The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

at the sl~ndow of npproaching dissolutio~i-t11rouf;h thetroublc jn li'mncc. 3Iodieval Fra~lce besought God forhealing, and for tlic time was delivcrcd, but ultimatelycame to its end-the shado~r. of the nearing cnd wasset back for tell years, from 1780 to 1799.France IVRS prophetically cdlcd the tenth part of thecity-of the illen l~~li~lg po\trc~.s of civilizztion.. A tenthpart pictorially rcp~~csents the whole; for as ten spbolizesthe ~vhole, so does a tenth. Thus thc tithe of theHebrew pictured the dcdicdion of his all, and typifiedthe entire consecration of all by tllc antitypical spirihalJew, the true Christian.The Lord foretold the Frc~lch RRvolutioa in thesewords : "And the same hour there was a great earthqualie[shaking of, the social order, re.volutioi~], and thetent11 part [France] of ihe city [the rcligio-politicalrvorld] fell.,, (Rc~lcl ation 11 : 13) The sickly dismay ofthc entire Papal-Protestant-business-political alliallcc ofthat day is poitrayed in the remainder of tlic utteranceirol~l the. lips 01 the l3cvclat;or: "The remnant wereaffrlgltcd." (Revelation 11: 13) As put by Brother12nesel1, "Thcir [the revol~~tionists'] Gotl-dishonoringaud heaven-defying 1)-ork filecl lknce with such scenesof bloodJ mrnn,rrc. and llorror, as made even the iniidelsthen~clves trc~nltle, anrl sti~~~d aghast."-G 179.Just as Uc~~liiah had cried unto God for succor (2Kings 20: 3), so thc llcvclator prophesied wlrat thenon1lna.l Christian rulers ~voulcl do : "The rcnluant. . .gave glory to ihc God of hcnvcii." (I%eveIation 11: 13)An identifying phrase is ntltlcd to the pnssagcJ fixing itupon the c~cnt : '!&l\nd by thc ealtllqualrc [revolution]mere destropc: seven thousand names of men." (Revelation11 : 13, Diaglott;) In fulfillment, in that dis-tracted countl-y: "France nlade warJ in her revolution,. . . on all titles of nobility. It is said by thosc whohaw esaminql French recorrls, that just sevcll thousandtitlcs of nien werc abolished in that 1.evolution.-Smitll."-C 179.The French Itevolution began July 14, 17'89, withthe stormiug of the d~*cadful~'o~d dilngeon, the Bastile,in wvhicll for centuries had languished and died manytrue lovers of liberty and many true Christians. OnOctober 6, 1789, the king n~lcl the queen of France wcrebro~~gllt prisoners to Paris. "On this occasion," says"Thc An~cricmt;lln'~ in its article on France, "as on thetaking of the Bnstdc, the ferocity and bloodthirstiness-of the mo1.e la\\llcss portion of the mob bcgm to befca~~f~dly rnw~ilested." 'I'his was the ''siclined'ofFra~~ce, and of the Papal-l'rotcstaut Burope. It is anoutstanding event in history; and the date, 1789, isexactly 2,520 years after the sickuess of King Hezelciah,in 731 B. C. Thus 731 13. C. and 1789 A. D. meet allthe conditions, and are pardld dates.While King 13ezclciall was a ~sol.shipw of Jehovalland measurably fnithfcl, for a king, hc was ]lot an overcomerlike the prophets of God, \i-bo endured such greatthings for tlie Lord's name's sakc. Bc was typical, not=WATCH TOWERof the true church in this matter, but rather of thtnomind regnant powc~s of Europc. That he was lcbgof Judah-which sometimes typifies Protestantism-doernot det~act from the thought that he represented thtPapal-Protestant-royalty alliance, rather than Protest.antism done ; for as a rule Judah symbolizes Protestantism alone, when Judah and Israel arc mentioned il;the same connection. Moreover, at this time the kingdom of Israel had been overthrown and taken captiveby the Assyrians-in 739 B. C.-and no longer waiin existence.TEE END OF FRENCH FEUDALISMFifteen years after the deadly sickness of the Bur@pean church-state civilization (1789 A. D.), thcre cam6the end of this medieval order of things in FranceIn 1804, fifteen years after 1789, Napoleon abruptlyterminated the power of the llitherto ruling feudalsristocracy and of the lordly Papal ecc1csi;~~ticisnt. hIaestablished the Napoleonic Empire in its place, and inAnt par, as recorded in "?'he American":"The [French] legislative bodies were now co~~~~)lctclgsubservient to Nnpoleon, nnd the eona])i~.ncy Of C:tdoucul\\-as rnade a pretcst for offering lllm the cnlpire, in orderto assure the I,cr'ln:lncrlce of the govern~nent by giving ltn IrcrcrIitary hcnd. The scnute addrcsscd hiin by n deput:~ti011:111il, 011 being invited to cspress their opinion, votedtlie hr*rcdilary empirc.. ..The 'scnatns consulttlml for theregulatiol~ of Uke cmgirc, dmwn up by N;~polcoo himself,1vi1s ~~i~sscd hfng IS, lS04. The cmpire was co~~tir~ued by apopul:~~' vote of 3,572,329 agairist 2,5CO. The empire \v:umndc hcrctlil:iry in the ~iinle issue of Napoleon and 11isadopter1 solis. . .. . d new nri.vfocrncl(, aot vet IHretl~tety, wascreuled. After tllc cmperor came the glmand dignitaries of111e cmpirc. Tlre se11:1tc, besides eighty ~i~elubcrs eiectecl byitself. u-tls to cu~~tpride the sis gi-nnd digr~itnries of tlleempirc, u~itl tile princes of the bloorl after eightccn ycars ofage.. . . The l'ope \\.;IS invited Lo the ~wrouatiorl of Nopolc~n1which took 11lnce nt Notre Dame on Dccembcr 2, 1804. TheEn~~eror, after reccil-it~g the sucrecl uriction from the Pope,crowned l~iruself, and aften~t~rrl the empress."'I'hus was blazoned to the world the fact that thedominion had clepai-ted from the medieval church-stateconspiracy against the common people, which for centuriesof dulizness and cruelty had violently dominceredover tlie populace. In Rance the death of the ancientregime was definitely marked, in 1804, just 2,520 yearsafter the death of King Eczekah in 716 B. C.THE TIME OF THE END OF THE WORLDKing Hezekiall, while sick, had bcen given thesingular s~gli of the ten-dcgrcc recession of the sun'sshadow on the dial, the Scripturd account of whichhas bcen recited.The ten degrees signify ten years. On the date .i'2I13. C., ten ycars after Hezekiah's sickness, there was noevent; the date was a lncrc marlier, bccnuse the nlomentousoccurrmce to which it pointed in antitypecanx tcn ycars ~llter 1789 A. D.-in 1799 A. D., -2.520Scars aftcr 721 B. C.It appeared in 1789 as though the sanguinary Bevolutioilin France nras the beginning of the end of the