es 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."(411)

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 corner-stone of a nation's
prosperity. "Righteousness exalteth a nation." Thereby "the throne is
established."(412) "The work of righteousness shall be peace;" and the
effect "quietness and assurance forever."(413) 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.

"Scarcely was there a generation of Frenchmen during that 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