France's King Louis XVI sent his navy and troops to help America win independence.
Afterward, France had a few years of crop failure, then a Revolution.
In Paris, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded.
Robespierre
led the "Committee of Public Safety," giving a speech to the National
Assembly, February 5, 1794, titled "The Terror Justified":
"Lead...the enemies of the people by terror...Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice."
Robespierre began his
Reign of Terror, accusing, arresting, then beheading:
all the royalty;
then the wealthy;
then the farmers and businessmen;
then those hoarding food;
then the clergy,
then the former revolutionaries.
Over 40,000 were beheaded in Paris.
An intentional campaign began to de-Christianize French society and replace it with a civic religion of state worship.
Not wanting a constitution 'Done in the year of the Lord,' they made 1791 the new "Year One."
They
did not want a seven day week with a sabbath day rest, so they came up
with a ten day week and ten month year - ten being their number of man
with ten fingers and ten toes.
They created the metric system with all measurements divisible by ten.
Crosses were forbidden;
Religious monuments were destroyed;
Public and private worship and education outlawed;
Priests and ministers, along with those who harbored them, were executed on sight;
Graves
were desecrated, including Sainte Genevieve's, the patron saint of
Paris who called the city to pray when Attila the Hun was attacking in
451 AD;
Churches were closed or used for "immoral," "lurid," "licentious," "scandalous" "depravities."
Robespierre put a prostitute in Notre Dame Cathedral and called her the goddess of reason to be worshiped.
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg was turned into a Temple of Reason.
Hundreds
of thousands were killed throughout France, especially in a religious
area called the Vendee' in western France. French officer
Napoleon pleaded poor health so as to not participate.
During this time, French privateers ignored treaties and by 1798, had seized nearly 300 American ships bound for British ports.
Talleyrand, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, demanded millions of dollars in bribes to leave America's ships alone.
Known as the XYZ Affair, the American commission of Charles Pinckney, John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry refused.
The cry went across America, "Millions for defense, not a cent for tribute."
As
war with France loomed, second President John Adams asked George
Washington, now retired at Mount Vernon, to again be Commander-in-Chief
of the Army.
Washington agreed, writing the year before he died, July 13, 1798:
"Satisfied...you
have...exhausted, to the last drop, the cup of reconciliation, we can,
with pure hearts, appeal to Heaven for the justice of our cause;
and
may confidently trust the final result to that kind Providence who has,
heretofore, and so often, signally favored the people of these United
States...
Feeling how incumbent it is upon every person...to
contribute at all times to his country's welfare, and especially in a
moment like the present, when everything we hold dear and sacred is so
seriously threatened, I have finally determined to accept the commission
of Commander-in-Chief."
President Adams declared a Day of Fasting, March 23, 1798, and again, March 6, 1799:
"The people of the United States are still held in jeopardy by...insidious acts of a foreign nation,
as
well as by the dissemination among them of those principles subversive
to the foundations of all religious, moral, and social obligations...
I
hereby recommend...a Day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer;
That the citizens...call to mind our numerous offenses against the Most
High God, confess them before Him with the sincerest penitence, implore
His pardoning mercy, through the Great Mediator and Redeemer, for our
past transgressions,
and that through the grace of His Holy
Spirit, we may be disposed and enabled to yield a more suitable
obedience to His righteous requisitions..."
Get the book, Miracles in American History - 32 Amazing Stories of Answered PrayerAdams continued:
"That
He would interpose to arrest the progress of that impiety and
licentiousness in principle and practice so offensive to Himself and so
ruinous to mankind...
'Righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.'"
As
the nation prayed, war with France was averted and a revival, called
the Second Great Awakening, spread across America with church membership
soaring in all denominations.
Watch
Faith in History
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