Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
By J. S.
VERSE 38. But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. We meet a seeming contradiction in this verse. How can a nation disregard every god, and yet honor the god of forces? It could not at one and the same time hold both these positions. But it might for a time disregard all gods, and then subsequently introduce another worship and regard the god of forces. Did such a change occur in France at this time? It did. The attempt to make France a godless nation produced such anarchy that the rulers feared the power would pass entirely out of their hands, and therefore perceived that, as a political necessity, some kind of worship must be introduced; and they did not intend to introduce any movement which would increase devotion or develop any true spiritual character among the people, but only such as would keep themselves in power, and give them control of the national forces. A few extracts from history will show this. Liberty and country were at first the objects of adoration. “Liberty, equality, virtue, and morality,” the very opposite of anything they possessed in fact or exhibited in practice, were words which they set forth as describing the deity of the nation. In introducing the worship of Reason, in 1794, Chaumette said:— “Legislative fanaticism has lost its hold; it has given place to reason. We have left its temples; they are regenerated. To-day an immense multitude are assembled under its Gothic roofs, which, for the first time, will re-echo the voice of truth. There the French will celebrate their true worship—that of Liberty and Reason. There we will form new vows for the prosperity of the armies of the Republic; there we will abandon the worship of inanimate idols for that of reason—this animated image, the masterpiece of creation. “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. — Fall before the august Senate of Freedom—Vail of Reason. “At the same time the goddess appeared personified by a celebrated beauty, Madame Millard, of the opera, known in more than one character to most of the Convention. 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 Dame, to take the place of the Deity. Then she was elevated on the high altar, and received the adoration of all present. “On the 11th of November, 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-burnt remains of several books, among others the breviaries 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.’ “The most sacred relations of life were at the same period placed on a new footing suited to the extravagant ideas of the times. Marriage was declared a civil contract, binding only during the pleasure of the contracting parties. Mademoiselle Arnault, a celebrated comedian, expressed the public feeling when she called ‘marriage the sacrament of adultery.’”—Ibid. Truly this was a strange god, whom the fathers of that generation knew not. No such deity had ever before been set up as an object of adoration. And well might it be called the god of forces; for the object of the movement was to cause the people to renew their covenant and repeat their vows for the prosperity of the armies of France. Read again a few lines from the extract already given:— “We have left its temples; they are regenerated. To-day an immense multitude are assembled under its Gothic roofs, which, for the first time, will re-echo the voice of truth. There the French will celebrate their true worship—that of Liberty and Reason. There we will form new vows for the prosperity of the armies of the Republic.” Verse 39. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain. The system of paganism which had been introduced into France, as exemplified in the worship of the idol set up in the person of the goddess of Reason, and regulated by a heathen ritual which had been enacted by the National Assembly for the use of the French people, continued in force till the appointment of Napoleon to the provisional consulate of France in 1799. The adherents of this strange religion occupied the fortified places, the strongholds, of the nation, as expressed in this verse. But that which serves to identify the application of this prophecy to France, perhaps as clearly as any other particular, is the statement made in the last clause of the verse, namely, that they should “divide the land for gain.” Previous to the revolution, the landed property of France was owned by a few landlords in immense estates. These estates were required by the law to remain undivided so that no heirs or creditors could partition them. But revolution knows no law; and in the anarchy that now reigned, as noted also in the eleventh of Revelation, the titles of the nobility were abolished, and their lands disposed of in small parcels for the benefit of the public exchequer. The government was in need of funds, and these large landed estates were confiscated and sold at auction, in parcels to suit purchasers. The historian thus records this unique transaction:— “The confiscation of two-thirds of the landed property of the kingdom, which arose from the decrees of the Convention against the emigrants, clergy, and persons convicted at the Revolutionary Tribunals, — placed funds worth above £700,000,000 sterling at the disposal of the government.”—Alison, Vol. iv, p. 151. When did ever an event transpire, and in what country, fulfilling a prophecy more completely than this? As the nation began to come to itself, a more rational religion was demanded, and the heathen ritual was abolished. The historian thus describes that event:— “A third and bolder measure was the discarding of the heathen ritual, and re-opening the churches for Christian worship; and of this the credit was wholly Napoleon’s, who had to contend with the philosophic prejudices of almost all his colleagues. He, in his conversations with them, made no attempts to represent himself a believer in Christianity, but stood only on the necessity of providing the people with the regular means of worship, wherever it is meant to have a state of tranquillity. The priests who chose to take the oath of fidelity to the government were re-admitted to their functions ; and this wise measure was followed by the adherence of not less than 20,000 of these ministers of religion, who had hitherto languished in the prisons of France.”—Lockhart’s Life of Napoleon, Vol. i, p. 154. Thus terminated the reign of terror and the infidel revolution. Out of its ruins rose Bonaparte, to guide the tumult to his own elevation, place himself at the head of the French government, and strike terror to the hearts of nations.