Squaring with Destiny by Louis H. Christian

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 1, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 30.

Squaring with Destiny

By Louis H. Christian

The Carving of Turkey Bound Up in the Present Mighty Conflict — This Partition Will Bring on the Fatal Crisis, in Which the Age Will Perish

By Louis H. Christian

"IT is the last Judgment. Every one has handed in his account. Now we have to get square with destiny." Thus spoke a high Russian official early in the war to an American author. To him destiny meant the fate and future of each nation.

"The fate of the world is bound up in the Eastern question." With these memorable words, the learned Dr. Dollinger began one of his historical lectures. For more than a century, this Eastern question has been the great unsolved and unsolvable world problem.

Concerning this, Clarence Barton writes in "The Audacious War": "Now who in Washington knows anything about Mesopotamia and the Bagdad railway? Yet here is the key of the most far-reaching problem in any peace proposals. It is because this matter can now be settled that the plunging of Turkey into the war by Enver Bey has made all Europe rejoice. The Germans think Turkey is another 16½ howitzer or 'Jack Johnson' spreading black smoke over the British Empire. For the first time, the Turkish problem can be really settled instead of patched."

To Be Driven Out of Europe

For many years, the publishers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES have called the attention of their readers to the Bible prophecies concerning the Eastern question. They have studied the eleventh chapter of Daniel, as well as the predictions in Revelation, where the fate of the Turk is clearly portrayed. Again and again, competent and conservative writers have shown that "the king of the north," spoken of in the latter part of Daniel eleven, is Turkey. They have ventured to assert that according to this prophecy, sooner or later the sultan will be driven out of Europe, bag and baggage, and will transfer his seat of government from Constantinople to the Holy Land — there ultimately to meet his doom. On the strength of plain Bible statements, they have emphasized that this ending of Turkey is the last great political event mentioned in prophecy, before the setting up of Christ's kingdom.

One of these divine predictions reads as follows: "And he [the king of the north, the sultan] 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. And 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. 11: 45; 12: 1.

The unfolding of events in the present war has demonstrated beyond doubt that the exposition of Daniel's words which has been given in the SIGNS is correct. The fact is becoming more

and more evident that the carving of Turkey in the vital issue in this conflict, and that this partition will bring on the fatal crisis in which this age and civilization will perish. In the many articles dealing with the Eastern question and the present war as a link in fulfillment of prophecy, the quotations used have been largely from American or British authors. Possibly it might be well to consider the Eastern question and the present war as presented in books by German or at least by pro-German writers. To do this will but further establish the conclusions of the SIGNS concerning the fulfillment of Bible prophecies in the war of to-day.

Germany and the Balkan Imbroglio

DURING the life of Luther, the Turkish forces were repeatedly at the gates of Vienna, and threatened to overwhelm all Europe. In the following two hundred years, there were continual wars between the Teutonic races and the Turks. Step by step, the armies of Austria forced the Mohammedans back toward Asia, whence they had come.

In course of time, Russia became the great opponent of the Turks. During the nineteenth century, Austria and the German states did not take a very active part in the Turkish wars, while England and France became the great champions of Turkey and the opponents of Russia. The Teutons seemed to withdraw somewhat from the constant struggle over Constantinople. As late as 1875, Bismarck said: "What may happen in the Balkans does not concern Germany, but only Russia, Italy, Austria, and England. It has always been my aim to keep out of this. For this reason, we put a stipulation into our treaty with Austria, that we are not obligated in any way in Balkan affairs."

"Bismarck even stated that he would have no objection to Russia's taking Constantinople, and thought that with the possession of this gate to the Black Sea, she would be even less dangerous to Germany than at present. Of course, he knew that this would endanger England's possession of Egypt and the Suez Canal — both of which she needs as much as her daily bread." — Dr. George L. Schurger, in "What Would Bismarck Say?"

Russia's Century-Old Ambition

THIS policy of Bismarck has now been completely changed. The German states, which for centuries waged a relentless warfare against Turkey, are to-day the allies and protectors of the sultan, while England and France, especially England, are at his throat, with the avowed purpose not only of driving Mohammedanism from Europe, but even of ending the Turkish dominion in Asia and Africa. Russia wants Constantinople and a free outlet to the sea. England plans to take all of Arabia, Palestine, and southern Mesopotamia, hoping to build and protect a railroad from Alexandria to the Persian Gulf.

We quote from an address by Dr. Paul Rohrbach to the Protestant Union of Hamburg: "The present war has three roots: (1) The one we can dispatch quickly. That is the French. For more than forty years, France has expressed the desire to renew the combat with us. (2) As Germany became politically engaged in the Orient and in Turkey, her interests began to conflict with those of Russia. (3) In the year 1898, when the German emperor was in Jerusalem, and gave utterance to the dramatic words regarding his friendship with entire Islam, when German diplomacy supported the plan of the Bagdad railway, the chief interest of Germany and England was that the railway cut through Asia Minor, passed over the Taurus, reached Aleppo, made connections with the Syrian and Mecca railways, and extended to a point within 300-400 kilometers of the Suez Canal. The English believed that the German emperor desired to establish a basis of attack against England in anterior Asia, which was inevitable as a result of economic developments in Germany. This was a misapprehension — Germany planned no attack upon England."

Another writer, Prof. H. C. G. von Jagerman, says: "Russia's ambition for more than a century has been to extend her dominion over the Balkans and to win Constantinople. She might probably have done so long ago had this been in accordance with the designs of England and France. In order to win Constantinople, Russia must first dominate the southern Slavic states, Servia and Bulgaria; and she has for a long time arrogated to herself the part of their patron and protector. That Russia has a firm right to this position, Austria does not admit; for she is a Slavic power, and her commercial interests demand an open route to the sea and to the Orient, as much as Russia. Indirectly Germany's interests are at stake, for through Austria lies Germany's land route to the Orient."

Removing the Disturbing Factor

THE reader will notice that, these writers make plain that the partition of Turkey is the cause of this war. We quote from another who calls himself a pro-German and a personal friend of the kaiser: "For some time, Germany had been looking upon the Turkish empire in Asia as a new and profitable region for trade; and in

1898, the German emperor made his famous visit to Constantinople, Damascus, and Jerusalem. The German idea was that instead of following any further the expensive and destructive and immoral policy of dismembering the Turkish empire, it would be more economical, constructive, and humane to maintain its integrity, and to seek its regeneration by bringing it into close contact with Europe.

"The German idea was prompted not only by the desire to extend German trade, not only by the desire to help on the development of the inhabitants of the Turkish empire, and not only by the conviction that the Turks were the best fitted among all the races of the empire to govern, but also by the desire of removing the Turkish question — that is, the question of the partition of Turkey — as the great disturbing factor of Europe, from the arena of European politics. Great Britain, on the other hand, evidently did not understand the German idea, or did not trust the German intentions. Her statesmen appeared to apprehend that the intentions of Germany were territorial acquisition in the Turkish empire, and naval hostility to Great Britain.

"An understanding between Russia, Germany, and Turkey in the Asiatic question could, to the British mind, mean just one thing; namely, the shunting of Russia away from Constantinople and from the Bay of Alexandretta, and her advance from the Transcaucasus through Persia to the Persian Gulf. Here Russia would at last reach the open sea and have an ice-free port. But she would then flank India. This mortal danger to the British Empire must at any cost be averted."

The Key to the Present Situation

"IT is to this task that the British diplomacy of the years between 1901 and 1914 has addressed itself. The plan of the British government then found and now pursued by force of arms is the acquisition of the vast territory lying between Egypt and the Levant on the west and lower Persia on the east, the connecting of the same with Egypt and the ports of the Levant by a railroad leading from Alexandria to the Persian Gulf, and the establishment, probably at Mecca or Cairo, of a new caliphate of the Mohammedan believers under the control of the British government. This would defend the British possessions of India, and it might open the way some day for the acquisition of all Mohammedan North Africa by the British Empire."—"The European War of 1914," by Dr. John William Burgess, pages 57, 58, 60, 61.

The Turkish problem does indeed hold the key to the present world situation and the future destiny of nations. The divine word regarding the solution of this problem will not fail. The statement of Dr. Burgess that "the plan of the British government" is "the establishment, probably at Mecca or Cairo, of a new caliphate of the Mohammedan believers under the control of the British government" reminds one of the prophecy that the sultan "shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain." While the nations are trying to get square with destiny, God is working out His own divine will. "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."