Source Book for Bible Students

“F” Entries

Falling Stars, of 1833, Professor Olmsted’s Description.—The morning of November 13, 1833, was rendered memorable by an exhibition of the phenomenon called shooting stars, which was probably more extensive and magnificent than any similar one hitherto recorded.... Probably no celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with so much admiration and delight by one class of spectators, or with so much astonishment and fear by another class. For some time after the occurrence, the “meteoric phenomenon” was the principal topic of conversation in every circle.—Denison Olmsted, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Yale College, in the American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. XXV (1834), pp. 363, 364. SBBS 162.4

Falling Stars, of 1833, Most Remarkable on Record.—The most remarkable one ever observed.—“Astronomy for Everybody,” Simon Newcomb, LL. D., p. 280. SBBS 162.5

Falling Stars, of 1833, Estimate of Numbers.—The Boston observer, Olmsted, compared them, at the moment of maximum, to half the number of flakes which we perceive in the air during an ordinary shower of snow.—“Popular Astronomy,” Flammarion and Gore, p. 536. SBBS 162.6

Falling Stars, of 1833, as Seen in Missouri.—Though there was no moon, when we first beheld them, their brilliancy was so great that we could, at times, read common-sized print without much difficulty, and the light which they afforded was much whiter than that of the moon, in the clearest and coldest night, when the ground is covered with snow. The air itself, the face of the earth, as far as we could behold it,-all the surrounding objects, and the very countenances of men, wore the aspect and hue of death, occasioned by the continued, pallid glare of these countless meteors, which in all their grandeur flamed “lawless through the sky.” There was a grand, peculiar, and indescribable gloom on all around, an awe-inspiring sublimity on all above; while SBBS 162.7

“the sanguine flood
Rolled a broad slaughter o’er the plains of heaven,
AndNature’s self did seem to totter on the brink of time!” SBBS 162.8

... There was scarcely a space in the firmament which was not filled at every instant with these falling stars, nor on it, could you in general perceive any particular difference in appearance; still at times they would shower down in groups-calling to mind the “fig tree, casting her untimely figs when shaken by a mighty wind.”-Letter from Bowling Green, Missouri, to Professor Silliman, in American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. XXV (1834), p. 382. SBBS 163.1

Falling Stars, of 1833, Attention of World’s Astronomers Attracted by.—The attention of astronomers in Europe, and all over the world, was, as may be imagined, strongly roused by intelligence of this celestial display on the Western continent.—“The Gallery of Nature,” Rev. Thomas Milner, F. R. G. S., p. 141. London: 1852. SBBS 163.2

Falling Stars, of 1833, A Tempest of Stars.—On the night of November 12-13, 1833, a tempest of falling stars broke over the earth. North America bore the brunt of its pelting. From the Gulf of Mexico to Halifax, until daylight with some difficulty put an end to the display, the sky was scored in every direction with shining tracks and illuminated with majestic fireballs.—“History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century,” Agnes M. Clerke, p. 328. London, 1902. SBBS 163.3

Falling Stars, Shower of 1833 Awakens Interest in the Study of Meteors.—Once for all, then, as the result of the star fall of 1833, the study of luminous meteors became an integral part of astronomy.—Id., p. 329. SBBS 163.4

Falling Stars, of 1833, London Scientist on Prophetic Picture.—In many districts, the mass of the population were terror-struck, and the more enlightened were awed at contemplating so vivid a picture of the apocalyptic image-that of the stars of heaven falling to the earth, even as a fig tree casting her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.—“The Gallery of Nature,” Rev. Thomas Milner, F. R. G. S., p. 140. London, 1852. SBBS 163.5

Falling Stars, of 1833, “Fell Like Flakes of Snow.”—In the words of most, they fell like flakes of snow.—Dr. Humphreys, President St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland, in American Journal of Science, Vol. XXV (1834), p. 372. SBBS 163.6

Falling Stars, of 1833, The Prophetic Description Fulfilled.—And how did they fall? Neither myself nor one of the family heard any report; and were I to hunt through nature for a simile, I could not find one so apt to illustrate the appearance of the heavens as that which St. John uses in the prophecy, before quoted. “It rained fire!” says one. Another, “It was like a shower of fire.” Another, “It was like the large flakes of falling snow before a coming storm, or large drops of rain before a shower.” SBBS 163.7

I admit the fitness of these for common accuracy; but they come far short of the accuracy of the figure used by the prophet. “The stars of heaven fell unto the earth;” they were not sheets, or flakes, or drops of fire; but they were what the world understands by the name of “Falling Stars;” and one speaking to his fellow in the midst of the scene would say, “See how the stars fall;” and he who heard, would not pause to correct the astronomy of the speaker, any more than he would reply, “The sun does not move,” to one who should tell him, “The sun is rising.” SBBS 163.8

The stars fell “even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Here is the exactness of the prophet. SBBS 163.9

The falling stars did not come as if from several trees shaken, but from one. Those which appeared in the east fell toward the east; those which appeared in the north fell toward the north; those which appeared in the west fell toward the west; and those which appeared in the south (for I went out of my residence into the park) fell toward the south; and they fell, not as the ripe fruit falls; far from it; but they flew, they were cast, like the unripe fig, which at first refuses to leave the branch; and when it does break its hold, flies swiftly, straight off, descending; and in the multitude falling, some cross the track of others, as they are thrown with more or less force. SBBS 164.1

Such was the appearance of the above phenomenon to the inmates of my house. I walked into the park with two gentlemen of Pearl Street, feeling and confessing that this scene had never been figured to our minds by any book or mortal, save only by the prophet.—A correspondent in the New York Journal of Commerce, Vol. VIII, No. 534, Saturday Morning, Nov. 14, 1833. SBBS 164.2

Falling Stars, of 1833, Like Shower of Fire.—In any direction, the scene could not be compared more aptly to anything than a distant shower of fire, whose particles were falling sparsely to the earth. Frequently one larger and more luminous than the rest would shoot across the heavens, producing a flash like vivid lightning. Towards the approach of daylight the sky began to be obscured with clouds, and these substances appeared less frequent, but did not disappear till long after the light of the morning had arisen, and were seen as long as stars were visible.—New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette (semiweekly), Vol. I, No. 104; Concord, Saturday, Nov. 16, 1833. (State Library.) SBBS 164.3

Falling Stars, The Sign Anticipated in 1697.—The last sign we shall take notice of, is that of “falling stars.” “And the stars shall fall from heaven,” says our Saviour. Matthew 24:29. We are sure, from the nature of the thing, that this cannot be understood either of fixed stars or planets; for if either of these should tumble from the skies and reach the earth, they would break it all in pieces, or swallow it up, as the sea does a sinking ship; and at the same time would put all the inferior universe into confusion. It is necessary, therefore, by these stars, to understand either fiery meteors falling from the middle region of the air, or comets and blazing stars. No doubt there will be all sorts of fiery meteors at that time; and amongst others, those which are called falling stars; which, though they are not considerable singly, yet if they were multiplied in great numbers, falling, as the prophet says, as leaves from the vine, or leaves from the fig tree, they would make on astonishing sight.—“Sacred Theory of the Earth,” Dr. Thomas Burnett, book 3, p. 66, 3rd edition, 1697. SBBS 164.4

Falling Stars, of 1833, Seen as Sign of Second Advent.—I witnessed this gorgeous spectacle, and was awestruck. The air seemed filled with bright descending messengers from the sky. It was about daybreak when I saw this sublime scene. It was not without the suggestion at that moment that it might be the harbinger of the coming of the Son of man; and in my state of mind I was prepared to hail him as my friend and deliverer. I had read that the stars should fall from heaven, and they were now falling: I was suffering much in my mind, and I was beginning to look away to heaven for the rest denied me on earth.—“My Bondage and My Freedom,” Frederick A. Douglass. SBBS 164.5

Falling Stars, of 1833, Regarded as Forerunner of Last Day.—We pronounce the raining fire which we saw on Wednesday morning last an awful type, a sure forerunner, a merciful sign, of that great and dreadful day which the inhabitants of the earth will witness when the sixth seal shall be opened. SBBS 164.6

That time is just at hand described not only in the New Testament but in the Old; and a more correct picture of a fig tree casting its leaves when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to behold. SBBS 165.1

Many things now occurring upon the earth tend to convince us that we are in the “latter days.” This exhibition we deem to be a type of an awful day fast hurrying upon us. This is our sincere opinion; and what we think, we are not ashamed to tell.—“The Old Countryman,” New York, printed in the New York Star and quoted in the Portland Evening Advertiser, Nov. 26, 1833. (Portland Public Library.) SBBS 165.2

Falling Stars, of 1833, Regarded as Sign of End by Many.—Scientific study of the orbits of shooting stars began after the occurrence of the most brilliant meteoric shower on record,-that of November 13, 1833. This spectacle, which excited the greatest interest among all beholders, and was looked upon with consternation by the ignorant, many of whom thought that the end of the world had come, was witnessed generally throughout North America, which happened to be the part of the earth facing the meteoric storm. Hundreds of thousands of shooting stars fell in the course of two or three hours. Some observers compared their number to the flakes of a snowstorm, or to the raindrops in a shower.—The Encyclopedia Americana, art. “Meteors or Shooting Stars.” New York: The American Company, 1903. SBBS 165.3

Falling Stars, of 1833, Inspired Reflections on the Creator’s Care.—Had they held on their course unabated for three seconds longer, half a continent must, to all appearance, have been involved in unheard-of calamity. But that almighty Being who made the world, and knew its dangers, gave it also its armature, endowing the atmospheric medium around it with protecting, no less than with life-sustaining properties.... SBBS 165.4

Considered as one of the rare and wonderful displays of the Creator’s preserving care, as well as the terrible magnitude and power of his agencies, it is not meet that such occurrences as those of November 13 should leave no more solid and permanent effect upon the human mind than the impression of a splendid scene.—Prof. Alexander C. Twining, Civil Engineer, Late Tutor in Yale College, in American Journal of Science, Vol. XXVI (1834), p. 351. SBBS 165.5

Falling Stars, The Display of 1833 Incomparably the Greatest.—Probably the most remarkable of all the meteoric showers that have ever occurred was that of the Leonids, on the [night following] November 12, 1833. The number at some stations was estimated as high as 200,000 an hour for five or six hours. “The sky was as full of them as it ever is of snowflakes in a storm,” and, as an old lady described it, looked “like a gigantic umbrella.” [page 469] ... SBBS 165.6

In 1864 Professor Newton of New Haven showed by an examination of the old records that there had been a number of great meteoric showers in November, at intervals of thirty-three or thirty-four years, and he predicted confidently a repetition of the shower on November 13 or 14, 1866. The shower occurred as predicted, and was observed in Europe: and it was followed by another in 1867, which was visible in America, the meteoric swarm being extended in so long a procession as to require more than two years to cross the earth’s orbit. Neither of these showers, however, was equal to the shower of 1833. The researches of Newton, supplemented by those of Adams, the discoverer of Neptune, showed that the swarm moves in a long ellipse with a thirty-three-year period. SBBS 165.7

A return of the shower was expected in 1899 or 1900, but failed to appear, though on November 14-15, 1898, a considerable number of meteors were seen, and in the early morning of November 14-15, 1901, a well-marked shower occurred, visible over the whole extent of the United States, but best seen west of the Mississippi, and especially on the Pacific Coast. At a number of stations several hundred Leonids were observed by eye or by photography, and the total number that fell must be estimated by tens of thousands. The display, however, seems to have nowhere rivaled the showers of 1866-67, and these were not to be compared with that of 1833.—“Manual of Astronomy,” Charles A. Young, Ph. D., LL. D., Professor of Astronomy in Princeton University, pp. 469, 471, 472. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1902. SBBS 166.1

Falling Stars, of 1833, Observed in Nova Scotia.—The meteoric phenomenon witnessed in this country on the 13th instant, was also seen at Halifax the same morning. Many persons rose from their beds supposing there was a fire near their dwellings.—Portland Evening Advertiser, Nov. 27, 1833. (Portland Public Library.) SBBS 166.2

Falling Stars, of 1833, Seen in United States, Mexico, and West Indies.—The year 1833 is memorable for the most magnificent display [of falling meteors] on record. This was on the same night of November [13] also, and was visible over all the United States, and over a part of Mexico, and the West India Islands. Together with the smaller shooting stars, which fell like snowflakes and produced phosphorescent lines along their course, there were intermingled large fireballs, which darted forth at intervals, describing in a few seconds an arc of 30 or 40 degrees. SBBS 166.3

These left behind luminous trains, which remained in view several minutes, and sometimes half an hour or more. One of them seen in North Carolina appeared of larger size and greater brilliancy than the moon. Some of the luminous bodies were of irregular form, and remained stationary for a considerable time, emitting streams of light. SBBS 166.4

At Niagara the exhibition was especially brilliant, and probably no spectacle so terribly grand and sublime was ever before beheld by man as that of the firmament descending in fiery torrents over the dark and roaring cataract.—The American Cyclopedia, art. “Meteor.” New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1881. SBBS 166.5

Falling Stars, of 1866, in England.—In the night between Tuesday and yesterday, they who chose to watch and were not discouraged by the doubts of astronomers, were rewarded with a spectacle which cannot be imagined or forgotten. First one meteor then another shot across the sky. Then they appeared faster than he (the spectator) could count them. Some struck the sight like sparks from a forge everywhere at once, some to fall over trees and houses, bright to the last, but with the ruddy hues of the lower atmosphere. Look where we would, it was the same. The heavens seemed alive with this unwonted host. SBBS 166.6

There were times when it seemed as if a mighty wind had caught the old stars, loosed them from their holdings, and swept them across the firmament. The Olympian [Jove] himself might have been supposed on his throne launching his bolts against an offending or forgetful world.... All this may account for the little thought given to what is really a most startling and most awful phenomenon.... But science, which dispels so many terrors and proves so many appearances, illusions, and nothing more, does not do so in this instance.—London Times, Nov. 15 [Thursday], 1866. SBBS 166.7

Falling Stars, of 1866, in North England.—As it seems to us people have been a good deal taken by surprise. The apparition has been far out of the common range of ideas.... It is little more than a century since the principles of modern astronomical science were brought to bear on this subject. All this may naturally account for the little expectation or little thought given to what is really a most startling and most awful phenomenon. There will, however, be no more of this ignorance or indifference, for nobody who saw well what was to be seen the other night will forget this impression should he live to the next return.—Manchester Guardian, Nov. 15, 1866. SBBS 167.1

Falling Stars, The 1866 Display Slight in Comparison with 1833.—I shall never forget that night. On the memorable evening I was engaged in my usual duty at that time of observing nebulae with Lord Rosse’s great reflecting telescope. I was of course aware that a shower of meteors had been predicted, but nothing that I had heard prepared me for the splendid spectacle so soon to be unfolded. It was about ten o’clock at night when an exclamation from an attendant by my side made me look up from the telescope just in time to see a fine meteor dash across the sky. It was presently followed by another, and then again by more in twos and in threes, which showed that the prediction of a great shower was likely to be verified. At this time the Earl of Rosse (then Lord Oxmantown) joined me at the telescope. There for the next two or three hours we witnessed a spectacle which can never fade from my memory. The shooting stars gradually increased in number until sometimes several were seen at once.... It would be impossible to say how many thousands of meteors were seen, each one of which was bright enough to have elicited a note of admiration on any ordinary night.—“Story of the Heavens,” Sir Robert Ball, pp. 379, 380. London, 1900. SBBS 167.2

Falling Stars, The 1866 Display in Syria.—On the morning of the fourteenth [November, 1866, at Beirut, Syria], at three o’clock, I was roused from a deep sleep by the voice of one of the young men calling, “The stars are all coming down.” ... The meteors poured down like a rain of fire. Many of them were large and varicolored, and left behind them a long train of fire. One immense green meteor came down over Lebanon, seeming as large as the moon, and exploded with a large noise, leaving a green pillar of light in its train. It was vain to attempt to count them, and the display continued until dawn, when their light was obscured by the king of day.... The Mohammedans gave the call to prayer from the minarets, and the common people were in terror.—“Fifty-three Years in Syria,” H. H. Jessup, D. D., Vol. I, pp. 316, 317. SBBS 167.3

Falling Stars, Predictions of, for 1899, Failed.—The great November shower, which is coming once more in this century, and which every reader may hope to see toward 1899, is of particular interest to us as the first whose movements were subject to analysis.—“New Astronomy” (1888), Prof. S. P. Langley, p. 196. SBBS 167.4

The meteors of November 13 may be expected to reappear with great brilliancy in 1899.—“Chambers’ Astronomy” (1889), Vol. I, p. 635. SBBS 167.5

We can no longer count upon the Leonids [as the meteorites of 1833 were called, because they seemed to fall from a point in the constellation of Leo]. Their glory, for scenic purposes, is departed.—“History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century,” Agnes M. Clerke, p. 338. London, 1902. SBBS 168.1

False Christs.—See Jerusalem, 258. SBBS 168.2

False Decretals.—See Isidorian Decretals. SBBS 168.3

“Father of His Country.”—See Papacy, Builders of, Innocent III, 353. SBBS 168.4

Fathers, An Estimate of.—The preceding account of the Fathers of the second and third centuries may enable us to form some idea of the value of these writers as ecclesiastical authorities. Most of them had reached maturity before they embraced the faith of the gospel, so that, with a few exceptions, they wanted the advantages of an early Christian education. Some of them, before their conversion, had bestowed much time and attention on the barren speculations of the pagan philosophers; and, after their reception into the bosom of the church, they still continued to pursue the same unprofitable studies. Cyprian, one of the most eloquent of these Fathers, had been baptized only about two years before he was elected Bishop of Carthage; and, during his comparatively short episcopate, he was generally in a turmoil of excitement, and had, consequently, little leisure for reading or mental cultivation. Such a writer is not entitled to command confidence as an expositor of the faith once delivered to the saints. Even in our own day, with all the facilities supplied by printing for the rapid accumulation of knowledge, no one would expect much spiritual instruction from an author who would undertake the office of an interpreter of Scripture two years after his conversion from heathenism. The Fathers of the second and third centuries were not regarded as safe guides even by their Christian contemporaries.... Tertullian, who, in point of learning, vigor, and genius, stands at the head of the Latin writers of this period, was connected with a party of gloomy fanatics. Origen, the most voluminous and erudite of the Greek Fathers, was excommunicated as a heretic. If we estimate these authors as they were appreciated by the early Church of Rome, we must pronounce their writings of little value. Tertullian, as a Montanist, was under the ban of the Roman Bishop. Hippolytus could not have been a favorite with either Zephyrinus or Callistus, for he denounced both as heretics. Origen was treated by the Roman Church as a man under sentence of excommunication. Stephen deemed even Cyprian unworthy of his ecclesiastical fellowship, because the Carthaginian prelate maintained the propriety of rebaptizing heretics. SBBS 168.5

Nothing can be more unsatisfactory, or rather childish, than the explanations of Holy Writ sometimes given by these ancient expositors. According to Tertullian, the two sparrows mentioned in the New Testament signify the soul and the body; and Clemens Alexandrinus gravely pleads for marriage from the promise, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Cyprian produces, as an argument in support of the doctrine of the Trinity, that the Jews observed “the third, sixth, and ninth hours” as their “fixed and lawful seasons for prayer.” Origen represents the heavenly bodies as literally engaged in acts of devotion. If these authorities are to be credited, the Gihon, one of the rivers of Paradise, was no other than the Nile. Very few of the Fathers of this period were acquainted with Hebrew, so that, as a class, they were miserably qualified for the interpretation of the Scriptures. Even Origen himself must have had a very imperfect knowledge of the language of the 0ld Testament. In consequence of their literary deficiencies, the Fathers of the second and third centuries occasionally commit the most ridiculous blunders. Thus, Irenaus tells us that the name “Jesus” in Hebrew consists of two letters and a half, and describes it as signifying “that Lord who contains heaven and earth”! This Father asserts also that the Hebrew word Adonai, or the I ord, denotes “utterable and wonderful.” Clemens Alexandrinus is not more successful as an interpreter of the sacred tongue of the chosen people; for he asserts that Jacob was called Israel “because he had seen the Lord God,” and he avers that Abraham means “the elect father of a sound”!-“The Ancient Church,” Dr. William D. Killen, period 2, sec. 2, chap. 1, pars. 33, 34. London: James Nisbet & Co., 1883. SBBS 168.6

Fathers, Bad Masters in Morals.—To us it appears that their writings contain many things excellent, well considered, and well calculated to enkindle pious emotions; but also many things unduly rigorous, and derived from the stoic and academic philosophy; many things vague and indeterminate; and many things positively false, and inconsistent with the precepts of Christ. If one deserves the title of a bad master in morals, who has no just ideas of the proper boundaries and limitations of Christian duties, nor clear and distinct conceptions of the different virtues and vices, nor a perception of those general principles to which recurrence should be had in all discussions respecting Christian virtue, and therefore very often talks at random, and blunders in expounding the divine laws; though he may say many excellent things, and excite in us considerable emotion; then I can readily admit that in strict truth this title belongs to many of the Fathers.—“Ecclesiastical History,” John Laurence von Mosheim, D. D., book 1, cent. 2, part 2, chap. 3, sec. 10. SBBS 169.1

Fathers, Unreliability of.—There are but few of them [the Fathers] whose pages are not rife with errors,-errors of method, errors of fact, errors of history, of grammar, and even of doctrine. This is the language of simple truth, not of slighting disparagement.—“The History of Interpretation,” Archdeacon F. W. Farrar, D. D., pp. 162, 163. SBBS 169.2

Without deep learning, without linguistic knowledge, without literary culture, without any final principles either as to the nature of the Sacred Writings or the method by which they should be interpreted,-surrounded by paganism, Judaism, and heresy of every description, and wholly dependent on a faulty translation,-the earliest Fathers and apologists add little or nothing to our understanding of Scripture.... Their acquaintance with the Old Testament is incorrect, popular, and full of mistakes; their Scriptural arguments are often baseless; their exegesis-novel in application only-is a chaos of elements unconsciously borrowed on the one hand from Philo, and on the other from Rabbis and Kabbalists. They claim “a grace” of exposition, which is not justified by the results they offer, and they suppose themselves to be in possession of a Christian Gnosis, of which the specimens offered are for the most part entirely untenable.—Id., pp. 164, 165. SBBS 169.3

Fathers, Writings of, Unworthy of Confidence.—The writings of the so-called Apostolic Fathers have unhappily, for the most part, come down to us in a condition very little worthy of confidence, partly because under the name of these men. so highly venerated in the church, writings were early forged for the purpose of giving authority to particular opinions or principles; and partly because their own writings which were extant, became interpolated in subservience to a Jewish hierarchical interest, which aimed to crush the free spirit of the gospel.—“General History of the Christian Religion and Church,” Dr. Augustus Neander, Vol. I, Appendix, Sec. 4, “Notices of the More Eminent Church Teachers,” p. 657. Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1854. SBBS 169.4

Fathers, Writings of, Interpolated and Forged.—The resources of medieval learning were too slender to preserve an authentic record of the growth and settlement of Catholic doctrine. Many writings of the Fathers were interpolated; others were unknown, and spurious matter was accepted in their place. Books bearing venerable names-Clement, Dionysius, Isidore-were forged for the purpose of supplying authorities for opinions that lacked the sanction of antiquity.—“The History of Freedom,” John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton (R. C.), p. 513. London: Macmillan & Co., 1909. SBBS 170.1

Fathers, Adam Clarke on.—But of these [the Fathers] we may safely state, that there is not a truth in the most orthodox creed that cannot be proved by their auhority, nor a heresy that has disgraced the Romish Church, that may not challenge them as its abettors. In points of doctrine, their authority is, with me, nothing. The Word of God alone contains my creed. On a number of points I can go to the Greek and Latin Fathers of the church, to know what they believed, and what the people of their respective communions believed; but after all this I must return to God’s Word, to know what he would have me to believe.—Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. III, p. 725, general observations on Proverbs 8. New York: Phillips and Hunt. SBBS 170.2

Fathers, Early Christian.—See Antichrist, 32, 33; Babylon, 61, 62; Baptism, 67; Idolatry, 218; Infallibility, 247; Papacy, 342; Purgatory, 404. SBBS 170.3

Federation, “Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America.”—The Federal Council was organized as the chief consummation of the National Federation of Churches at its first meeting, held in Philadelphia, Dec. 2-8, 1908. It is the delegated congress of thirty leading Christian bodies which are constitutionally federated for the purpose of providing this congress, through which to realize their fellowship and united action. The Federal Council, through its commissions and secretaries, seeks to organize efficient State and local federations, to secure co-operation in home missionary work, and to promote moral reform and social service by the churches throughout the United States.—The World Almanac, 1917, p. 593. SBBS 170.4

Federation, “American Federation of Catholic Societies.”—The American Federation of Catholic Societies was founded in 1901. It is composed of thirty-four national organizations, many State and county federations and parishes. Total membership about 3,000,000. Its objects are the cementing of the bonds of fraternal union among the Catholic laity, and the fostering and protection of Catholic interests.—Ibid. SBBS 170.5

Federal Council.—See Federation. SBBS 170.6

Feudalism, Fall of.—See Two Witnesses, 577. SBBS 170.7

Finland, Sabbath Keeping in.—See Sabbath, 468. SBBS 170.8

Forgeries of the Sixth Century.—Some other records have fabricated at Rome in the same barbarous Latin, such as the Gesta Liberii, designed to confirm the legend of Constantine’s baptism at Rome, and to represent Pope Liberius as purified from his heresy by repentance, and graced by a divine miracle. Of the same stamp were the Gesta of Pope Sixtus III and the History of Polychronius, where the Pope is accused, but the condemnation of his accuser follows, as also of the accuser of the fabulous Polychronius, bishop of Jerusalem. These fabrications of the beginning of the sixth century, which all belong to the same class, had a reference also to the attitude of Rome towards the church of Constantinople.—“The Pope and the Council,” Janus (Dr. J. J. Döllinger [R. C.], p. 124. London: Rivingtons, 1869. SBBS 170.9

Forgeries, The Sardican and Nicene Canons.—The conduct of the popes since Innocent I and Zosimus, in constantly quoting the Sardican Canon on appeals as a canon of Nice, cannot be exactly ascribed to conscious fraud-the arrangement of their collection of canons misled them. There was more deliberate purpose in inserting in the Roman manuscript of the sixth Nicene canon, “The Roman Church always had the primacy,” of which there is no syllable in the original,-a fraud exposed at the Council of Chalcedon, to the confusion of the Roman legates, by reading the original.—Id., pp. 122, 123. SBBS 171.1

Forgeries, Interpolating St. Cyprian.—Towards the end of the sixth century a fabrication was undertaken in Rome, the full effect of which did not appear till long afterwards. The famous passage in St. Cyprian’s book on the Unity of the Church was adorned, in Pope Pelagius II’s letter to the Istrian bishops, with such additions as the Roman pretensions required. St. Cyprian said that all the apostles had received from Christ equal power and authority with Peter, and this was too glaring a contradiction of the theory set up since the time of Gelasius. So the following words were interpolated: “The primacy was given to Peter to show the unity of the church and of the chair. How can he believe himself to be in the church who forsakes the chair of Peter, on which the church is built?”-Id., p. 127. SBBS 171.2

Forgeries, Donation of Constantine.—After the middle of the eighth century, the famous Donation of Constantine was concocted at Rome. It is based on the earlier fifth-century legend of his cure from leprosy, and baptism by Pope Silvester, which is repeated at length, and the emperor is said, out of gratitude, to have bestowed Italy and the western provinces on the Pope, and also to have made many regulations about the honorary prerogatives and dress of the Roman clergy. The Pope is, moreover, represented as lord and master of all bishops, and having authority over the four great thrones of Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. SBBS 171.3

The forgery betrayed its Roman authorship in every line; it is self-evident that a cleric of the Lateran Church was the composer.—Id., pp. 131, 132. SBBS 171.4

Donatio Constantini.-By this name is understood, since the end of the Middle Ages, a forged document of Emperor Constantine the Great, by which large privileges and rich possessions were conferred on the Pope and the Roman Church. In the oldest known (ninth century) manuscript (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, MS. Latin 2777) and in many other manuscripts the document bears the title: “Constitutum Domni Constantini Imperatoris.” ... This document is without doubt a forgery, fabricated somewhere between the years 750 and 850.—The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, art. “Donation,” pp. 118, 119. SBBS 171.5

Forgeries, Gratian’s Work.—The corruption of the thirty-sixth canon of the ecumenical council of 692 is Gratian’s own doing. It renewed the canon of Chalcedon (451), which gave the Patriarch of New Rome, or Constantinople, equal rights with the Roman Patriarch. Gratian, by a change of two words, gives it a precisely opposite sense, and suppresses the reference to the canon of Chalcedon. He also reduces the five patriarchs to four; for the ancient equality of position of the Roman Bishop and the four chief bishops of the East was now to disappear, though even the Gregorians, as, e. g., Anselm, had treated him as one of the patriarchs.—“The Pope and the Council,” Janus (J. J. Döllinger [R. C.]), pp. 144, 145. London: Rivingtons, 1869. SBBS 171.6

Forgeries, A Canon Changed.—The canon of the African Synod,-that immovable stumblingblock of all papalists,-which forbids any appeal beyond the seas. i. e., to Rome, Gratian adapted to the service of the new system by an addition which made the synod affirm precisely what it denies. If Isidore undertook by his fabrications to annul the old law forbidding bishops being moved from one see to another, Gratian, following Anselm and Cardinal Gregory, improved on this by a fresh forgery, appropriating to the Pope alone the right of translation.—Id., pp. 146, 147. SBBS 172.1

Forgeries, St. Cyprian’s Treatise.—The reader may have remarked that I gave the most beautiful extract of Cyprian’s treatise “On the Unity of the Church” according to the Oxford translation. I did so in order to leave out the shameful Roman interpolations of the same passage. The words interpolated are well known: SBBS 172.2

“He builds His church upon that one [Peter], and to him intrusts his sheep to be fed. ... SBBS 172.3

“He established one chair and ... SBBS 172.4

“And primacy is given to Peter, that one church of Christ and one chair may be pointed out; and all are pastors and one flock is shown, to be fed by all the apostles with one-hearted accord. SBBS 172.5

“He who deserts the chair of Peter, on which the church was founded, does he trust that he is in the church?” SBBS 172.6

Now, the words in italics are spurious. “The history of their interpolation,” says Archbishop Benson, “may be distinctly traced even now, and it is as singular as their controversial importance has been unmeasured. Their insertion in the pages of De Unitate Ecclesia [On the Unity of the Church] is a forgery which has deceived an army of scholars and caused the allegiance of unwilling thousands to Rome.—“The Primitive Church and the Primacy of Rome,” Prof. Giorgio Bartoli, pp. 88, 89. New York: Hodder and Stoughton. SBBS 172.7

I do not mention here the attempts that have been made to find a trace of the interpolated passages in the writings of Prudentius, Ambrose, and Augustine, because they all failed miserably. The interpolation, therefore, is certain, and is admitted now by all scholars, Catholic as well as Protestant, although in most Roman seminaries this is still simply ignored.—Id., p. 93. SBBS 172.8

Forgeries, Prevalence of, in Early Centuries.—In the history of the rise and gradual development of the papal claims the historian must never lose sight of a force which was for centuries at work in favor of the Papacy, i. e., the falsifications and interpolations of passages in the books of the ancient Fathers, or in the acts and canons of the councils, in order to defend or promote the interests, the dignity, and the grandeur of the Roman see. It is true these frauds do not explain by themselves the gradual development of the exaggerated claims of the Papacy, but no historian of independent judgment and learning will ever be able to deny that those frauds helped, to a great extent, the growth of the papal claims, and contributed very largely to their being recognized as of divine appointment. SBBS 172.9

For instance, the Roman theologians for centuries appealed to the false decretals and to the interpolated text of St. Cyprian’s De Unitate Ecclesia as to authentic documents witnessing to the belief of the universal church with regard to the Papacy, and the learned never dared call in question such momentous evidences, though on other and reasonable grounds well inclined to do so. Yet the false decretals and Cyprian’s interpolated passages were shameless fabrications. SBBS 173.1

As a matter of fact, as Rufinus in his book, “De Adulteratione Librorum Origenis,” rightly remarks, it was pretty common in the early centuries of the church [and, we may add, all through the Middle Ages till the invention of the press], to corrupt the writings of the great ecclesiastical writers, forging new books or passages, altering the genuine ones, adding to them explanatory phrases, correcting what they believed to be misspellings of ignorant amanuenses, or mistranslations, as the case may be, suppressing this or that, reducing this text to a more orthodox tenor, and the like. Thus, says he, were corrupted and interpolated the writings of Tertullian, of St. Hilary, of St. Cyprian, and above all, of Origen.”-Id., pp. 104-106. SBBS 173.2

Forgeries. -See Fathers; Infallibility, 247; Isidorian Decretals; Papacy, 350. SBBS 173.3

Fox Sisters.—See Spiritualism, 529. SBBS 173.4

Franks.—See Rome, 438, 443; Ten Kingdoms; 552-556. SBBS 173.5

French Revolution, Its Era a Turning-Point in History.—The French Revolution is the most important event in the life of modern Europe.... It brought on the stage of human affairs forces which have molded the thoughts ana actions of men ever since, and have taken a permanent place among the formative influences of civilization.—“Cambridge Modern History,” Vol. VIII, chap. 25, p. 754. SBBS 173.6

Note.—As the time of Justinian, in the sixth century, when the Papacy rose to supremacy, was a turning-point between ancient and medieval history, so the events of the French Revolution stamp the time when the 1260 years of papal supremacy came to a close as a turning-point in modern history. The close of the prophetic period of tribulation marked the opening of the time of the end. Daniel 11:35. The extracts given deal only with phases of the Revolution suggested by the prophecy of Daniel 11:36-39.—Eds. SBBS 173.7

French Revolution, Early Recognized as a Time of Fulfilling Prophecy.—The French Revolution-peculiar in its aspect-had not made much progress before many began to suspect that that great and finishing scene of God’s judgments was disclosing, of which the Scripture prophecies speak so much; and in which are to be overthrown all those antichristian systems, civil and ecclesiastical, which have so long been opposed to genuine Christianity.—“The Signs of the Times,” J. Bicheno, M. A., Preface to 6th edition, written May 2, 1808, p. iv. London: J. Adlard, 1808. SBBS 173.8

History nowhere informs us of any event so extraordinary as the late Revolution in France. If viewed on all sides, with its attending circumstances by an attentive and unprejudiced eye, it must surely excite the greatest astonishment; and those who have been used to unite in their minds the providence of God with human occurrences, ... cannot help inquiring. Is this from men, or is it from God?-Id., Advertisement to first edition, dated Jan. 19, 1793, p. 3, following Preface. SBBS 173.9

French Revolution, Atheistic Spirit of Times.—As we advance toward the latter end of the eighteenth century, we may observe yet greater activity on the part of the infidel faction and a yet more distinctly evident development of what had now become the characteristic spirit of a period.—“The Sacred Calendar of Prophecy,” G. S. Faber, Prebendary of Salisbury, book 3, chap. 4. London, 1844 (first edition, 1828). SBBS 174.1

Daniel [11th chapter] had described his fourth period as a period of daring unbelief and of presumptuous defiance hurled against the Omnipotent himself; and he had chronologically arranged it as succeeding a prior period of superstitious intolerance and persecution. The event has shown the accuracy of his prediction: for the spirit of the Age of Reason, which has succeeded to the spirit of the Age of Intolerance, is the identical spirit of the prophetic period now under our special consideration.—Ibid. SBBS 174.2

When I was myself in France in the year 1774, I saw sufficient reason to believe that hardly a person of eminence in church or state, and especially in the least degree eminent in philosophy or literature, ... were believers in Christianity.... One of the very best men in the country assured me very gravely that (paying me a compliment) I was the first person he had ever met with, of whose understanding he had any opinion, that pretended to believe Christianity. To this all the company assented. And not only were the philosophers and other leading men of France, at that time, unbelievers in Christianity or deists; but they were even atheists, denying the being of a God.—Dr. Joseph Priestly, quoted in “The Sacred Calendar of Prophecy,” G. S. Faber, book 3, chap. 4. SBBS 174.3

French Revolution, Aimed to Dethrone Deity.—Having massacred the great of the present, and insulted the illustrious of former ages, nothing remained to the Revolutionists but to direct their fury against Heaven itself. Pache, Hébert, and Chaumette, the leaders of the municipality, publicly expressed their determination “to dethrone the King of heaven, as well as the monarchs of the earth.” To accomplish this design, they prevailed on Gobel, the apostate constitutional bishop of Paris, to appear at the bar of the Convention [Nov. 7, 1793] accompanied by some of the clergy of his diocese, and there abjure the Christian faith. That base prelate declared, “that no other national religion was now required but that of liberty, equality, and morality.” ⁹ Many of the constitutional bishops and clergy in the Convention joined in the proposition.... SBBS 174.4

Shortly after, a still more indecent exhibition took place before the Convention. Hébert, Chaumette, and their associates appeared at the bar [November 10] and declared that “God did not exist, and that the worship of Reason was to be substituted in his stead.” ... A veiled female, arrayed in blue drapery, was brought into the Convention; and Chaumette, taking her by the hand-“Mortals,” said he, “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.” Then, letting fall the veil, he exclaimed, “Fall before the august Senate of Freedom, Veil of Reason!” At the same time the goddess appeared, personified by a celebrated beauty, Madame Maillard of the opera, known in more than one character to most of the Convention. SBBS 174.5

The goddess, after being embraced by the president, was mounted on a magnificent car, and conducted, amidst an immense crowd, to the cathedral of Notre Dâme, to take the place of the Deity.—“History of Europe,” Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., F. R. S. E., 9th edition, chap. 14, pars. 45, 46 (Vol. III, pp. 21, 22). Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1854. SBBS 175.1

French Revolution, The Worship of “Reason.”—Infidelity and atheism reigned supreme. The National Convention abolished the Sabbath, and the leaders of the Paris Commune declared that they intended “to dethrone the King of heaven as well as the monarchs of the earth.” Finally, November 10, 1793, the leaders of the Paris Commune-Hébert, Chaumette, Momoro, and the Prussian Anacharsis Clootz-prevailed upon the National Convention to decree the abolition of the Christian religion in France and the substitution of the worship of Reason instead. Momoro’s young and beautiful but prostitute wife, who had been a dancer, personated the Goddess of Reason; and as such she was enthroned on the high altar of the Cathedral of Notre Dâme and worshiped by the members of the National Convention and the Paris Commune. SBBS 175.2

Gobel, the constitutional bishop of Paris, and several other ecclesiastics were compelled publicly to apostatize from Roman Catholic Christianity and to accept the new worship of Reason.—“Library of Universal History,” Vol. VIII, p. 2612. New York: Union Book Company, 1900. SBBS 175.3

French Revolution, The Solitary Instance.—For the first time in the annals of mankind, a great nation had thrown off all religious principle, and openly defied the power of Heaven itself.—“History of Europe,” Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., F. R. S. E., 9th edition, chap. 15, par. 24 (Vol. III, pp. 69, 70). Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1854. SBBS 175.4

French Revolution, No Parallel in Its Defiance of Deity.—If we search the annals of the world, we shall not find even a private society or sect, much less civil community and state, which, before our day, has in the most public manner proclaimed to all nations around it that there is no God, and made that position the basis of the constitution of its government: but in our day we not only read of it, but see it with our eyes; and that in a manner so perfectly consonant with all its various prophetic marks that the unprejudiced infidel (if there be such a being) cannot mistake it.—“Brief Commentaries on Prophecies Referring to the Present Time,” Joseph Galloway. London, 1802.* SBBS 175.5

French Revolution, Formal Retraction of Atheism.—On the eighteenth Floréal (7th May) [1794], Robespierre induced the Convention to decree its belief in a Supreme Being and in the immortality of the soul. On the twentieth Prairial (8th June), he celebrated, in one of the strangest pageants of history, the festival of the new Deity in France. Arrayed in a brilliant uniform, and carrying a bouquet of flowers and corn sheaves, Robespierre marched at the head of a procession out of the Champ de Mars, burned the symbols of Atheism and Vice, and inaugurated the new religion. “Here,” he cried, “is the Universe assembled. O Nature, how sublime, how exquisite thy power!”-“The French Revolution,” Charles Edward Mallet, p. 258. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900. SBBS 175.6

French Revolution, Regarding No God, yet Honoring a “Strange” God.—Rejecting alike both the true God of Scripture and the imaginary gods of the old mythology, he should, toward the latter, entertain no respect or religious devotion. From the worship of Jehovah he should atheistically apostatize; but his apostasy should not lead him back to the long abrogated paganism of his fathers-“The Sacred Calendar of Prophecy,” G. S. Faber, Prebendary of Salisbury, book 3, chap. 4. London, 1844. SBBS 176.1

Had the king adored his foreign god, really believing in the divinity of that god, as the old idolaters devoutly believed in the actual deity of their hero gods, he would not have fulfilled the prophecy: because it declares that the king should not regard any god, but that he should magnify himself above all. Yet if he had not adored a god unknown to his fathers in some manner, whatever that manner might be, he would equally have failed in accomplishing the prophecy: because it declares that he could worship a god thus described.... With an open profession of atheism in his mouth, and with a direct attack upon all religion in his practice, he has adored a foreign deity unknown to his fathers, whom he nevertheless disbelieved to be a deity: and he has thus worshiped a god of his own, without regarding any god.—Ibid. SBBS 176.2

French Revolution, Regarding Not the “Desire of Women.”—Nothing can be more evident than that the “desire of women” is something homogeneous with the God of gods and the gods of his fathers and every god. The whole connected clause descends from a general to particulars, employing those particulars to establish the general.... Hence it is obvious, unless the rules of just composition be entirely violated, that the “desire of women,” like the “God of gods” and the “gods of his fathers” must be subincluded in the generalizing phrase “every god.” ... “Unto the gods of his fathers, he shall have no respect; and unto the desire of women, and unto every god, he shall have no respect.” Such a collocation, I think, compels us to suppose that the “desire of women” is a god of some description or other, whether true or false.... The same verb of negation, “he shall have no respect,” is alike applied to all the three particulars, “the gods of his fathers,” and “the desire of women,” and “every god,” thus clearly pointing out and determining their homogenity; the whole sentence is wound up by a sweeping declaration: “For above all, he shall magnify himself.” ... SBBS 176.3

If, then, the “desire of women” be thus plainly determined, by the whole context under every aspect, to be something homogeneous with “the God of gods” and “the gods of his fathers” and “every god:” then, assuredly, “the desire of women” must be, not only a person real or imaginary, but likewise a person who is the object of religious worship.... SBBS 176.4

They who interpret the phrase as relating to monastic and clerical celibacy, take for granted that it means “the desire to have women;” but unfortunately for this system of exposition, the phrase is incapable of bearing any such signification. According to the Hebrew idiom, “the desire of women” denotes, not the desire to have women, but that which women desire to have. Nor, I believe, can a single exception to this mode of interpreting the phrase be discovered throughout the whole of the ancient Scriptures.... SBBS 176.5

I conclude, both from the plain requirement of the context and from the invariable use of a very common Hebrew idiom, that by the “desire of women,” we must understand some person who was eminently desired by women, and who is also an object of religious adoration.... The person whom Daniel styles the “desire of women,” is he whom Haggai subsequently called the “Desire of all nations.” ... SBBS 177.1

The original annunciation of the promised Seed was delivered exclusively to Eve. It was her seed, not Adam’s, that was to bruise the serpent’s head. To the advent of this Seed she impatiently looked forward; and such was her eager desire that, upon the birth of her first child, forgetting that Cain was Adam’s seed no less than her own, she joyfully exclaimed: “I have gotten the man, even Jehovah his very self.”-Ibid. SBBS 177.2

Note.—Mr. Faber cites the following illustrative texts: 1 Samuel 9:20; 23:20; Psalm 10:3; 21:2; 102:10.—Eds. SBBS 177.3

French Revolution, The God of Forces.—The god of fortresses is the personification of war, and the thought is this: he will regard no other god but only war; the taking of fortresses he will make his god; and he will worship this god above all the means of his gaining the world power. Of this god, war as the object of deification, it might be said that his fathers knew nothing, because no other king had made war his religion, his god to whom he offered up in sacrifice all gold, silver, precious stones, jewels.—“Commentary on the Book of Daniel,” Johann F. K. Keil, p. 466. (Clarke’s “Foreign Theological Library,” Vol. XXXIV.) Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. SBBS 177.4

French Revolution, A New Thing in the Massing of Armed Forces.—a. d. 1793. The Republic began. It declared that death was an eternal sleep; that Christianity was an imposture; and that there was no God! SBBS 177.5

In the same year it became military, raised the nation in arms by the Levée en Masse, and declared hostilities against Europe. Its civil and foreign wars, under both the republican and imperial governments, were marked by slaughter exceeding all within memory.—“The Apocalypse of St. John,” Rev. George Croly, A. M., p. 89, 2nd edition. London: C. & J. Rivington, 1828. SBBS 177.6

French Revolution, Worship of Power.—He [Napoleon] is himself “the Genius of Power,” as he has allowed himself to be called by his servile flatterers, and he worships the god of war. We have the following declaration, in his speech to the Council of Ancients, on the 10th of November, 1799: “I have always followed the God of War, and Fortune and the God of War are with me.”-“Combined View of the Prophecies of Daniel, Esdras, and St. John,” James Hatley Frere, Esq., p. 467. London, 1815. SBBS 177.7

French Revolution, Worship of the God of Forces.—France was decimated for her cruelty; for twenty years the flower of her youth was marched away by a relentless power to the harvest of death; the snows of Russia revenged the guillotine of Paris. Allured by the phantom of military glory, they fell down and worshiped the power which was consuming them.—“History of Europe,” Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., F. R. S. E., chap. 19, par. 72 (Vol. III, p. 245), 9th edition. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1854. SBBS 177.8

French Revolution, Gold, and Silver, and All Wealth for War.—The extraordinary movement which agitated France gave them good grounds for hoping that they might succeed in raising the whole male population for its defense, and that thus a much greater body might be brought into the field than the allies could possibly assemble for its subjugation. The magnitude of the expense was to them a matter of no consequence. The estates of the emigrants [the wealthy who had fled] afforded a vast and increasing fund, which greatly exceeded the amount of the public debt; while the unlimited issues of assignats, at whatever rate of discount they might pass, amply provided for all the present or probable wants of the treasury. Nor did these hopes prove fallacious; for such was the misery produced in France by the stoppage of all pacific employment consequent on the Revolution, and such the terror produced by the Jacobin clubs and democratic municipalities in the interior, that the armies were filled without difficulty, and the republic derived additional external strength from the very intensity of its internal suffering.—“History of Europe,” Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., F. R. S. E., chap. 11, par. 12 (Vol. II, p. 204), 9th edition. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1853. SBBS 178.1

French Revolution, Beginning of Modern World War.—Over foreign countries, the military renown of France streamed like a comet, inspiring universal dread and distrust; and while it rendered indispensable similar preparations for resistance, it seemed as if peace had departed from the earth forever, and that its destinies were hereafter to be disposed of according to the law of brutal force alone.—“Life of Napoleon,” Sir Walter Scott, Vol. VI, p. 116; cited in “The Signs of the Times,” Rev. Alexander Keith, Vol. II, p. 204, 3rd edition. Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1833. SBBS 178.2

French Revolution, Inauguration of Universal War.—Such is a detailed account of the causes that led to this great and universal war, which speedily embraced all the quarters of the globe, continued, with short interruptions, for more than twenty years, led to the occupation of almost all the capitals in continental Europe by foreign armies, and finally brought the Cossacks and the Tartars to the French metropolis. We shall search in vain in any former age of the world for a contest conducted on so gigantic a scale.—“History of Europe,” Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., F. R. S. E., chap. 9, par. 125 (Vol. II, p. 166), 9th edition. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1853. SBBS 178.3

French Revolution, The “Monomania of Military Glory.”—The Revolution of 1830 was, in fact, but the accomplishment of that of 1789. It was the result of a struggle spread over the vicissitudes of forty years. From her first effort to win her freedom, the attention of France was called away by foreign hostilities in 1792; then came the despotism of anarchy; then successive warlike triumphs; and then, as their natural consequence, the monomania of military glory. The dazzling tyranny of Napoleon had its fascination even for the many; and in the grandeur of his name, its mischievous influence was too much forgotten.—From a paper, “Three Days in Paris,” in the Revolution of July 27-29, 1830; in the Westminster Review (London), Oct. 1, 1830. SBBS 178.4

French Revolution, Pursuit of “Glory.”—The influence of events was gradually creating an esprit militaire; ... that saw in war the life of the state, the glory, the future of France.... The Convention, it is true, had set aside revolutionary propagandism; but it had substituted a more dangerous doctrine, the invasion of an enemy’s country, as an act of duty and justice, for the affranchisement of lands which, according to its own declaration, were national.... SBBS 179.1

The army was dominating the republic; ... it was, in fact, the nation, and in it lay the patriotism, the enthusiasm, the genius of France. The army, not the Directory, represented the real feeling of France from 1795 to 1799. The logic of events was pushing to the front a system based on military discipline, unity, and obedience, controlled by a single mind, and organized for a single purpose,-the glory of France. In the master of such a system lay the real power in France, and such a master was Napoleon Bonaparte.—“Historical Development of Modern Europe,” C. M. Andrews, Vol. I, pp. 33, 34. SBBS 179.2

French Revolution, “Dividing the Land.”—June 5 [1793] Decree of the French National Convention. SBBS 179.3

Article I. The common lands shall be divided amongst the inhabitants, per head, without exception of age or sex, absent as well as present. SBBS 179.4

Art. II. Landholders not inhabiting that country have no right to any share. SBBS 179.5

Art. III. Every French citizen who inhabited the commune a twelvemonth before the promulgation of the law of the 14th of August, 1792, or who shall not have been a year absent from that commune for the purpose of settling in another, shall enjoy the right of an inhabitant, and be entitled to a share. SBBS 179.6

Art. IV. All farmers, servants of farmers, and other servants, and agents of citizens, are entitled to a share, provided they have the qualifications required to be reputed inhabitants. SBBS 179.7

Art. V. Every citizen is looked upon as an inhabitant in the place where he has a habitation, and consequently is entitled to a share. SBBS 179.8

Art. VI. Fathers and mothers shall enjoy the shares of their children until they have attained their fourteenth year. SBBS 179.9

Art. VII. Guardians and others who are intrusted with the care of orphans shall carefully watch over the preservation of the share which will become the property of the child under their care.—“Annual Register for 1793,” sec. “Political State of Europe.” London. SBBS 179.10

French Revolution, the Temporal Power of the Pope Overthrown.—One feature of Napoleon’s Italian campaign had not been satisfactory to the Directory. He had spared the Pope. This circumstance made the states of the church a kind of nucleus for all the adherents of the old system in Italy. It was judged necessary that this nest of malcontents should be broken up, and to this end General Berthier was ordered to march on Rome. The people of that ancient metropolis had caught the infection of liberty, and refused to support the Holy Father and his party. Berthier was welcomed as the deliverer of Italy. The Roman Republic was proclaimed [Feb. 15, 1798]. The papal [temporal] power was overthrown, and Pope Pius VI retired to the convent of Siena. After a year he was taken to Briancon in the Alps, where he was imprisoned. At last, with the next change which ensued in the government of Paris, he was permitted to leave this frozen region and take up his residence at Valence, where he died in August of 1799. SBBS 179.11

The republican soldiers were little disposed, when they captured the Eternal City, to spare its treasures or revere its priestly symbols. The personal property of the Pope was sold by auction. The robes of the priests and cardinals, rich in gold lace, were burned that the gold might be gathered from the ashes. The churches of Rome were pillaged, and a carnival of violence ensued which General Berthier was unable to control. The Romans revolted, and attempted to expel their deliverers; but General Masséna, who was sent out to supersede Berthier, put down the insurrection in blood.—“History of the World,” John Clark Ridpath, LL. D., Vol. VI (9 vol. ed.), pp. 685, 686. Cincinnati, Ohio: The Jones Brothers Publishing Company, 1910. SBBS 179.12

French Revolution.—See Advent Movement, 16; Increase of Knowledge. 222; Jerusalem, 262; Papal Supremacy, 358, 363-369; Two Witnesses, 572-578. SBBS 180.1