第15章 《圣经》与法国革命
§1
第15章 《圣经》与法国革命
§2
Chap. 15 - The Bible and the French Revolution
§3
在第十六世纪，宗教改革运动曾将一本敞开的《圣经》贡献给世人，这运动已经进入欧洲一切的国家。有些国家欣然欢迎它为天上来的恩赐。而在其他地区，罗马教则很成功地加以阻止；《圣经》知识的亮光，及其造就人的影响力，几乎完全被排斥了。有一个国家，真光虽已进去，黑暗却不接受光。几百年来，真理和谬论各争雌雄。最后那恶者得了胜，天上的真理就被排斥出去了。“光来到世间，世人……不爱光倒爱黑暗，定他们的罪就是在此。”（约3:19）这一个国家终于自食其果。上帝圣灵的管束已经从那轻视他恩赐的人身上收回。他们已经恶贯满盈了。从此全世界都可以看到故意拒绝真光的结果了。[1]{GC 265.1}
§4
In the sixteenth century the Reformation, presenting an open Bible to the people, had sought admission to all the countries of Europe. Some nations welcomed it with gladness, as a messenger of Heaven. In other lands the papacy succeeded to a great extent in preventing its entrance; and the light of Bible knowledge, with its elevating influences, was almost wholly excluded. In one country, though the light found entrance, it was not comprehended by the darkness. For centuries, truth and error struggled for the mastery. At last the evil triumphed, and the truth of Heaven was thrust out. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light. John 3:19. The nation was left to reap the results of the course which she had chosen. The restraint of Gods Spirit was removed from a people that had despised the gift of His grace. Evil was permitted to come to maturity. And all the world saw the fruit of willful rejection of the light. {GC 265.1}[1]
§5
那在法国进行了几百年反对《圣经》的争战，终于在大革命的时期达到最高峰。这个可怕的暴动不过是罗马禁止《圣经》的必然结果。这是世人从来没有见过的最惊人的例证，说明施行罗马教的政策，以及罗马教会一千余年的教训所有的结果。[2]{GC 265.2}
§6
The war against the Bible, carried forward for so many centuries in France, culminated in the scenes of the Revolution. That terrible outbreaking was but the legitimate result of Romes suppression of the Scriptures. (See Appendix.) It presented the most striking illustration which the world has ever witnessed of the working out of the papal policy-- an illustration of the results to which for more than a thousand years the teaching of the Roman Church had been tending. {GC 265.2}[2]
§7
先知早已预言罗马教掌权时期对于《圣经》的制止；蒙启示的约翰也曾指明那特别由于“大罪人”的统治而临到法国的可怕结果。[3]{GC 266.1}
§8
The suppression of the Scriptures during the period of papal supremacy was foretold by the prophets; and the Revelator points also to the terrible results that were to accrue especially to France from the domination of the man of sin. {GC 266.1}[3]
§9
主的使者说：“他们要践踏圣城四十二个月。我要使我那两个见证人，穿着毛衣，传道一千二百六十天。……他们作完见证的时候，那从无底坑里上来的兽，必与他们交战，并且得胜，把他们杀了。他们的尸首就倒在大城里的街上；这城按着灵意叫所多玛，又叫埃及，就是他们的主钉十字架之处。……住在地上的人，就为他们欢喜快乐，互相馈送礼物；因这两位先知曾叫住在地上的人受痛苦。过了这三天半，有生气从上帝那里进入他们里面，他们就站起来；看见他们的人甚是害怕。”（启11:2-11）[4]{GC 266.2}
§10
Said the angel of the Lord: The holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months. And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. . . . And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. . . . 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. And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. Revelation 11:2-11. {GC 266.2}[4]
§11
这里所提到的时期——“四十二个月”和“一千二百六十天”是一样的——同是指着基督的教会在罗马权下遭受压迫的一段时期。教皇掌权的一千二百六十年是从公元五三八年开始的，所以应到一七九八年终止。那一年，有法国军队进入罗马城把教皇掳去，他就死在异乡。不久之后，虽有一个新教皇被选出来，但从此以后教廷就一直未能发挥它以前所拥有的权柄。[5]{GC 266.3}
§12
The periods here mentioned--forty and two months, and a thousand two hundred and threescore days--are the same, alike representing the time in which the church of Christ was to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1260 years of papal supremacy began in A.D. 538, and would therefore terminate in 1798. (See Appendix note for page 54.) At that time a French army entered Rome and made the pope a prisoner, and he died in exile. Though a new pope was soon afterward elected, the papal hierarchy has never since been able to wield the power which it before possessed. {GC 266.3}[5]
§13
教会的遭受逼迫，并没有一直延续一千二百六十年。上帝因爱怜他的子民，所以减少了他们受火炼的日子。救主在预言“大灾难”临到教会的时候，说：“若不减少那日子，凡有血气的，总没有一个得救的；只是为选民，那日子必减少了。”（太24:22）因了宗教改革的影响，逼迫在一七九八年以前就停止了。[6]{GC 266.4}
§14
The persecution of the church did not continue throughout the entire period of the 1260 years. God in mercy to His people cut short the time of their fiery trial. In foretelling the great tribulation to befall the church, the Saviour said: Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elects sake those days shall be shortened. Matthew 24:22. Through the influence of the Reformation the persecution was brought to an end prior to 1798. {GC 266.4}[6]
§15
至于那两个见证人，先知进一步说：“他们就是那两棵橄榄树，两个灯台，立在世界之主面前的。”（启11:4）作诗的人说：“你的话是我脚前的灯，是我路上的光。”（诗119:105）这两个见证人代表旧约和新约《圣经》。二者对于上帝律法的起源和永久性，都有重要的申述；也同是救恩计划的见证者。旧约中的表号、祭礼和预言都是指明一位要来的救主。新约中的四福音和书信则记载一位已经照着表号和预言所指定的方式来到世界的救主。[7]{GC 267.1}
§16
Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. Thy word, said the psalmist, is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Revelation 11:4; Psalm 119:105. The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact manner foretold by type and prophecy. {GC 267.1}[7]
§17
“那两个见证人，穿着毛衣，传道一千二百六十天。”在这一段长时期中，上帝的见证人大都是隐遁着的。罗马教的权势企图将真理的道隐藏起来，而传讲虚伪的道理来抵消《圣经》的见证。当《圣经》被宗教和政治的权威禁止时；当其中的见证被人曲解，而世人和鬼魔千方百计地使世人转离它时；当那些胆敢宣传《圣经》神圣真理的人被追逐、出卖、折磨、监禁，为自己的信仰殉身，或被迫到山间的堡垒和地下的洞穴躲避时，那就是忠心的见证人穿着毛衣传道的时候。然而在一千二百六十年的全部时期中，他们是一直在作见证的；即使在最黑暗的时候，仍有一班忠心的人爱护上帝的圣言并为他的尊荣大发热心。上帝赐智慧，能力和权柄给这些忠心的仆人，使他们在这一段长时期中宣扬他的真理。[8]{GC 267.2}
§18
They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three-score days, clothed in sackcloth. During the greater part of this period, Gods witnesses remained in a state of obscurity. The papal power sought to hide from the people the word of truth, and set before them false witnesses to contradict its testimony. (See Appendix.) When the Bible was proscribed by religious and secular authority; when its testimony was perverted, and every effort made that men and demons could invent to turn the minds of the people from it; when those who dared proclaim its sacred truths were hunted, betrayed, tortured, buried in dungeon cells, martyred for their faith, or compelled to flee to mountain fastnesses, and to dens and caves of the earth--then the faithful witnesses prophesied in sackcloth. Yet they continued their testimony throughout the entire period of 1260 years. In the darkest times there were faithful men who loved Gods word and were jealous for His honor. To these loyal servants were given wisdom, power, and authority to declare His truth during the whole of this time. {GC 267.2}[8]
§19
“若有人想要杀害他们，就有火从他们口中出来，烧灭仇敌；凡想要害他们的，都必这样被杀。”（启11:5）人决不能践踏上帝的圣言而得以逃罪。这可怕之斥责的意义在启示录末章中说明了：“我向一切听见这书上预言的作见证，若有人在这预言上加添什么，上帝必将写在这书上的灾祸加在他身上；这书上的预言，若有人删去什么，上帝必从这书上所写的生命树和圣城，删去他的份。”（启22:18-19）[9]{GC 268.1}
§20
And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. Revelation 11:5. Men cannot with impunity trample upon the word of God. The meaning of this fearful denunciation is set forth in the closing chapter of the Revelation: I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18, 19. {GC 268.1}[9]
§21
这就是上帝所发的警告，免得人以任何方式改变他所启示所吩咐的话。凡借自己的影响使他人轻视上帝律法的人，这些严肃的斥责都适用在他们身上。那些轻率地声称无论顺从上帝的律法与否都是无关紧要的人，听到这些警告就应当胆战心惊。凡高举自己的意见过于上帝的启示的人，凡为求适应自己的方便或为迎合世人的习俗而改变《圣经》明显之教训的人，必须担负其可怕的责任。写在经上的话，就是上帝的律法，将要衡量每一个人的品格，凡经过这准确无误的试验而显出亏欠的人，必被定罪。[10]{GC 268.2}
§22
Such are the warnings which God has given to guard men against changing in any manner that which He has revealed or commanded. These solemn denunciations apply to all who by their influence lead men to regard lightly the law of God. They should cause those to fear and tremble who flippantly declare it a matter of little consequence whether we obey Gods law or not. All who exalt their own opinions above divine revelation, all who would change the plain meaning of Scripture to suit their own convenience, or for the sake of conforming to the world, are taking upon themselves a fearful responsibility. The written word, the law of God, will measure the character of every man and condemn all whom this unerring test shall declare wanting. {GC 268.2}[10]
§23
“他们作完见证的时候。”这两个见证人穿着毛衣作见证的时期，是在一七九八年完结。正当他们在隐遁中的工作行将结束之时，“那从无底坑里上来的兽”所代表的权势必与他们争战。几百年来，那在欧洲各国掌管教会和国家的政权，乃是撒但通过教廷为媒介而控制的。但这里所出现的政权，乃是撒但权势的一个新的表现。[11]{GC 268.3}
§24
When they shall have finished [are finishing] their testimony. The period when the two witnesses were to prophesy clothed in sackcloth, ended in 1798. As they were approaching the termination of their work in obscurity, war was to be made upon them by the power represented as the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit. In many of the nations of Europe the powers that ruled in church and state had for centuries been controlled by Satan through the medium of the papacy. But here is brought to view a new manifestation of satanic power. {GC 268.3}[11]
§25
罗马教的政策一向是在自称尊崇《圣经》的掩护之下，把《圣经》保留在一种多数人所不懂的语言之中，这无异是把《圣经》封锁起来，使众人无从获得。在她的统治之下，这两个见证人“穿着毛衣”传道。但另有一个权势——从无底坑里上来的兽——要兴起来，公然与上帝的《圣经》争战。[12]{GC 269.1}
§26
It had been Romes policy, under a profession of reverence for the Bible, to keep it locked up in an unknown tongue and hidden away from the people. Under her rule the witnesses prophesied clothed in sackcloth. But another power --the beast from the bottomless pit--was to arise to make open, avowed war upon the word of God. {GC 269.1}[12]
§27
那“大城”，就是两个见证人被杀，尸首倒在它街上的大城，“按着灵意叫作埃及”。在《圣经》历史所记载的一切国度中，埃及是最大胆否认永生上帝的存在并抗拒他命令的。从来没有一个帝王比埃及王更狂妄蛮横地抗拒上天的权威。当摩西奉耶和华的名将信息传达给法老时，他竟傲慢地回答说：“耶和华是谁，使我听他的话，容以色列人去呢？我不认识耶和华，也不容以色列人去。”（出2:5）这就是无神论；这个用埃及所代表的国家必要对于永生上帝的要求发出同样的否认，也要显出同样的不信和公然反对的精神。这“大城”“按着灵意”也比作所多玛。所多玛破坏上帝律法的腐化行为，特别显明在淫乱的事上。而这种罪也是那应验这段《圣经》的国家的一个显著的特征。[13]{GC 269.2}
§28
The great city in whose streets the witnesses are slain, and where their dead bodies lie, is spiritually Egypt. Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most boldly denied the existence of the living God and resisted His commands. No monarch ever ventured upon more open and highhanded rebellion against the authority of Heaven than did the king of Egypt. When the message was brought him by Moses, in the name of the Lord, Pharaoh proudly answered: Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go. Exodus 5:2, A.R.V. This is atheism, and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the living God and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance. The great city is also compared, spiritually, to Sodom. The corruption of Sodom in breaking the law of God was especially manifested in licentiousness. And this sin was also to be a pre-eminent characteristic of the nation that should fulfill the specifications of this scripture. {GC 269.2}[13]
§29
按照先知的话，到了接近一七九八年的时候，将有从撒但而来并与其性质相同的权势兴起与《圣经》作战。在那地，上帝两个见证人的声音因此寂静下来，那里要出现法老的无神主义和所多玛的淫乱行为。[14]{GC 269.3}
§30
According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some power of satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon the Bible. And in the land where the testimony of Gods two witnesses should thus be silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh and the licentiousness of Sodom. {GC 269.3}[14]
§31
这段预言已经在法国的历史上很准确而显著地应验了。在一七九三年革命之时，“世人第一次听到一个国家的议会议员——都生长在文明的国家，受过相当的教育，并掌有政权管理欧洲最文明的一个国家——竟异口同声地否认人所能接受的最严肃的真理，并全体一致地抗拒对于真神的信仰和敬拜。”“法国乃是世上唯一的国家，曾伸手公然反对创造宇宙的主宰，而且这事是有确凿的历史斑斑可考的。英国、德国、西班牙和其他国家向来有许多亵渎上帝和不信上帝的人；但法国在世界的历史上乃是一个突出的国家，由立法的议会颁发命令，宣称天地间没有上帝；为这一件事，首都的全体市民以及各处大多数的男女都聚集唱歌跳舞，以示庆祝。”[15]{GC 269.4}
§32
This prophecy has received a most exact and striking fulfillment in the history of France. During the Revolution, in 1793, the world for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which mans soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief and worship of a Deity.--Sir Walter Scott, Life of Napoleon, vol. 1, ch. 17. France is the only nation in the world concerning which the authentic record survives, that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion against the Author of the universe. Plenty of blasphemers, plenty of infidels, there have been, and still continue to be, in England, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere; but France stands apart in the worlds history as the single state which, by the decree of her Legislative Assembly, pronounced that there was no God, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement.--Blackwoods Magazine, November, 1870. {GC 269.4}[15]
§33
法国也表现了所多玛显著的特性。在革命的时候，一种道德沦亡，伤风败俗的情形与昔日所多玛平原诸城招致毁灭的罪行，如出一辙。有一位历史家叙述法国的无神主义和淫荡的风气，正如预言所说的一样：“在颁布这些影响宗教的律法的同时，紧接着就颁布破坏婚姻制度的律法。婚姻原是人类最神圣的制度，世人能恒久尊重这制度，才可使社会巩固。这时法国竟使它成为一种临时性的契约。男女可以随意结合，也可以随意分离。……如果鬼魔亲自出动要想出一种最有效的方法来破坏家庭生活中一切可敬，优美和恒久的事，而同时又能使这种祸害世世代代延续下去，他们再不能发明一种比贬低婚姻制度更有效的计划了。……以擅长辞令著名的女伶苏非亚诺尔特竟形容婚姻为‘奸淫的圣礼’。”[16]{GC 270.1}
§34
France presented also the characteristics which especially distinguished Sodom. During the Revolution there was manifest a state of moral debasement and corruption similar to that which brought destruction upon the cities of the plain. And the historian presents together the atheism and the licentiousness of France, as given in the prophecy: Intimately connected with these laws affecting religion, was that which reduced the union of marriage--the most sacred engagement which human beings can form, and the permanence of which leads most strongly to the consolidation of society--to the state of a mere civil contract of a transitory character, which any two persons might engage in and cast loose at pleasure. . . . If fiends had set themselves to work to discover a mode of most effectually destroying whatever is venerable, graceful, or permanent in domestic life, and of obtaining at the same time an assurance that the mischief which it was their object to create should be perpetuated from one generation to another, they could not have invented a more effectual plan that the degradation of marriage. . . . Sophie Arnoult, an actress famous for the witty things she said, described the republican marriage as the sacrament of adultery.--Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17. {GC 270.1}[16]
§35
“就是他们的主钉十字架之处。”这一段预言也应验在法国了。没有什么地方比这里更显著地表现仇恨基督的精神，没有什么国家比法国更苦毒残酷地反对真理。法国所加给承认福音之人的逼迫，就等于在基督门徒身上把基督钉在十字架上了。[17]{GC 271.1}
§36
Where also our Lord was crucified. This specification of the prophecy was also fulfilled by France. In no land had the spirit of enmity against Christ been more strikingly displayed. In no country had the truth encountered more bitter and cruel opposition. In the persecution which France had visited upon the confessors of the gospel, she had crucified Christ in the person of His disciples. {GC 271.1}[17]
§37
圣徒一世纪又一世纪地流了他们的鲜血。当瓦典西人“为上帝的道和耶稣基督的见证”在皮德蒙的山间舍弃自己的性命时，他们的弟兄，法国的阿比坚斯人也为真理作了同样的见证。在宗教改革的日子，改革运动的信徒曾死于可怕的酷刑之下。君王与贵族，名门的贵妇和娇柔的女郎，国内的娇子和绅士，都曾以观看为耶稣殉道之人的惨痛为赏心乐事。勇敢的许格诺派改正教徒曾为人类最神圣的权利斗争，并在许多苦斗的战场上流出他们的鲜血。改正教徒被视为“非法之徒”，有人悬赏购买他们的首级，并追逐他们像猎取野兽一般。[18]{GC 271.2}
§38
Century after century the blood of the saints had been shed. While the Waldenses laid down their lives upon the mountains of Piedmont for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, similar witness to the truth had been borne by their brethren, the Albigenses of France. In the days of the Reformation its disciples had been put to death with horrible tortures. King and nobles, highborn women and delicate maidens, the pride and chivalry of the nation, had feasted their eyes upon the agonies of the martyrs of Jesus. The brave Huguenots, battling for those rights which the human heart holds most sacred, had poured out their blood on many a hard-fought field. The Protestants were counted as outlaws, a price was set upon their heads, and they were hunted down like wild beasts. {GC 271.2}[18]
§39
“旷野的教会”就是在第十八世纪仍留恋着法国的古代基督徒的少数后裔，曾隐遁在南部的山间，坚守他们祖先的信仰。当他们夜间冒险到山边或幽僻的原野聚集礼拜时，就有“龙骑兵”（译者按：龙骑兵是路易十四用以迫害改正教徒的。）出来追赶他们，把他们拖去在囚船中从事终身的奴役。最纯洁最高尚最睿智的法国人，被捆锁在强盗和杀人犯之中受可怕的酷刑。其他的人则受到较为慈悲的待遇，他们手无寸铁，毫无抵御地跪在地上祷告时，就被枪杀了。成千成百年迈的老人，纤弱的妇女，和无辜的儿童在他们聚会的地方当场被杀。人若旅行到他们经常聚会的山边或树林中，往往可以看到“每隔数步，就有尸体散布在草地上，或者悬挂在树木上。”他们的国家因刀、斧和火刑而荒废，“变为广大凄凉的旷野”。这种惨剧的演出并不是在黑暗时期，而乃是在路易十四的极盛时代。那时科学昌明，文学发达，而宫廷和首都的神父都是富有学识，大有口才，并表面上具有温柔爱心等美德的人。[19]{GC 271.3}
§40
The Church in the Desert, the few descendants of the ancient Christians that still lingered in France in the eighteenth century, hiding away in the mountains of the south, still cherished the faith of their fathers. As they ventured to meet by night on mountainside or lonely moor, they were chased by dragoons and dragged away to lifelong slavery in the galleys. The purest, the most refined, and the most intelligent of the French were chained, in horrible torture, amidst robbers and assassins. (See Wylie, b. 22, ch. 6.) Others, more mercifully dealt with, were shot down in cold blood, as, unarmed and helpless, they fell upon their knees in prayer. Hundreds of aged men, defenseless women, and innocent children were left dead upon the earth at their place of meeting. In traversing the mountainside or the forest, where they had been accustomed to assemble, it was not unusual to find at every four paces, dead bodies dotting the sward, and corpses hanging suspended from the trees. Their country, laid waste with the sword, the ax, the fagot, was converted into one vast, gloomy wilderness. These atrocities were enacted . . . in no dark age, but in the brilliant era of Louis XIV. Science was then cultivated, letters flourished, the divines of the court and of the capital were learned and eloquent men, and greatly affected the graces of meekness and charity.--Ibid., b. 22, ch. 7. {GC 271.3}[19]
§41
但是罪恶的黑暗记录中最黑暗的一篇，也是各时代最惨无人道的行为中至可怖的事件，就是圣巴多罗买节的大屠杀。世人仍以惊心动魄的恐怖来回忆那些最卑鄙最残酷之屠杀的惨景。法国的君王受了罗马教神父和主教的怂恿，竟容许这样可怖的工作。在夜静更深之时，钟声大鸣，作为开始大屠杀的信号。正当数以千计的改正教徒在家安睡，信赖他们国王的保护之时，竟没有得到一点警告而被拖出去无情地杀害了。[20]{GC 272.1}
§42
But blackest in the black catalogue of crime, most horrible among the fiendish deeds of all the dreadful centuries, was the St. Bartholomew Massacre. The world still recalls with shuddering horror the scenes of that most cowardly and cruel onslaught. The king of France, urged on by Romish priests and prelates, lent his sanction to the dreadful work. A bell, tolling at dead of night, was a signal for the slaughter. Protestants by thousands, sleeping quietly in their homes, trusting to the plighted honor of their king, were dragged forth without a warning and murdered in cold blood. {GC 272.1}[20]
§43
正如古时基督是人眼所看不见的领袖，拯救了他的子民脱离埃及的奴役，这时撒但也是幕后的领袖，领导着他的百姓从事杀害无数殉道者的可怕工作。巴黎城内的大屠杀延续了七天之久，头三天的疯狂屠杀真是目不忍睹。而且大屠杀还不限于巴黎城内；由于王的特别命令，这次的暴行竟延及一切的省分和城市，只要有改正教徒在，就可以进行杀害。不拘年龄和性别；无辜的婴儿，白发的老人，都不得幸免。贵族和平民，老人和青年，妇女和儿童都被一齐杀死。法国全境的屠杀延续了两个月之久。七万国家的英才丧失了性命。[21]{GC 272.2}
§44
As Christ was the invisible leader of His people from Egyptian bondage, so was Satan the unseen leader of his subjects in this horrible work of multiplying martyrs. For seven days the massacre was continued in Paris, the first three with inconceivable fury. And it was not confined to the city itself, but by special order of the king was extended to all the provinces and towns where Protestants were found. Neither age nor sex was respected. Neither the innocent babe nor the man of gray hairs was spared. Noble and peasant, old and young, mother and child, were cut down together. Throughout France the butchery continued for two months. Seventy thousand of the very flower of the nation perished. {GC 272.2}[21]
§45
“当这大屠杀的信息传到罗马时，神父们无不弹冠相庆。洛林的红衣主教赏给送信的人一千块银币；圣安吉罗的大炮发声庆祝；各教堂鸣钟致喜；夜间焰火照耀如同白日；贵钩利十三世领导着一长列的主教和教廷的权贵们到圣路易教堂，那里有洛林的红衣主教吟诵赞美诗歌。……又制发纪念章来纪念这次的大屠杀，今日在梵蒂冈仍可看到美术家发萨里的三幅壁画，形容信奉改正教的法国首相被杀，国王设计屠杀的会议和执行大屠杀的种种情形。贵钩利送给查理一个金玫瑰的纪念章；在大屠杀之后四个月，……他踌躇满志地听取一个法国神父讲论到‘那兴高采烈的一天，当这“至圣之父”得悉这佳音时，他严肃地向上帝和圣路易表示感谢。’”[22]{GC 272.3}
§46
When the news of the massacre reached Rome, the exultation among the clergy knew no bounds. The cardinal of Lorraine rewarded the messenger with a thousand crowns; the cannon of St. Angelo thundered forth a joyous salute; and bells rang out from every steeple; bonfires turned night into day; and Gregory XIII, attended by the cardinals and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, went in long procession to the church of St. Louis, where the cardinal of Lorraine chanted a Te Deum. . . . A medal was struck to commemorate the massacre, and in the Vatican may still be seen three frescoes of Vasari, describing the attack upon the admiral, the king in council plotting the massacre, and the massacre itself. Gregory sent Charles the Golden Rose; and four months after the massacre, . . . he listened complacently to the sermon of a French priest, . . . who spoke of that day so full of happiness and joy, when the most holy father received the news, and went in solemn state to render thanks to God and St. Louis.--Henry White, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew, ch. 14, par. 34. {GC 272.3}[22]
§47
那怂恿圣巴多罗买节大屠杀的同一个魔王也发动了大革命的事件。那时法国不信上帝的人宣布耶稣基督为骗子，并大声呼喊“消灭这个坏人！”意思是指基督。大胆的亵慢和可憎的罪恶横行无阻，最卑劣最残酷无耻的匪徒却最受尊敬，而在这一切事上，他们乃是向撒但致最高的崇敬；而基督在他真实，纯洁和无私之爱的特性上，却被钉十字架上了。[23]{GC 273.1}
§48
The same master spirit that urged on the St. Bartholomew Massacre led also in the scenes of the Revolution. Jesus Christ was declared to be an impostor, and the rallying cry of the French infidels was, Crush the Wretch, meaning Christ. Heaven-daring blasphemy and abominable wickedness went hand in hand, and the basest of men, the most abandoned monsters of cruelty and vice, were most highly exalted. In all this, supreme homage was paid to Satan; while Christ, in His characteristics of truth, purity, and unselfish love, was crucified. {GC 273.1}[23]
§49
“那从无底抗里上来的兽，必与他们交战，并且得胜，把他们杀了。”在大革命和恐怖时代中统治法国的无神主义的政权确是与上帝和他的《圣经》作战，是世人从来没有见过的。国家的议会决定取消上帝的敬拜。他们曾收集《圣经》，并用各种侮辱的方法在公共场所焚烧。他们又把上帝的律法践踏在脚下。《圣经》所倡导的制度都被废除了。每周休息的日子被取消，而代之以每十天休息一天的制度，并且这一天要作为尽情纵欲亵渎的日子。浸礼和圣餐礼也在被禁之列。并有标语张贴在坟地显著之处，声称死亡乃是永远的安眠。[24]{GC 273.2}
§50
The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. The atheistical power that ruled in France during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, did wage such a war against God and His holy word as the world had never witnessed. The worship of the Deity was abolished by the National Assembly. Bibles were collected and publicly burned with every possible manifestation of scorn. The law of God was trampled underfoot. The institutions of the Bible were abolished. The weekly rest day was set aside, and in its stead every tenth day was devoted to reveling and blasphemy. Baptism and the Communion were prohibited. And announcements posted conspicuously over the burial places declared death to be an eternal sleep. {GC 273.2}[24]
§51
他们说敬畏上帝远非“智慧的开端”，却是愚昧的开端。除了尊崇自由与国家之外，其他的一切宗教敬拜全被禁止。“巴黎城的主教出现在国会面前，表演了一出最厚颜无耻的丑剧，这种丑剧是从来没有在国家的代表面前表演过的。……他盛装出现在国会之前，向他们声明自己那里多年所教导的宗教无非是僧侣法术的愚民政策，是没有历史和真理为根据的。他以一种严肃和肯定的口气否认神的存在，他过去曾献身敬奉上帝，而今后则决定要敬拜自由、平等、善良和道德。于是他把主教的衣冠和装饰放在桌上，然后与国会的主席拥抱。此外，还有几个背教的神父也照这个主教的榜样而行了。”[25]{GC 274.1}
§52
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}[25]
§53
“住在地上的人，就为他们欢喜快乐，互相馈送礼物。因这两位先知曾叫住在地上的人受痛苦。”不信上帝的法国已经使上帝两个见证人指责的声音止息了。真理的《圣经》陈尸于她的街上，而且那些仇恨上帝律法之约束和要求的人也欢天喜地。人们公然反抗天上的君王。他们像古时的罪人一样喊着说：“上帝怎能晓得？至高者岂有知识呢？”（诗73:11）[26]{GC 274.2}
§54
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. Infidel France had silenced the reproving voice of Gods two witnesses. The word of truth lay dead in her streets, and those who hated the restrictions and requirements of Gods 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}[26]
§55
有一个新派的神父用人们几乎不能置信的亵慢和大胆，说：“上帝啊，如果你真存在的话，你就为你受干犯的名施行报复吧！我现在公然向你挑战！你仍然保持缄默；你竟然不敢发出雷声。从今以后，谁还相信你存在呢？”这正是古时法老王所说之话的回声：“耶和华是谁，使我听他的话？”“我不认识耶和华！”[27]{GC 274.3}
§56
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, vol. 11, p. 309; in Sir Archibald Alison, History of Europe, vol. 1, ch. 10. What an echo is this of the Pharaohs demand: Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice? I know not Jehovah! {GC 274.3}[27]
§57
“愚顽人心里说，没有上帝。”（诗14:1）关于歪曲真理的人，上帝曾说：“他们的愚昧必在众人面前显露出来。”（提后3:9）法国放弃了对永生上帝，就是那“至高至上，永远长存”之主的敬拜之后，过了不多几时就堕落到侍奉假神的地步，就是敬拜一个淫荡的妇人，称他为“理智女神”。而且这是在国家议会之内，并由行政和立法的最高权威来执行的！一位历史家说：“这疯狂时期的礼节之一真是极尽愚昧与亵慢之能事。议会的门大开，一个乐队在前领路，后面随着市政府的委员排成严肃的行列，唱着赞美自由的诗歌，护送着他们今后所要敬拜的对象，就是一个蒙着帕子的所谓‘理智女神’的女子进来了。到了指定的席上，她的帕子就被隆重的揭开了，她便站在议会主席旁边；众人都认出她就是歌剧中的一个舞女。这一个人最适于代表他们所敬拜的‘理智’，于是法国全国的议会就公然向她敬拜了。[28]{GC 275.1}
§58
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Psalm 14:1. And the Lord declares concerning the perverters of the truth: Their folly shall be manifest unto all. 2 Timothy 3:9. After France had renounced the worship of the living God, the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, it was only a little time till she descended to degrading idolatry, by the worship of the Goddess of Reason, in the person of a profligate woman. And this in the representative assembly of the nation, and by its highest civil and legislative authorities! Says the historian: One of the ceremonies of this insane time stands unrivaled for absurdity combined with impiety. The doors of the Convention were thrown open to a band of musicians, preceded by whom, the members of the municipal body entered in solemn procession, singing a hymn in praise of liberty, and escorting, as the object of their future worship, a veiled female, whom they termed the Goddess of Reason. Being brought within the bar, she was unveiled with great form, and placed on the right of the president, when she was generally recognized as a dancing girl of the opera. . . . To this person, as the fittest representative of that reason whom they worshiped, the National Convention of France rendered public homage. {GC 275.1}[28]
§59
“这种亵慢和荒诞的丑剧成了一种风尚；全国各处凡是不愿在大革命的激烈举动上落于人后的地方，都仿效了巴黎的样式来设置理智的女神。”[29]{GC 275.2}
§60
This impious and ridiculous mummery had a certain fashion; and the installation of the Goddess of Reason was renewed and imitated throughout the nation, in such places where the inhabitants desired to show themselves equal to all the heights of the Revolution.--Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17. {GC 275.2}[29]
§61
那介绍理智敬拜的发言人曾致辞说：“国会议员们，狂热已经让位给理智了。但它朦胧的眼睛还不能忍受这灿烂的光辉。今天已有无数的人聚集在那伟大的教堂之内，而那教堂也第一次听到了真理的声音。在那里，法国已经举行了唯一的真崇拜——就是对于自由和理智的崇拜。在那里，我们已经祝贺我们共和国的强盛。在那里，我们已经放弃了没有生气的偶像，而代之以理智之神，一个有生命的形象，大自然的杰作。”[30]{GC 275.3}
§62
Said the orator who introduced the worship of Reason: Legislators! Fanaticism has given way to reason. Its bleared eyes could not endure the brilliancy of the light. This day an immense concourse has assembled beneath those gothic vaults, which, for the first time, re-echoed the truth. There the French have celebrated the only true worship,--that of Liberty, that of Reason. There we have formed wishes for the prosperity of the arms of the Republic. There we have abandoned inanimate idols for Reason, for that animated image, the masterpiece of nature.--M. A. Thiers, History of the French Revolution, vol. 2, pp. 370, 371. {GC 275.3}[30]
§63
当这个女神被带到议会会场时，这位发言人的手牵着她的手，向国会说：“世人哪，现在你们不必再畏惧那由你们自己的惧怕而创造出来的上帝所发出没有能力的雷霆了。从今以后，除了理智之外，你们不要承认任何神。我要把理性最高尚最纯洁的神像介绍给你们；如果你们必须要有神像的话，不妨单向这样的一位献祭吧！跪倒在威严的自由之权威面前吧！大哉，理智之神！[31]{GC 276.1}
§64
When the goddess was brought into the Convention, the orator took her by the hand, and turning to the assembly said: Mortals, cease to tremble before the powerless thunders of a God whom your fears have created. Henceforth acknowledge no divinity but Reason. I offer you its noblest and purest image; if you must have idols, sacrifice only to such as this. . . . Fall before the august Senate of Freedom, oh! Veil of Reason! {GC 276.1}[31]
§65
女神与主席拥抱之后，就坐在一辆华贵的车子上，在人山人海之中被带到诺脱尔达摩的大教堂内，去代替上帝。在那里，她升上一座高坛，接受一切在场之人的崇拜。”[32]{GC 276.2}
§66
The goddess, after being embraced by the president, was mounted on a magnificent car, and conducted, amid an immense crowd, to the cathedral of Notre Dame, to take the place of the Deity. There she was elevated on the high altar, and received the adoration of all present.--Alison, vol. 1, ch. 10. {GC 276.2}[32]
§67
这事以后不久，接着就是公开焚烧《圣经》。在一次的集会中，有某“民众团体”进入市政府的大厅，高呼“理智万岁！”他们拿着杠子，杠头上有几本烧掉一半的残书，其中有日祷课，弥撒书和新约《圣经》，主席宣布说：“它们在大火中补赎了它们使人类所犯一切愚妄的罪恶。”[33]{GC 276.3}
§68
This was followed, not long afterward, by the public burning of the Bible. On one occasion the Popular Society of the Museum entered the hall of the municipality, exclaiming, Vive la Raison! and carrying on the top of a pole the half-burned remains of several books, among others breviaries, missals, and the Old and New Testaments, which expiated in a great fire, said the president, all the fooleries which they have made the human race commit.--Journal of Paris, 1793, No. 318. Quoted in Buchez-Roux, Collection of Parliamentary History, vol. 30, pp. 200, 201. {GC 276.3}[33]
§69
罗马教所开始的工作这时由无神主义者来完成了。罗马教的政策已经造成社会、政治和宗教三方面的条件，促使法国到败亡的地步。许多著作家评论大革命的种种恐怖状态说，这些极端的事件理应由国王和教会负责。严格地说来，这些事应完全归咎于教廷。罗马教廷的政策已经在许多君王的心中灌输毒素，使他们反对宗教改革运动，并认为这运动乃是王室的仇敌，又是妨害国家和平与统一的因素。用这种方法去煽动法国的帝王行出最可怕的暴行和最残虐的压迫，乃是罗马的天性。[34]{GC 276.4}
§70
It was popery that had begun the work which atheism was completing. The policy of Rome had wrought out those conditions, social, political, and religious, that were hurrying France on to ruin. Writers, in referring to the horrors of the Revolution, say that these excesses are to be charged upon the throne and the church. (See Appendix.) In strict justice they are to be charged upon the church. Popery had poisoned the minds of kings against the Reformation, as an enemy to the crown, an element of discord that would be fatal to the peace and harmony of the nation. It was the genius of Rome that by this means inspired the direst cruelty and the most galling oppression which proceeded from the throne. {GC 276.4}[34]
§71
自由的精神是与《圣经》相辅并行的。无论何处接受了福音，人心就被唤醒起来。他们就开始挣脱那束缚他们的无知、罪恶和迷信的桎梏。他们的思想行动渐渐恢复有理性之人的作风了。帝王看到这种情形，他们就为自己暴政的前途胆战心惊起来了。[35]{GC 277.1}
§72
The spirit of liberty went with the Bible. Wherever the gospel was received, the minds of the people were awakened. They began to cast off the shackles that had held them bondslaves of ignorance, vice, and superstition. They began to think and act as men. Monarchs saw it and trembled for their despotism. {GC 277.1}[35]
§73
罗马很快就下手煽动他们那出于私心的恐惧心理。一五二五年，教皇曾对法国国王说：“这种疯狂病（指基督改正教）不但要颠覆并破坏宗教，而还要颠覆破坏一切君权、贵族、法律秩序和阶级。”几年之后，一个教皇的使节警告法王说：“陛下不要受欺骗了。基督改正教徒必要推翻一切政治和宗教的秩序。王位和神坛是同样受到威胁的。引进一个新的宗教，势必也要引进一个新的政府。”同时，神学家们还要引起民众的偏见，所以声称基督改正教的道理乃是“诱惑世人倾向新奇和愚昧的事；它要夺取百姓忠顺国王的心，并要摧毁教会和国家。”罗马就这样使法国反对宗教改革运动。“逼迫的剑最先在法国出鞘，乃是为要高举王位，保存贵族，维持法律。”[36]{GC 277.2}
§74
Rome was not slow to inflame their jealous fears. Said the pope to the regent of France in 1525: This mania [Protestantism] will not only confound and destroy religion, but all principalities, nobility, laws, orders, and ranks besides.-- G. de Felice, History of the Protestants of France, b. 1, ch. 2, par. 8. A few years later a papal nuncio warned the king: Sire, be not deceived. The Protestants will upset all civil as well as religious order. . . . The throne is in as much danger as the altar. . . . The introduction of a new religion must necessarily introduce a new government.--DAubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, b. 2, ch. 36. And theologians appealed to the prejudices of the people by declaring that the Protestant doctrine entices men away to novelties and folly; it robs the king of the devoted affection of his subjects, and devastates both church and state. Thus Rome succeeded in arraying France against the Reformation. It was to uphold the throne, preserve the nobles, and maintain the laws, that the sword of persecution was first unsheathed in France.--Wylie, b. 13, ch. 4. {GC 277.2}[36]
§75
当地的执政者一点也没有预料到这足以决定国家命运的政策将有怎样的结果。《圣经》的教训原能灌输公正、节制、真诚、平等和慈爱的原则在人心中，而这些美德正是国家兴盛的基础。“公义使邦国高举。”“国位是靠公义坚立。”（箴14:34；16:12）“公义的果效，必是平安；”其效验“必是平稳，直到永远。”（赛32:17）一个顺从上帝律法的人也必是最真诚尊敬并顺从国家律法的人。一个敬畏上帝的人也必要尊敬那行使一切公正合法权威的君王。但是不幸法国禁止了《圣经》，逼害了它的信徒。一世纪复一世纪，忠于主义，心地正直的人和智力敏捷，道德高尚的人，都有勇气表白自己的信仰，有信心为真理受苦——几百年来这样的人竟被迫服辛劳的奴役，在火刑柱上丧命，或在囚船中憔悴至死。还有成千上万的人流亡在外，以求安全；而且这样的事在宗教改革运动开始之后，竟延续了二百五十年之久。[37]{GC 277.3}
§76
Little did the rulers of the land foresee the results of that fateful policy. The teaching of the Bible would have implanted in the minds and hearts of the people those principles of justice, temperance, truth, equity, and benevolence which are the very cornerstone of a nations prosperity. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Thereby the throne is established. Proverbs 14:34; 16:12. The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect, quietness and assurance forever. Isaiah 32:17. He who obeys the divine law will most truly respect and obey the laws of his country. He who fears God will honor the king in the exercise of all just and legitimate authority. But unhappy France prohibited the Bible and banned its disciples. Century after century, men of principle and integrity, men of intellectual acuteness and moral strength, who had the courage to avow their convictions and the faith to suffer for the truth--for centuries these men toiled as slaves in the galleys, perished at the stake, or rotted in dungeon cells. Thousands upon thousands found safety in flight; and this continued for two hundred and fifty years after the opening of the Reformation. {GC 277.3}[37]
§77
“在那漫长的时期中，没有哪一代的法国人不看到福音的门徒在逼迫他们者的狂怒之下逃命，而把他们的知识、技艺、勤俭和纪律都带走了，况且他们在这几方面都是非常卓越的，他们也就使所逃往避难的各国相当地富强起来。而且他们优美的天才所给予这些国家的贡献使自己的国家受到相同的亏损。如果被驱逐出去的人都能留在法国；如果在这三百年的期间，这些流亡者的农业技术能一直在垦殖她的土地；他们的技艺能一直改进她的工业；他们所有创造的天才和分析问题的能力能一直发展她的文学，并培育她的科学；如果他们的智慧能一直领导她的议会，他们的勇敢能参加她的战争，他们的公正能制定她的法律，而且他们根据《圣经》的信仰能加强她百姓的智力，管理她百姓的良心，则今日的法国将有何等的光荣啊！她将成为何等伟大、繁荣而幸福的国家，足为列国的模范啊！[38]{GC 278.1}
§78
Scarcely was there a generation of Frenchmen during the long period that did not witness the disciples of the gospel fleeing before the insane fury of the persecutor, and carrying with them the intelligence, the arts, the industry, the order, in which, as a rule, they pre-eminently excelled, to enrich the lands in which they found an asylum. And in proportion as they replenished other countries with these good gifts, did they empty their own of them. If all that was now driven away had been retained in France; if, during these three hundred years, the industrial skill of the exiles had been cultivating her soil; if, during these three hundred years, their artistic bent had been improving her manufactures; if, during these three hundred years, their creative genius and analytic power had been enriching her literature and cultivating her science; if their wisdom had been guiding her councils, their bravery fighting her battles, their equity framing her laws, and the religion of the Bible strengthening the intellect and governing the conscience of her people, what a glory would at this day have encompassed France! What a great, prosperous, and happy country--a pattern to the nations--would she have been! {GC 278.1}[38]
§79
“但是一种盲目和固执的偏见竟把每一个宣讲道德的教师，提倡纪律的志士，忠诚维护国家的分子都驱逐出去了；它给那些愿意使国家在地上有‘名望和光荣’的人只有两条可走的路，就是火刑和流亡。于是国家到了完全败亡的地步；再没有争取自由的人可以被剥夺，再没有维持信仰的人可以被拖到火刑场去，再没有爱国的志士可以被放逐了。”其悲的结果就是大革命及其一切恐怖的发展。[39]{GC 279.1}
§80
But a blind and inexorable bigotry chased from her soil every teacher of virtue, every champion of order, every honest defender of the throne; it said to the men who would have made their country a renown and glory in the earth, Choose which you will have, a stake or exile. At last the ruin of the state was complete; there remained no more conscience to be proscribed; no more religion to be dragged to the stake; no more patriotism to be chased into banishment.--Wylie, b. 13, ch. 20. And the Revolution, with all its horrors, was the dire result. {GC 279.1}[39]
§81
“许格诺派的教徒出亡之后，法国就普遍地衰落了。繁荣的工业城市凋零了，肥沃的农村回复到原始的荒野了；一个空前进步的时代，一变而呈现了智力的愚钝，和道德方面的衰颓。巴黎城变成一个庞大的救济院，有人估计在大革命爆发之际，城内足有二十万个乞丐仰赖王家的供给度日。而在这衰微的国家中只有耶稣会最为兴旺，并以可怕的残酷手段管理教会、学校、监狱和奴隶。”[40]{GC 279.2}
§82
With the flight of the Huguenots a general decline settled upon France. Flourishing manufacturing cities fell into decay; fertile districts returned to their native wildness; intellectual dullness and moral declension succeeded a period of unwonted progress. Paris became one vast almshouse, and it is estimated that, at the breaking out of the Revolution, two hundred thousand paupers claimed charity from the hands of the king. The Jesuits alone flourished in the decaying nation, and ruled with dreadful tyranny over churches and schools, the prisons and the galleys. {GC 279.2}[40]
§83
福音原可解决法国政治和社会的许多问题，而这些问题使僧侣，君王和立法者都束手无策，最后使国家到了混乱败亡的地步。但是百姓在罗马教的支配之下已经忘了救主自我牺牲和无私之爱的教训。他们已经离弃了克己和为人造福的习惯。富人压迫穷人，却无人加以谴责；而穷人一直受奴役以至堕落，也无人予以援助。有财有势之人的私心变本加厉。几百年来，贵族的贪得无厌和荒淫无耻，使他们无情地搜括民膏民脂。富人亏待穷人，穷人仇恨富人。[41]{GC 279.3}
§84
The gospel would have brought to France the solution of those political and social problems that baffled the skill of her clergy, her king, and her legislators, and finally plunged the nation into anarchy and ruin. But under the domination of Rome the people had lost the Saviours blessed lessons of self-sacrifice and unselfish love. They had been led away from the practice of self-denial for the good of others. The rich had found no rebuke for their oppression of the poor, the poor no help for their servitude and degradation. The selfishness of the wealthy and powerful grew more and more apparent and oppressive. For centuries the greed and profligacy of the noble resulted in grinding extortion toward the peasant. The rich wronged the poor, and the poor hated the rich. {GC 279.3}[41]
§85
在许多省份里，土地都掌握在贵族手中，劳动人民只能作他们的佃户；他们完全处在地主的掌握之中，不得不屈从地主苛刻的要求。供奉教会和国家的重担多半落在中下阶级的身上，他们必须负担政府和僧侣们所征收的重税。“贵族的意愿就算为无上的律法，农人和乡民纵使饿死，这些压迫他们的人也毫不顾惜。……民众不得不在每一件事上考虑到地主阶级所独享的利益。农民的生活乃是终日不停的劳作，和不得解救的痛苦；如果他们胆敢口出怨言，就要受到蛮横的侮辱。那时的法庭一贯地偏袒贵族；况且贿赂公行；因了这种普遍的腐化制度，贵族阶级的一时高兴就可发挥法律的威力。至于达官贵人和僧侣阶级从平民身上所征收的苛捐杂税，没有一半能缴到国家或主教的财库，都被浪费在荒淫放纵的事上了。这些使同胞日趋贫困的人，自己却得以豁免捐税，而且由于法律或习惯的规定，他们还有权担任国内的许多职位。这些特权阶级约有十五万人，但为要满足他们的欲壑起见，亿万人必须过着没有希望和堕落腐败的生活。”[42]{GC 279.4}
§86
In many provinces the estates were held by the nobles, and the laboring classes were only tenants; they were at the mercy of their landlords and were forced to submit to their exorbitant demands. The burden of supporting both the church and the state fell upon the middle and lower classes, who were heavily taxed by the civil authorities and by the clergy. The pleasure of the nobles was considered the supreme law; the farmers and the peasants might starve, for aught their oppressors cared. . . . The people were compelled at every turn to consult the exclusive interest of the landlord. The lives of the agricultural laborers were lives of incessant work and unrelieved misery; their complaints, if they ever dared to complain, were treated with insolent contempt. The courts of justice would always listen to a noble as against a peasant; bribes were notoriously accepted by the judges; and the merest caprice of the aristocracy had the force of law, by virtue of this system of universal corruption. Of the taxes wrung from the commonalty, by the secular magnates on the one hand, and the clergy on the other, not half ever found its way into the royal or episcopal treasury; the rest was squandered in profligate self-indulgence. And the men who thus impoverished their fellow subjects were themselves exempt from taxation, and entitled by law or custom to all the appointments of the state. The privileged classes numbered a hundred and fifty thousand, and for their gratification millions were condemned to hopeless and degrading lives. (See Appendix.) {GC 279.4}[42]
§87
宫廷之内骄奢淫佚。政府和人民之间，没有多少信任心存在。政府一切的措施都被人民怀疑为当权者专图私利的手段。在大革命爆发之前，路易十五已当政五十余年。就是在那种邪恶的时代中，他还是以一个怠惰、浪费和荒淫的君王著称的。再加上贵族政治的腐败和残虐，下层阶级的贫困无知，国家经济困难，人民怨声载道，人不必有先见之明，就可以看出随时会有可怕的事变爆发。王对于他谋士屡次的警告总是回答说：“你们设法在我活着的期间维持现状吧；到我死后，听其自然好了。”他们虽然竭力恳劝他采取必要的改革，结果都是枉然。他明明看到国内的许多弊病，可是既没有勇气，又没有能力去应付。那行将临到法国的厄运在他那懦弱而自私的回答，“在我死后，大祸必临！”这一句话中，描述得太为准确了。[43]{GC 280.1}
§88
The court was given up to luxury and profligacy. There was little confidence existing between the people and the rulers. Suspicion fastened upon all the measures of the government as designing and selfish. For more than half a century before the time of the Revolution the throne was occupied by Louis XV, who, even in those evil times, was distinguished as an indolent, frivolous, and sensual monarch. With a depraved and cruel aristocracy and an impoverished and ignorant lower class, the state financially embarrassed and the people exasperated, it needed no prophets eye to foresee a terrible impending outbreak. To the warnings of his counselors the king was accustomed to reply: Try to make things go on as long as I am likely to live; after my death it may be as it will. It was in vain that the necessity of reform was urged. He saw the evils, but had neither the courage nor the power to meet them. The doom awaiting France was but too truly pictured in his indolent and selfish answer, After me, the deluge! {GC 280.1}[43]
§89
罗马教曾一贯地鼓励君王和统治阶级的私心，借以影响他们把百姓捆绑在奴役之下，她深知这样作，就必使国家贫弱，所以故意用这方法把统治阶级和人民都紧紧地捆锁在她的奴役之下。由于远见的政策，她看出为要有效地奴役世人，她必须束缚他们的灵性；她又看出阻止他们挣脱枷锁的最好方法，就是使他们不可能得到自由。因此她的政策所造成道德方面的堕落，要比她所给予人肉体方面的痛苦远为可怕。百姓既得不到《圣经》，而又蒙了偏执和自私的教育，就为无知和迷信所蒙蔽，沉溺于罪恶之中，这样他们就完全失去了自治的能力。[44]{GC 281.1}
§90
By working upon the jealousy of the kings and the ruling classes, Rome had influenced them to keep the people in bondage, well knowing that the state would thus be weakened, and purposing by this means to fasten both rulers and people in her thrall. With farsighted policy she perceived that in order to enslave men effectually, the shackles must be bound upon their souls; that the surest way to prevent them from escaping their bondage was to render them incapable of freedom. A thousandfold more terrible than the physical suffering which resulted from her policy, was the moral degradation. Deprived of the Bible, and abandoned to the teachings of bigotry and selfishness, the people were shrouded in ignorance and superstition, and sunken in vice, so that they were wholly unfitted for self-government. {GC 281.1}[44]
§91
但是这一切的结果竟与罗马所打算的大不相同。她的政策非但没有使众人盲目地服从她的教条，结果反而使他们成了无神主义者和革命份子。他们鄙视罗马教为僧侣阶级骗人的勾当。他们看出神父们在压迫他们的事上都是有份的。他们所知道的上帝只有罗马教的上帝；罗马的教义乃是他们唯一的宗教。他们认为她的贪婪和残虐乃是《圣经》的必然结果，因此他们把这些一概都拒绝了。[45]{GC 281.2}
§92
But the outworking of all this was widely different from what Rome had purposed. Instead of holding the masses in a blind submission to her dogmas, her work resulted in making them infidels and revolutionists. Romanism they despised as priestcraft. They beheld the clergy as a party to their oppression. The only god they knew was the god of Rome; her teaching was their only religion. They regarded her greed and cruelty as the legitimate fruit of the Bible, and they would have none of it. {GC 281.2}[45]
§93
罗马过去曾诬蔑上帝的品德，并歪曲他的要求，所以如今人们连《圣经》和上帝都拒绝了。罗马要人盲目地信服她的教条，而这些教条是假借《圣经》的权威为根据的。这种作风所造成的反应使福尔特耳和他的同人把《圣经》完全丢弃了，而在各处散播无神主义的毒素。罗马过去曾把人民压制在她的铁蹄之下；而今那堕落而凶狠的群众既能从她的暴政之下翻过身来，就摆脱了一切的约束。他们因为自己多年受罗马那种金玉其外败絮其中的欺骗而向她致敬，这时便忿怒如狂了，所以他们不管是真理或是谬论，一概都加以拒绝；他们误认放纵为自由，于是一般情欲的奴隶在他们所想象的自由之中欢欣鼓舞了。[46]{GC 281.3}
§94
Rome had misrepresented the character of God and perverted His requirements, and now men rejected both the Bible and its Author. She had required a blind faith in her dogmas, under the pretended sanction of the Scriptures. In the reaction, Voltaire and his associates cast aside Gods word altogether and spread everywhere the poison of infidelity. Rome had ground down the people under her iron heel; and now the masses, degraded and brutalized, in their recoil from her tyranny, cast off all restraint. Enraged at the glittering cheat to which they had so long paid homage, they rejected truth and falsehood together; and mistaking license for liberty, the slaves of vice exulted in their imagined freedom. {GC 281.3}[46]
§95
在大革命初爆发的时候，由于国王的让步，准许革命党人在议会中的席位比贵族和僧侣合起来的席位更多。这样，多数的表决权就落在他们手中；可是他们还没有准备好以智慧和审慎来使用这个权柄。他们一心要报仇雪恨，便决定改组社会。一群暴乱的民众，心中含冤怀恨，决意要推翻他们过去所难以忍受的痛苦局面，并要向那些他们所认为是他们遭难的祸首复仇。这些受过压迫的人实行了他们在暴政之下所学来的教训，这时就成了从前压迫他们之人的压迫者。[47]{GC 282.1}
§96
At the opening of the Revolution, by a concession of the king, the people were granted a representation exceeding that of the nobles and the clergy combined. Thus the balance of power was in their hands; but they were not prepared to use it with wisdom and moderation. Eager to redress the wrongs they had suffered, they determined to undertake the reconstruction of society. An outraged populace, whose minds were filled with bitter and long-treasured memories of wrong, resolved to revolutionize the state of misery that had grown unbearable and to avenge themselves upon those whom they regarded as the authors of their sufferings. The oppressed wrought out the lesson they had learned under tyranny and became the oppressors of those who had oppressed them. {GC 282.1}[47]
§97
可怜的法国在流血之中收获了自己所撒的种子。她屈从罗马统治权的结果是悲惨的。法国受了罗马教的影响，在宗教改革运动开始时所竖立的第一根火刑柱的地点，也就是大革命时设置第一架断头台的地方。在第十六世纪第一批为改正教信仰而殉道者被焚烧的地方，也恰好是第十八世纪的第一批人受断头处分的地点。法国既拒绝了那能救治她的福音，她也就为不信和败亡敞开了门户。在上帝律法的约束被人排斥之后，人就发现人为的律法并不足以遏制人性情欲的狂澜；于是国家在暴乱和无政府的状态之下受摧残了。法国对《圣经》所进行的战争开始了一个新纪元，世界历史中称之为“恐怖时代”。平安和幸福就此从人心和家庭中消灭了。那时没有任何人是安全的。今日的胜利者明日就要被嫌疑，被定罪。强暴和情欲支配了一切，无人敢置一词。[48]{GC 282.2}
§98
Unhappy France reaped in blood the harvest she had sown. Terrible were the results of her submission to the controlling power of Rome. Where France, under the influence of Romanism, had set up the first stake at the opening of the Reformation, there the Revolution set up its first guillotine. On the very spot where the first martyrs to the Protestant faith were burned in the sixteenth century, the first victims were guillotined in the eighteenth. In repelling the gospel, which would have brought her healing, France had opened the door to infidelity and ruin. When the restraints of Gods law were cast aside, it was found that the laws of man were inadequate to hold in check the powerful tides of human passion; and the nation swept on to revolt and anarchy. The war against the Bible inaugurated an era which stands in the worlds history as the Reign of Terror. Peace and happiness were banished from the homes and hearts of men. No one was secure. He who triumphed today was suspected, condemned, tomorrow. Violence and lust held undisputed sway. {GC 282.2}[48]
§99
国王、僧侣、贵族，都被迫屈服于激怒和疯狂的群众的残暴之下。众人渴欲复仇的心理在执行国王死刑之后，只有更为炽烈；而那些判决国王死刑的人不久也随着他到断头台上去了。凡是有反革命之嫌疑的都被杀了。监狱人满，有一度囚犯竟达二十余万之多。国内的许多城市也都充满了恐怖的现象。一派革命党人反对另一派，法国竟成了一个党争的大战场，被他们情欲的狂焰所支配。“巴黎城内暴乱相继，市民分成无数党派，似乎除了彼此消灭之外，没有别的目的。”这时，法国又与欧洲的列强作持久和歼灭性的战争，以致国内的祸患更为惨重。“国家濒于破产，军队要求欠饷群起哗变，巴黎人被饥荒所困，各省盗匪蜂起，大地荒凉，文明几乎因叛乱和荒淫而消灭了。”[49]{GC 283.1}
§100
King, clergy, and nobles were compelled to submit to the atrocities of an excited and maddened people. Their thirst for vengeance was only stimulated by the execution of the king; and those who had decreed his death soon followed him to the scaffold. A general slaughter of all suspected of hostility to the Revolution was determined. The prisons were crowded, at one time containing more than two hundred thousand captives. The cities of the kingdom were filled with scenes of horror. One party of revolutionists was against another party, and France became a vast field for contending masses, swayed by the fury of their passions. In Paris one tumult succeeded another, and the citizens were divided into a medley of factions, that seemed intent on nothing but mutual extermination. And to add to the general misery, the nation became involved in a prolonged and devastating war with the great powers of Europe. The country was nearly bankrupt, the armies were clamoring for arrears of pay, the Parisians were starving, the provinces were laid waste by brigands, and civilization was almost extinguished in anarchy and license. {GC 283.1}[49]
§101
法国人民对于罗马教过去所殷勤教导他们害人的残酷手段，已经学得非常熟练。报应的日子终于来到了。这时他们所下在监狱里，所拖到刑场上去的，不再是耶稣的门徒。这些人早已丧亡或被驱逐出境了。严酷的罗马这时才感觉到那些她所训练出来爱好流血之人的恶毒势力了。“法国的僧侣这么多年所显示逼迫人的榜样，这时却狠狠地反过来报应在他们头上了。断头台被神父们的鲜血染红了。从前挤满了许格诺教徒的监狱和囚船，现在却住满了逼迫他们的人。罗马教神父被捆锁在囚房之内，在囚船之上服苦，就亲身经验了他们的教会所那么随便加在温和的‘叛教徒’身上的一切灾祸了。”[50]{GC 283.2}
§102
All too well the people had learned the lessons of cruelty and torture which Rome had so diligently taught. A day of retribution at last had come. It was not now the disciples of Jesus that were thrust into dungeons and dragged to the stake. Long ago these had perished or been driven into exile. Unsparing Rome now felt the deadly power of those whom she had trained to delight in deeds of blood. The example of persecution which the clergy of France had exhibited for so many ages, was now retorted upon them with signal vigor. The scaffolds ran red with the blood of the priests. The galleys and the prisons, once crowded with Huguenots, were now filled with their persecutors. Chained to the bench and toiling at the oar, the Roman Catholic clergy experienced all those woes which their church had so freely inflicted on the gentle heretics. (See Appendix.) {GC 283.2}[50]
§103
“在那些日子里，世上最野蛮的法庭执行了最野蛮的法律；人若向邻居问安，或是向上帝祷告，就有被处死刑的危险；侦探遍地窥伺；断头机每日早晨开始整天残酷的工作；监狱挤满了人，如同装载奴隶的船舱一样；血流成渠，通到森河去。当满装囚犯的车辆经过巴黎的街道开往刑场时，最高委员会所派到外省的官员则也在肆意残杀，其惨状连首都也从来没有见过。断头台的刀斧起落得太慢了，不足以应付当时所要行使屠杀的工作。因此或用枪弹把一长列的囚犯射击倒地。或用囚船凿沉，使囚奴葬身鱼腹。里昂市变成了一座空城。在阿拉斯城，囚犯求速死而不得。在罗亚尔河流之上，从苏麦到海口，大群乌鸦和枭鸟饱享随流浮入海中的赤裸尸体。那时，对于妇女和老人也丝毫没有怜惜。被那蛮横政府杀害的十七岁的青年男女数以百计。婴孩竟从母亲怀里被抢去，在激进党徒的枪头上互相抛掷以为笑乐。”在短短的十年中，无数的人丧失了性命。[51]{GC 284.1}
§104
Then came those days when the most barbarous of all codes was administered by the most barbarous of all tribunals; when no man could greet his neighbors or say his prayers . . . without danger of committing a capital crime; when spies lurked in every corner; when the guillotine was long and hard at work every morning; when the jails were filled as close as the holds of a slave ship; when the gutters ran foaming with blood into the Seine. . . . While the daily wagonloads of victims were carried to their doom through the streets of Paris, the proconsuls, whom the sovereign committee had sent forth to the departments, reveled in an extravagance of cruelty unknown even in the capital. The knife of the deadly machine rose and fell too slow for their work of slaughter. Long rows of captives were mowed down with grapeshot. Holes were made in the bottom of crowded barges. Lyons was turned into a desert. At Arras even the cruel mercy of a speedy death was denied to the prisoners. All down the Loire, from Saumur to the sea, great flocks of crows and kites feasted on naked corpses, twined together in hideous embraces. No mercy was shown to sex or age. The number of young lads and of girls of seventeen who were murdered by that execrable government, is to be reckoned by hundreds. Babies torn from the breast were tossed from pike to pike along the Jacobin ranks. (See Appendix.) In the short space of ten years, multitudes of human beings perished. {GC 284.1}[51]
§105
这一切正遂撒但所愿。这就是他世世代代努力的方向。他的政策乃是彻头彻尾的欺骗，他那不变的目的乃是使灾祸和患难临到世人，毁损并污秽上帝所造的人类。破坏上帝慈爱的旨意，借此使天庭忧伤。然后他就用欺骗的手段弄瞎了世人的心眼，叫他们把他所作的事怪罪上帝，好像这一切祸患都是创造主之计划的结果。照样，当那些因撒但残酷的手段而堕落变为野兽的人获得自由时，他便要怂恿他们趋于极端和残暴。于是一些专制和暴虐的君主便要指控这无羁荒淫的现象为自由的结果。[52]{GC 284.2}
§106
All this was as Satan would have it. This was what for ages he had been working to secure. His policy is deception from first to last, and his steadfast purpose is to bring woe and wretchedness upon men, to deface and defile the workmanship of God, to mar the divine purposes of benevolence and love, and thus cause grief in heaven. Then by his deceptive arts he blinds the minds of men, and leads them to throw back the blame of his work upon God, as if all this misery were the result of the Creators plan. In like manner, when those who have been degraded and brutalized through his cruel power achieve their freedom, he urges them on to excesses and atrocities. Then this picture of unbridled license is pointed out by tyrants and oppressors as an illustration of the results of liberty. {GC 284.2}[52]
§107
当撒但的一个假面具被揭穿之后，他就要装出另一个假面具，而许多人仍要热烈地加以接受，如同接受头一个假面具一样。当法国人民发现罗马教是一种骗术，以至撒但不能再用这种方式来引诱他们违犯上帝的律法时，他便怂恿他们把一切宗教都看为欺骗，把《圣经》看为神话；而且放弃上帝的律例，这样，他们就沉溺于无羁的罪孽之中了。[53]{GC 285.1}
§108
When error in one garb has been detected, Satan only masks it in a different disguise, and multitudes receive it as eagerly as at the first. When the people found Romanism to be a deception, and he could not through this agency lead them to transgression of Gods law, he urged them to regard all religion as a cheat, and the Bible as a fable; and, casting aside the divine statutes, they gave themselves up to unbridled iniquity. {GC 285.1}[53]
§109
那使法国人民遭受惨祸的大错，乃是因为他们忽略了以下的伟大真理：“甚愿你素来听从我的命令，我的平安就如河水，你的公义就如海浪。”“耶和华说，恶人必不得平安。”“唯有听从我的，必安然居住，得享安静，不怕灾祸。”（赛48:18,22；箴1:33）[54]{GC 285.2}
§110
The fatal error which wrought such woe for the inhabitants of France was the ignoring of this one great truth: that true freedom lies within the proscriptions of the law of God. O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Isaiah 48:18, 22; Proverbs 1:33. {GC 285.2}[54]
§111
无神主义者，非基督教者，和离道叛教的人反对并非难上帝的律法；但是他们影响的结果，证明人类的幸福与顺从上帝的律例是息息相关的。那些不愿从上帝的《圣经》中学得这个教训的人，就要在国家的历史中去体会它了。[55]{GC 285.3}
§112
Atheists, infidels, and apostates oppose and denounce Gods law; but the results of their influence prove that the well-being of man is bound up with his obedience of the divine statutes. Those who will not read the lesson from the book of God are bidden to read it in the history of nations. {GC 285.3}[55]
§113
当撒但利用罗马教会去引诱人悖逆时，他掩盖了自己的工作，伪装了自己的工具，以至其所招致的堕落和灾祸没有显明为犯法的结果。同时他的权势被上帝圣灵的作为所抵制，以致他们宗旨没有完全实现。所以众人还未能根据因果的定律找出他们所遭灾祸的原因。但是在大革命的时候，国家的议会竟公然废除上帝的律法。所以在随之而来的恐怖时代中，众人就可以清楚地看出其中的因果关系了。[56]{GC 285.4}
§114
When Satan wrought through the Roman Church to lead men away from obedience, his agency was concealed, and his work was so disguised that the degradation and misery which resulted were not seen to be the fruit of transgression. And his power was so far counteracted by the working of the Spirit of God that his purposes were prevented from reaching their full fruition. The people did not trace the effect to its cause and discover the source of their miseries. But in the Revolution the law of God was openly set aside by the National Council. And in the Reign of Terror which followed, the working of cause and effect could be seen by all. {GC 285.4}[56]
§115
当法国公开地拒绝上帝，废弃《圣经》时，邪恶的人和黑暗之灵就大为庆喜，因为这就达到他们的夙愿——一个脱离了上帝律法之约束的国家。“因为断定罪名，不立刻施刑，所以世人满心作恶。”（见传8:11）但违犯公义律法的无可避免的结果，必是痛苦和败亡。恶人虽然没有立时受到刑罚，但他们终必造成自己的厄运。几百年的背道和罪恶堆积如山，已到该受报应的日子了；当他们恶贯满盈时，轻慢上帝的人才知道招惹天怒是一件可怕的事，可是已经太晚了。那原来拦阻人犯罪并限制撒但残暴权势的上帝的圣灵这时几乎完全离开了法国，以至那单单欢喜人遭难的撒但得以任意而行。那些从事叛乱的人就不得不自食其果，直到全地充满罪恶，其可怕的程度远非笔墨所能形容。从荒凉的省分和倾覆的城市中传来可怕的哭声——一种极其惨痛的哭声。法国好像因地震一样震动起来了。宗教、律法、社会秩序、家庭、国家和教会——一概都被那一只反抗上帝律法的凶恶的手所扫荡无遗了。智慧人说得不错：“恶人必因自己的恶跌倒。”“罪人虽然作恶百次，倒享长久的年日；然而我准知道，敬畏上帝的，就是在他面前敬畏的人，终久必得福乐。恶人却不得福乐。”他们“恨恶知识，不喜爱敬畏耶和华；”“所以必吃自结的果子，充满自设的计谋。”（箴11:5；传8:12-13；箴1:29-31）[57]{GC 286.1}
§116
When France publicly rejected God and set aside the Bible, wicked men and spirits of darkness exulted in their attainment of the object so long desired--a kingdom free from the restraints of the law of God. Because sentence against an evil work was not speedily executed, therefore the heart of the sons of men was fully set in them to do evil. Ecclesiastes 8:11. But the transgression of a just and righteous law must inevitably result in misery and ruin. Though not visited at once with judgments, the wickedness of men was nevertheless surely working out their doom. Centuries of apostasy and crime had been treasuring up wrath against the day of retribution; and when their iniquity was full, the despisers of God learned too late that it is a fearful thing to have worn out the divine patience. The restraining Spirit of God, which imposes a check upon the cruel power of Satan, was in a great measure removed, and he whose only delight is the wretchedness of men was permitted to work his will. Those who had chosen the service of rebellion were left to reap its fruits until the land was filled with crimes too horrible for pen to trace. From devastated provinces and ruined cities a terrible cry was heard--a cry of bitterest anguish. France was shaken as if by an earthquake. Religion, law, social order, the family, the state, and the church--all were smitten down by the impious hand that had been lifted against the law of God. Truly spoke the wise man: The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him: but it shall not be well with the wicked. Proverbs 11:5; Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13. They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. Proverbs 1:29, 31. {GC 286.1}[57]
§117
“从无底坑里上来”的亵渎上帝政权所杀害的两个见证人不是长久缄默的。“过了这三天半，有生气从上帝那里进入他们里面，他们就站起来；看见他们的人甚是害怕。”（启11:11）法国国会通过取消基督教废除《圣经》的命令是在一七九三年。三年半之后，同一个国会通过了议案取消以前的禁令，这样就准许了《圣经》自由销行。全世界看到由于拒绝《圣经》所造成的滔天大罪不禁惊骇万状，他们也认识到必须信仰上帝和《圣经》为善良和道德的基础。耶和华说：“你辱骂谁，亵渎谁，扬起声来，高举眼目攻击谁呢？乃是攻击以色列的圣者。”“我要使他们知道，就是这一次使他们知道我的手，和我的能力；他们就知道我的名是耶和华了。”（赛37:23；耶16:21）[58]{GC 287.1}
§118
Gods faithful witnesses, slain by the blasphemous power that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, were not long to remain silent. After three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. Revelation 11:11. It was in 1793 that the decrees which abolished the Christian religion and set aside the Bible passed the French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution rescinding these decrees, thus granting toleration to the Scriptures, was adopted by the same body. The world stood aghast at the enormity of guilt which had resulted from a rejection of the Sacred Oracles, and men recognized the necessity of faith in God and His word as the foundation of virtue and morality. Saith the Lord: Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel, Isaiah 37:23. Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is Jehovah. Jeremiah 16:21, A.R.V. {GC 287.1}[58]
§119
关于这两个见证人，先知又说：“两位先知听见有大声音从天上来，对他们说，上到这里来。他们就驾着云上了天；他们的仇敌也看见了。”（启11:12）自从法国向上帝的两个见证人作战之后，《圣经》已经得了空前的尊荣。一八零四年，大英圣书公会成立了。接着有类似的组织和无数分会遍设于欧洲大陆。一八一六年，美国圣书公会也成立了。当大英圣书公会组成时，《圣经》已用五十种方言印行，现在则已译成四百多种方言了。[59]{GC 287.2}
§120
Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. Revelation 11:12. Since France made war upon Gods two witnesses, they have been honored as never before. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized. This was followed by similar organizations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of Europe. In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded. When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been translated into many hundreds of languages and dialects. (See Appendix.) {GC 287.2}[59]
§121
在一七九二年之前半世纪，教会很少注意国外布道的工作；也没有组织什么新的布道团体，只有少数教会在异教之地作过宣传基督教的努力。但是到了十八世纪末叶，景况就大为改变了。世人不满于唯理主义的影响，而看出自己需要上帝的启示和实践的宗教。从这时以后，国外布道的工作有了空前的进展。[60]{GC 287.3}
§122
For the fifty years preceding 1792, little attention was given to the work of foreign missions. No new societies were formed, and there were but few churches that made any effort for the spread of Christianity in heathen lands. But toward the close of the eighteenth century a great change took place. Men became dissatisfied with the results of rationalism and realized the necessity of divine revelation and experimental religion. From this time the work of foreign missions attained an unprecedented growth. (See Appendix.) {GC 287.3}[60]
§123
印刷术的改良大大加强了销行《圣经》的工作。各国之间交通事业的进步，古老的成见和闭关自守之藩篱的打破，罗马教皇之失去政治的权势，这种种因素都为上帝的话打开了门户，使之得以进入各国。好几年工夫，《圣经》得以在罗马城的街道上自由推销，不受禁止；如今得已销行到地球上一切人迹所到之处了。[61]{GC 288.1}
§124
The improvements in printing have given an impetus to the work of circulating the Bible. The increased facilities for communication between different countries, the breaking down of ancient barriers of prejudice and national exclusiveness, and the loss of secular power by the pontiff of Rome have opened the way for the entrance of the word of God. For some years the Bible has been sold without restraint in the streets of Rome, and it has now been carried to every part of the habitable globe. {GC 288.1}[61]
§125
无神主义者福尔特耳有一次夸口说：“我常听人说十二个人设立了基督教，我已经听厌了。我要证明，一个人就足以推翻它。”他死后已经一个世纪了，而且后来还有千万人起来与《圣经》作战。但《圣经》非但没有被毁灭，反而普遍销行，以至在福尔特耳的时候只有一百本《圣经》的地方，现在已经有一万本，甚至于十万本。早期的一位宗教改革家论到基督教会这样说：“《圣经》是一个铁砧，已经消耗了许多锤子。”耶和华说：“凡为攻击你造成的器械，必不利用；凡在审判时兴起用舌攻击你的，你必定他为有罪。”（赛54:17）[62]{GC 288.2}
§126
The infidel Voltaire once boastingly said: I am weary of hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Christian religion. I will prove that one man may suffice to overthrow it. Generations have passed since his death. Millions have joined in the war upon the Bible. But it is so far from being destroyed, that where there were a hundred in Voltaires time, there are now ten thousand, yes, a hundred thousand copies of the book of God. In the words of an early Reformer concerning the Christian church, The Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers. Saith the Lord: No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. Isaiah 54:17. {GC 288.2}[62]
§127
“唯有我们上帝的话，必永远立定。”（赛40:8）“他的训词都是确实的；是永永远远坚定的；是按诚实正直设立的。”（诗111:7-8）凡建立在人的权威之上的事物，都必倾覆；但那建立在上帝不变之道的磐石上的，必坚立直到永远。[63]{GC 288.3}
§128
The word of our God shall stand forever. All His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. Isaiah 40:8; Psalm 111:7, 8. Whatever is built upon the authority of man will be overthrown; but that which is founded upon the rock of Gods immutable word shall stand forever. {GC 288.3}[63]