The "Age of Reason" was just another cover for a small group of people seeking to gain control over a nation. This was clearly a forerunner to the same tactics that would be used in Russia to end the royal family's reign there and institute another atheistic controlling government that robbed and subjugated the people for the gain of a few. And I rear we haven't seen the end of violent revolutions engineered by a hidden elite, as it seems many more are now on the horizon....
"Reason is God," said the leaders of the French Revolution. But
people are so unreasonable that the revolutionary leader, Robespierre,
soon realized that reason makes a weak God. He became afraid that
without belief in some powerful being like the Judeo-Christian God,
morals would collapse. Then where would the Republic be? Strong nations
need strong virtues.
On this day, May 7, 1794, the Committee of
Public Safety, which controlled France, decreed worship of a Supreme
Being. This was not the God of the Bible, who enters into personal
relationships with men, but a Deist god. Eighteenth-century Deism taught
that God created the universe but did not interfere in its operation.
According to the Deists, their god could be discovered through natural
law and his existence was an inspiration to moral behavior.
That June, Robespierre organized a festival of the Supreme Being. At
that festival it was proclaimed, "The day forever fortunate has arrived,
which the French people have consecrated to the Supreme Being. Never has
the world which he created offered to him a spectacle so worthy of his
notice. He has seen reigning on the earth tyranny, crime, and imposture.
He sees at this moment a whole nation, grappling with all the
oppressions of the human race, suspend the course of its heroic labors
to elevate its thoughts and vows toward the great Being who has given it
the mission it has undertaken and the strength to accomplish it.
"Is it not he whose immortal hand, engraving on the heart of man the
code of justice and equality, has written there the death sentence of
tyrants? Is it not he who, from the beginning of time, decreed for all
the ages and for all peoples liberty, good faith, and justice?" *
Fearful of further bouts of terror, the revolutionary Committee
engineered Robespierre's downfall and execution. The blade of the
guillotine was soon stained with his own blood.
* Note: while Christians recognize God as the Supreme Being (a term
not used in the Scripture), they also know Him by the more humane name
"Father."
Bibliography:
- Aulard, François Victor Alphonse. Christianity and the
French Revolution; Translated by Lady Frazer. New York: H. Fertig,
1966.
- ----------------------The French Revolution; a political
history, 1789 - 1804; Translated from the French of the 3d ed.,
with a pref., notes, and historical summary, by Bernard Miall. New York:
Russell & Russell, 1965.
- "French Revolution." Modern History Sourcebook.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook13.html
- "Maximillian Robespierre on the Festival of the Supreme
Being." The History Place; Great Speeches Collection.
http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/robespierre.htm
Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/french-revolution-cult-of-supreme-being-11630325.html
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