of virtue and morality. Saith the Lord, "Whom hast thou
reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice,
and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of
Israel."(423) "Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I
will cause them to know Mine hand and My might; and they shall know that
My name is Jehovah."(424)

Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: "And they heard
a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they
ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them."(425)
Since France made war upon God's two witnesses, they have been honored as
never before. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized.
This was followed by similar organizations, with numerous branches, upon
the continent of Europe. In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded.
When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been printed and
circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been translated into more than
four hundred languages and dialects.(426)

For the fifty years preceding 1792, little attention was given to the work
of foreign missions. No new societies were formed, and there were but few
churches that made any effort for the spread of Christianity in heathen
lands. But toward the close of the eighteenth century a great change took
place. Men became dissatisfied with the results of rationalism, and
realized the necessity of divine revelation and experimental religion.
From this time the work of foreign missions attained an unprecedented
growth.(427)

The improvements in printing have given an impetus to the work of
circulating the Bible. The increased facilities for communication between
different countries, the breaking down of ancient barriers of prejudice
and national exclusiveness, and the loss of secular power by the pontiff
of Rome, have opened the way for the entrance of the word of God. For some
years the Bible has been sold without restraint in the streets of Rome,
and it has now been carried to every part of the habitable globe.

The infidel Voltaire once boastingly said: "I am weary of hearing people
repeat that twelve men established the Christian religion. I will prove
that one man may suffice to overthrow it." A century has passed since his
death. Millions have joined in the war upon the Bible. But it is so far
from being destroyed, that where there were a hundred in Voltaire's time,
there are now ten t