Driving the Turk from Europe
By L. A. S.
VERY significant to those acquainted with the prophecy of the eleventh chapter of Daniel, are these words which appeared in prominent headlines in the Chicago Tribune of February 8: “Russia to Drive Turk into Asia: Long Expected War to Seat Czar at Constantinople Now Believed to Be Near at Hand: Sultan Ready to Fight; Orders Issued for the Prompt Mobilization of Nearly a Quarter of a Million of Soldiers.” The Turk to be driven from Europe! To us these words mean, first of all, the fulfillment of inspired prophecy. To us their chief significance is not a change in the map of Europe, but the coming of the hour of the standing up of Michael in the heavenly courts, and the time of trouble such as never was. Translated into the language of God’s providence, they read, “Get ready; get ready!” Making all due allowance for English prejudice against Russia, says a London dispatch, it is impossible not to share the belief “that Russia has determined that the time is ripe for the realization of her great ambitions, and that she intends the present year to extend her domain to the Bosporus.” “There have been many false alarms,” says the Pall Mall Gazette, “but this spring the trouble will come. The one convincing sign is to be found in the circumstances of General Ignatieff’s tour of the Balkans in commemoration of the Russian victories. His speeches there were of the sort calculated to make mischief. He did not improvise these speeches, nor make them on his own responsibility. That is not the Russian way. It follows that in fomenting trouble he was carrying out the settled policy of the Russian foreign office. The same journal mentions further that Macedonia is always ready to rise whenever it sees a chance of foreign assistance, and that any serious uprising there may be considered as good evidence that Russia has given the word. And if Russia gives the word, it is because she is sure of a free hand in dealing with the Turks. The Gazette believes that Russia has that assurance at this time. Long have Seventh-day Adventists proclaimed that the event now heralded in the press as impending would take place, basing their prediction not on any human appearances, probabilities, or speculations, but solely on the prophecy of Daniel II. Now the attention of the world is called to expected events by which this prophecy is to be fulfilled, and now is the opportune time to call the world’s attention to the prophecy, and to its meaning as the herald of greater events to follow. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come.” This is an essential part of the work of getting ready, to those who know the truth.