THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE.
Its Basis in the Seven Trumpets; and Its Relation to the Great Nations of To-day.
We have seen how the continuance of the Eastern question, as it has centered in Constantinople since Aug. 11, 1840, has inevitably absorbed the whole East. We have seen that, with the single exception of Austria, the same Powers that were originally involved in the Eastern question in 1840, are still the principal Powers involved in the greater Eastern question, whose chief center is just now in Peking, but whose ultimate center is always Constantinople. And though these Powers, with the exception of Russia, were originally, and are still, the chief Powers of the West; yet, as the Eastern question, with which they became connected in 1840, has continued to grow until it has absorbed the whole East, these Powers of the West have, in the natural course of things, become also the Powers of the East. There are, however, two Powers reckoned among these principal ones of the greater Eastern question, which were not connected with that question originally, but have become parties to it only lately. These are Japan and the United States. In 1895 war broke out between China and Japan. Japan was everywhere and speedily victorious. When peace was established, considerable Chinese territory was ceded to Japan, and also an immense cash indemnity was agreed upon. But Russia, France, and Germany united in a protest against the cession of the agreed territory. Since the threatening protest of these three Powers was supported by the “advice” of Great Britain to the Japanese government to yield to it, Japan, to avoid a new war, did yield to the demand of the three Powers—and the territory in question fell immediately under Russian “influence.” Further, to enable the Chinese government to pay the first installment of the cash indemnity, bankers of Paris and St. Petersburg loaned about eighty million dollars to China, upon the guaranty of the Russian government. Later, China secured another loan, from English and German bankers, secured by the customs revenue of China; and, through this, Britain secured a hold upon the fortress and naval station of Wei-Hai-Wei. These transactions took from Japan all the territory that had been ceded to her by China, except the Island of Formosa, and the Pescadores group; and planted in the hearts of the Japanese a determination to be revenged upon Russia at the earliest possible moment. And thus Japan became, and stands, an integral part of the Eastern question as it is to-day. In 1898, as all know, the United States became involved in a war with Spain. The American fleet, in far Eastern waters, found and destroyed, at Manila, the Spanish fleet; and, through this transaction, the United States became possessed of the Philippine Islands, and so became an Eastern Power. Being thus an Eastern Power, the United States demanded and secured in China the “open door” for herself and all the nations, to Chinese trade. In the month of June, 1900, the legations of the Powers, in China, were attacked—that of the United States equally with the others. To rescue their ministers, each of these Powers was obliged to send an army—the United States equally with the others. This brought the United States as a Power into China, and associated her there in alliance with the other great Powers, who, from the beginning, have been the material part of the Eastern question. And in a circular note to all the Powers concerned, July 3, 1900, the United States announced to the world that “the policy of the government of the United States is to seek a solution which may bring about permanent safety and peace in China, preserve Chinese territorial and administrative ENTITY, protect all rights guaranteed to friendly Powers by treaty and international law, and safeguard for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire.” This shows that the United States has not only become, but that she intends to remain, one of the Powers of the East, and one of the very chiefest of those concerned in the Eastern question. As was made plain in last week's study on this subject, this Eastern question as it centers in Peking is but the extension and enlargement of the original Eastern question as it centers in Constantinople. And this crisis, which brings all these Powers face to face in China, is but the logical outcome of the steps that were taken in 1840, in the crisis which brought the original of these Powers into the position of supporters of the government of Turkey. Thus the question as it relates to Turkey, is the key of the same question in its enlarged form, as just now it relates to China. Consequently, the prophecies that relate to the Turkish power in this time are the key to the understanding of the question that involves China and the world-powers. What, then, are the scriptures that relate to Turkey in this time? The last verses of Daniel 11 relate to Turkey, which, as king of the north, with its center at Constantinople, occupies, in direct descent, the place of the original king of the north in the division of the empire of Alexander the Great, as in the fourth verse and onward. And of this Power it is written: “He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” Dan. 11:45. In these studies we have seen that a number of times in the last fifty years the Turkish government would have come to an end had it not been distinctly “helped.” Indeed, we have seen that the Turkish government could not have existed at all these fifty years if it had not been distinctly “helped” by the Powers whose relations are the substance of the Eastern question. By all it is expected that the Turkish government must leave Constantinople. Many a time in these years it has been expected that the Turkish government must certainly leave Constantinople immediately. By all it is expected that when the Turkish government does leave Constantinople, the tabernacles of his palace will be planted in Jerusalem, “between the seas in the glorious holy mountain.” And when that time comes, which must inevitably come soon,—“at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.” Dan. 12:1. This final event in the Eastern question, with its accompaniments, is further described in Rev. 16:12: “The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared.” As to the literal river Euphrates, from the beginning of history it has been crossed and recrossed, even at the flood, without any particular difficulty, by kings and their armies. It can not be, then, the literal river that is here spoken of. But since waters signify “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Rev. 17:15), the “water” here signifies the Power which dominates the peoples that inhabit the territory of the Euphrates—and that is the Turkish power, which is to come to his end when none helps him. And this occurs “that the way of the kings of THE EAST might be prepared.” But, with the exception of the United States and Japan, these “kings of the East” are the identical kings that have been the principal cause and substance of the Eastern question, from its origin, Aug. 11, 1840, unto the present hour. How, then, can the Turkish government come to its end? How can thus this “water” of “the great river Euphrates” be “dried up,” except by the action of these very Powers? These “kings of the East,” whose way is to be “prepared” by the fall of Turkey, are the very Powers who are altogether responsible for Turkey. How, then, can Turkey possibly come to her end, except by the direct action of these Powers which now are “the kings of the East”?—Plainly, this is the only way in which Turkey can come to her end—the only way in which the water of the river Euphrates can be dried up. It is plain, therefore, that these Powers which are now “the kings of the East,” and which are in a vortex, whose immediate center is China, but whose original and ultimate center is Turkey, will reach the point where they will remove the Turkish government from Constantinople, and allow it to be planted in Jerusalem. And shortly after that, they will let the Turkish power “come to his end.” And when that is done, whatever the Powers may intend in it, the end of it all is that they shall be gathered at Armageddon, to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. For it is written: “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. . . . And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Rev. 16:13–16. Notice here the striking statement in the association of the two expressions in these verses of Revelation 16: The Turkish power comes to its end,—the water of the Euphrates is dried up,—“that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared;” and these “kings of the East” are said to be “the kings of the earth and of the whole world.” Now, it is the truth that three of these Powers that created the Eastern question in 1840, with Germany and the United States, do actually control practically the whole world. And with these five Powers—Britain, Russia, Germany, France, and the United States—all the lesser Powers are, in some way, associated. So it is altogether true that “the kings of the East” are now indeed “the kings of the earth and of the whole world.” And these Powers, in centering their interests in the East, and planting their armies in the East, are but arraying themselves and marshaling their forces, in readiness to march to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. And that will be when, in their distress with perplexity, the Turkish government shall by these Powers be let fall, and so “the way” be prepared for them as “the kings of the East” to be “gathered” into that place “called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Thus, we have fulfilled our promise made in these columns, July 17 and 31, to show the place and work of the great nations, and all the nations, of to-day, considered from the basis of the line of prophecy of the Seven Trumpets. With China as their immediate center, with Turkey as their ultimate center, their place is “the whole world,” and their work is the arraying of themselves and the mustering of their forces in preparation for the battle of that great day of God Almighty. And since this is their place and their work; and since the complication in which they are involved culminates in that time of trouble “such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time,” when there shall be delivered only those “that shall be found written in the book,” their relation to the Third Angel’s Message is that that message must now be sounded, with its loudest voice, to all the people of the whole world, calling them, by the power of the everlasting gospel, to the registry of their names in the Lamb’s book of life. All who profess to know the Third Angel’s Message, in that very profession do profess to know all these things, and to be doing just this work of calling souls to registry in the book of life, that they may be delivered in that great day. Such being undoubtedly the place and work of the nations of to-day, and this being their relationship to the Third Angel’s Message, we are thus633brought again to the consideration of the Third Angel’s Message, as it is in itself, and what it is, indeed, to-day. The time is at hand. Get ready, get ready, get ready.