Do you remember learning in your Social Studies class about the French Revolution? It took place in the 1790's only a few years after the American Revolution. During the Revolution France was changed from a country that was ruled by a King, to a republic ruled by men who were voted into office by the people. Also, special privileges for the rich were done away with and new laws were made that gave all the people in France, rich and poor, equal rights and liberties.

A man by the name of Maximilien Robespierre lived in France at this time. He was what we would call, in the United States, a Senator. Robespierre favored the new changes brought about by the revolution. He was very concerned that the new freedoms and liberties gained by the people were there to stay.

Not everyone in France at the time thought like Robespierre. Some people liked the way it was before when the king ruled. Others were glad the king was gone but had their own ideas about how the country should be run. These conflicting ideas were a great concern to Robespierre. He didn't want anything to hinder the progress of the rovolution.

Robespierre was a member of a committee called the Committee of Public Safety which had the power to condemn people to the guillotine to be executed. The guillotine was a machine which was used for beheading people. When Robespierre first became a member of the committee he voted to have only serious criminals condemned to death. But as the revolution went on and more and more people began to challenge his ideas, he began to see anybody who disagreed with him about the revolution as a serious criminal that should be sent to the guillotine. In a period of about three years Robespierre was responsible for sending hundreds of people to the guillotine.

Many of Robespierre's fellow Senators lived in fear of being the next victim on his list. They felt that his zeal for the revolution had turned to madness and that he must be stopped. One day they did put a stop to Robespierre's ruthless executions. As he was giving a speech to his fellow Senators, several of them stood up and condemned his actions and accused him of wrong doing. They dragged him off to a prison cell, and before the sun rose the next morning they marched him off to the guillotine to be executed. So Robespierre died that day on the same guillotine he had sent hundreds of men to before him. He never intended to be there himself, but his actions had backfired. He fell into the pit he had dug for others.

Sins often have a way of coming back to do ourselves harm. If not in this life, then sin will be punished in the next. Forgiveness is the only sure way of avoiding sin's pains. Jesus Christ offers refuge from our sins through his death on the cross.

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