The French Revolution and the Bible

[Translation: The [legislative] council took up their agenda, motivated by this that Reason and Truth would no longer permit any illusion to impinge upon the sights or imagination of the people. We recall here two citations from our preamble [to our constitution]: the motion against the bell towers and the order for the demolition of the sculptures of [the cathedral of] Notre Dame. The Monitor does not name the author of the motion. The Journal de Paris, 1793 n. CCCXVIII tells us that it was Hébert. This paper says: "Members of the popular Society of the Museum entered the council meeting crying out, Long live [human] reason!. They carried a stick holding the smoking remains of a book and announced that the books of scripture portions, the missals, the schedules of holy activities, and the Old and New Testaments, expiated (paid the penalty) in a large fire in the plaza of the Temple of Reason, for all their foolish insults which they had committed against the human species. — Hébert then told the counsel that in the section of Bonne-Nouvelle [a subdivision of Paris in effect during the Revolution], every decadi [the ten-day week of the Revolution], in the temple of Reason, we will have a course on morals; adding that the parishioners of the area had torn down [or "vandalized"] their bell tower. He proposed that, following this example, all the bell towers of Paris be torn down because they seemed to thwart the principle of equality. The council adopted the principle, and sent their action to the department [area government]."]

Le conseil passa à l'ordre du jour, motivé sur ce que la Raison et la Vérité, ne permettaient plus qu'aucun simulacre frappât les regards ou l'imagination du peuple. Nous rappellerons ici deux citations de notre préambule, la motion contre les clochers, et l'arrêté pour la démolition des sculptures de Notre-Dame. Le Moniteur ne nomme pas l'auteur de la motion. Le Journal de Paris, 1793, n. CCCXVIII, nous apprend que ce fut Hébert. Cette feuille dit: « La société populaire du Muséum entre au conseil en criant: Vive la Raison! et porte au bout d'un bâton les restes d'un livre encore fumant, elle annonce que les bréviaires, les missels, les heures de Sainte-Brigitte, l'ancien et le nouveau Testament, ont expié, dans un grand feu, sur la place du temple de la Raison, toutes les sottises qu'ils ont fait commettre à l'espèce humaine. — Hébert instruit ensuite le conseil que, dans la section de Bonne-Nouvelle, on fera, chaque décadi, dans le temple de la Raison, un cours de morale; il ajoute que cette section a fait abaitre son clocher; il propose en conséquence que l'on abatte tous les clochers de Paris, parce qu'ils semblent contrarier les principes de l'égalité. Le counseil adopte le principe, et renvoie cet arrété au département. »

Buchez, Philippe-Joseph-Benjamin and Prosper-Charles Roux, Histoire Parlementaire de la Révolution Francaise, Paris: Paulin, Libraire, 1837, v. 30, pp. 200-201.

Hort: "Vile/Villainous Textus Receptus"

I had no idea till the last few weeks of the importance of texts, having read so little Greek Testament, and dragged on [with the work of translating] with the villainous Textus Receptus. [...] Think of that vile Textus Receptus leaning entirely on late MSS. ; it is a blessing there are such early ones. . . .

Hort, Fenton John Anthony and Arthur Fenton Hort, Life and letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort, London: Macmillan and Co., ltd.; New York: Macmillan & Co., 1896, v. 1, p. 211.

Reflections of a Jesuit on the Bible

My brethren, as to the Bible, be advised by me. For our greater good let us avoid—let us carefully avoid this ground. If I may tell you, openly, what I think of this book, it is not at all for us; it is against us. I do not at all wonder at the invincible obstinacy it engenders in all those who regard its verses as inspired.

You are aware that, when once entered upon theological studies, we must of necessity make some acquaintance with the Bible. [...] In the simplicity of youth I fully expected, on opening the New Testament, to find there laid down, totidem literis (in lettere cubitali), the authority of a superior chief in the church, and the worship of the Virgin, the source of all grace for mankind. I sought with the same eagerness for the mass, for purgatory, for relics, &c. But in every page I found my expectations disappointed; from every reflection that I made resulted doubt. At last, after having read, at least six times over, that little book which set all my calculations at nought, I was forced to acknowledge to myself that it actually sets forth a system of religion altogether different from that taught in the schools, and thus all my ideas were thrown into confusion (ne rimasi al sommo scompaginato).

Leone, Jacopo, The Jesuit Conspiracy: The Secret Plan of the Order, London: Chapman and Hall, 1848, pp. 98-99.

The Jesuits and the Protestant Bible

Then the Bible, that serpent which, with head erect and eyes flashing fire, threatens us with its venom whilst it trails along the ground, shall be changed again into a rod as soon as we are able to seize it; [...] Oh, then, mysterious rod! we will not again suffer thee to escape from our hands, and fall to the earth!
For you know but too well that, for three centuries past, this cruel asp (crudele aspide) has left us no repose; you well know with what folds it entwines us, and with what fangs it gnaws us!

Leone, Jacopo, The Jesuit Conspiracy: The Secret Plan of the Order, London: Chapman and Hall, 1848, p. 98.

Prohibition Against the Bible: Council of Toulouse, A.D. 1229

Council of Thoulouse, A.D. 1229.

[...]

Canon xiv. " We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the old, or the new, testament; unless any one, from motives of devotion, should wish to have the Psalter, or the Breviary for divine offices, or the hours of the blessed Virgin; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books."

Samuel Roffey Maitland, Facts and Documents illustrative of the history, doctrine and rites, of the ancient Albigenses & Waldenses, London: C. J. G. and F. Rivington, 1832, pp. 192-194

Mansi, Giovan Domenico, Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova, et Amplissima Collection, Paris: Hubert Welter, 1779, 1904, v. 23, col. 197-198.