable condition. The response of the king is an order, that two of them be hanged. The rest are sent back to their miserable hovels with a warning not to give the king any more trouble.

Mirabeau, a French writer, describes a similar scene that occurs later that same year. "The savages descending in torrents from the mountains our people are ordered not to go out. The bagpipes begin to play, but the dance in a quarter of an hour is interrupted by a battle. The cries of children and infirm persons incite them, as the rabble does when dogs fight. The men, like frightful wild animals, are clad in coarse woollen jackets with large girdles of leather studded with copper nails. Their gigantic stature is heightened by high wooden clogs. Their faces are haggard and covered with long greasy hair. The upper part of their visage waxes pale, while the lower distorts itself into a cruel laugh, or the appearance of a ferocious impatience."

These proceedings are a protest of the common people, of whom there are twenty millions, against government by blind-man's-buff. These people, paying their taxes, are protesting against corrupt officials depriving them of their salt and sugar, in order to maintain royal and official extravagance. Stumbling too far prepares the way for a general overturn.

MORAL AND FINANCIAL BANKRUPTCY

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."

THE END