THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE: ITS BASIS IN THE SEVEN TRUMPETS.
The Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet.
WHEN the seventh angel sounded, the prophet's attention being drawn to heaven, he heard "great voices" there, saying: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever." And, presently, when his attention is turned to the earth, the first thing mentioned is, "The nations were angry." In our study last week, we saw plainly that the time when the seventh angel began to sound, was in 1844 A. D. And during all the time that has passed since that date, it has been true that "the nations were angry." And the Turkish power—that power which is the last remains, in its descent, of what was at first the Eastern Empire of Rome—is the pivot upon which, during all these years, has turned the peace of the world. In a previous study we gave the authoritative statement that, except for the Great Powers of Europe, the Turkish power would have vanished long ago. But it is not simply that Turkey has been kept in existence all this time, by these Powers—this has been for a purpose. The Turkish power has been thus maintained, expressly to avoid, as acknowledged by the Powers, a universal war. The cause, as stated by Lord Salisbury, Nov. 5, 1895, is as follows:— Turkey is in that remarkable condition that it has now stood for half a century, mainly because the great Powers of the world have resolved that for the peace of Christendom it is necessary that the Ottoman Empire should stand. They came to that conclusion nearly half a century ago. I do not think they have altered it now. The danger, if the Ottoman Empire should fall, would not merely be the danger that would threaten the territories of which that empire consists; it would be the danger that the fire there lit should spread to other nations, and should involve all that is most powerful and civilized in Europe in a dangerous and calamitous contest. That was a danger that was present to the minds of our fathers when they resolved to make the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire a matter of European treaty, and that is a danger WHICH HAS NOT PASSED AWAY. But what must be the real spirit of these great Powers, when they can thus agree, for more than half a century, in holding in existence the Turkish power, to keep themselves from fighting, when they can not agree not to fight? Why can they not agree not to fight among themselves, as easily as they can agree to keep this Power there as a preventive against their fighting among themselves? What could possibly more aptly express the true condition of things among these Powers than that word, "The nations were angry"? This situation clearly reveals that these Powers are subject to a spirit which, when once loosed, will carry them utterly beyond themselves; and that they themselves recognize that this is so. And recognizing that this is the truth of the situation, all that they pretend to be able to do, is, by maintaining the Turkish power as long as possible, to restrain as long as possible this unruly spirit, which, when once let loose, must sweep them all away from themselves, into that dreaded and terrible vortex, involving "all that is most powerful and civilized in Europe in a dangerous and calamitous contest." But what Powers are these? This is an interesting inquiry. In a previous study we saw that, according to the prophecy, the actual governmental power should pass from the Turkish government on the eleventh day of August, 1840; and that accordingly, it was so: that on that day the actual power of the government of Turkey did pass into the hands of the four Powers—Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia. It will be remembered that, also in a previous study, we made the statement that one object of this study of the Seven Trumpets as a basis of the Third Angel's Message, is to see the place of the great nations of to-day, especially in their relation to the Third Angel's Message. And it is seen that, in this transaction of the eleventh day of August, 1840 A. D., these four great Powers at least are brought before us, and, by this, have been before us ever since, and are before us now, as vitally connected with this original Eastern question. Before that time, Russia had more than once appeared in the history of the Eastern Empire of Rome. But in these articles we can not enter fully enough into the whole history to give all these details. Since 1840, Austria has fallen to the grade of a third- or fourth-rate Power; but France stands fully in her place as one of the four great Powers controlling in the affairs of Turkey, though Austria is still involved in the question. France indeed became connected with that Eastern question in 1798; so that she must be counted with these others. Now there comes in another important thought. Why is it that these Powers are so certain that they will fight among themselves if the Turkish power should be let fall, that they will spend all their united time, day and night, for more than half a century, to keep that Power from falling?—Here is the answer: When the Turkish power shall fall, there will be most valuable territory to be possessed by some Power. Only a few days ago the London Economist said that that territory "might and ought to be one of the most flourishing regions on the face of the earth." And since each one of these Powers is determined to have all that it can grasp of these territories, it is simply impossible for them to agree upon a division. And, therefore, they know that there must inevitably be a war among them all, as surely as the Turkish power shall be allowed to fall. This being the universally recognized condition of things, and these Powers dreading the inevitable war that must come over the division of the territory involved, they hold the Turkish government in life, to ward off this time of division, which must bring war; and, at the same time, each Power works every possible scheme, to the verge of war, to increase its power and its holdings in the East, so that, when the inevitable moment, which must come, shall have come, it will have the largest possible basis upon which to urge its claims, in the actual and final division of the spoil. This, in its turn, has caused each of these great Powers to spread its power over as much as possible of the whole East, until now, in this present hour of our own day, these Powers, in their grasping of power and influence in the East, have so far absorbed the whole that they all meet face to face in the extreme East, at the capital of China. Thus it is strictly true that the China tangle, as it is to-day, is the direct resultant of the original Eastern question that began Aug. 11, 1840. And this greater Eastern question as it is to-day, is but the enlarged outcome of the original Eastern question as it has centered in Constantinople for the last half-century. And, in the nature of the case, there can be no solution of the greater Eastern question as it centers in China, which shall not involve the original Eastern question as it centers in Turkey. This, because the greater Eastern question as it centers in Peking, is the direct resultant of the original Eastern question as it centers in Constantinople; and also because all the Powers now concerned in the question as it centers in Peking (except only the United States and Japan) are the identical Powers of the original Eastern question as it centers in Constantinople. This is as far as we have space to follow the subject this week. But even this is far enough to enable all to see that all the principal Powers involved in the Eastern question, whether in its original form or in its present enlarged form, are the great nations of to-day; and, with the exception of Russia, the United States, and Japan, are the Powers of Western Europe; are indeed the strong ones of those that arose upon the ruin of the Roman Empire, the division of the fourth kingdom, as in the second and seventh chapters of Daniel. The remaining stages of this mighty and world-absorbing question, and how the United States and Japan come into it, will be considered next week.