Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 8, 1901
BE READY.
By J. Albret Libby
BECALMED the vessel lies at stilly eve,
And all her sails fall limp as useless things;
The lazy seamen, calms so oft deceive,
Long for a breeze to gently lift her wings—
More than a zephyr hides other skies;
'Twere best that they were watching well prepared,
For in the dark the treacherous winds arise,
And the unwary then are oft ensnared.
So, in the calm of worldly ease and pleasure,
The listless thousands “peace and safety” cry,
While up above there lurks in unseen measure
The storm that wrecks the earth and breaks the sky.
—J. Albret Libby, in World's Crisis.
A BLESSING AND A CURSE.
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE.
The prosperity of God's people is dependent on their obedience. The Lord declares, “It shall come to pass if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in the fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you. . . .”
“Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but . . . go after other gods, which ye have not known.”
“Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations; and repayeth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them: He will not be slack to him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.”
These words should be as distinctly stamped upon every soul as though written with a pen of iron. Obedience brings its reward, disobedience its retribution.
God has given His people positive instruction, and has laid upon them positive restrictions, that they may obtain a perfect experience in His service, and be qualified to stand before the heavenly universe and before the fallen world as overcomers. They are to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Those who fall short of making the preparation essential will be numbered with the unthankful and the unholy.
The Lord brings His people by ways they know not, that He may test and prove them. This world is our place of proving. Here we decide our eternal destiny. God humbles His people that His will may be wrought out through them. Thus He dealt with the children of Israel as He led them through the wilderness. He told them what their fate would have been had He not laid a restraining hand upon that which would have hurt them. He speaks to them. Hear what He says: it is a revelation of the ministration of angels: “Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee, and that He might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end. . . . Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord.”
It is a solemn thought that by our present course of action we are deciding our eternal destiny. Let those who know the truth practice the truth, remembering that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and is of more value than all the treasure which the world contains. The world is the Lord's vineyard, and to each one of us He says, “Go work to-day in my vineyard. As I have cared for you, so you are to care for the honor of my name.”
In His dealing with ancient Israel God has given us an illustration of the result of disobedience. Even as He punished the children of Israel, so He will punish all who cause His glory to be reproached. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, even as Jerusalem, by her own course of action, was humiliated and brought low. Her people chose Barabbas, and God left them to their choice. They would not submit to God's way, so He permitted them to have their own way, to carry out the purposes of their unsanctified hearts.
Christ warned the Jews of their danger, and entreated them to return to Him; but they were too proud to accept His overtures of mercy. They persisted in their rebellious course, and as a result the protection of God's Spirit was withdrawn from them.
When Christ predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, He predicted also the destruction of the world. He saw that till the end of this earth's history men would refuse God's mercy. God has given men and women talents that they may work in His service; but many in their selfishness misuse these talents. By a love of money and a desire for the supremacy they rob God and hurt their brethren.
God blesses the work of men's hands that they may return to Him His portion. They are to devote their means to His service, that His vineyard may not remain a barren waste. They are to study what the Lord would do were He in their place. They are to take all difficult matters to Him in prayer. They are to reveal an unselfish interest in the building up of His work in all parts of the world.
Money and goods, houses and lands,—these the Lord has intrusted to His human agents for the advancement of His work. Those who use for self-gratification the talents which have been lent them are not following in Christ's footsteps. Their course of action shows self-exaltation, and hinders the work the Lord desires to accomplish.
God's people are to maintain the elevated character of His work. They are to carry forward this work in His lines. Christ is their pattern, and He says, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Let us remember that we are laborers together with God. We are not wise enough to work by ourselves. God has made us His stewards, to prove us and to try us, even as He proved and tried ancient Israel. He will not have His army composed of undisciplined, unsanctified, erratic soldiers, who would misrepresent His order and purity.
Those who think that they can please God by obeying some other law than His, and by performing650works other than those which the gospel has enjoined, are mocking God. They are insulting the Holy One of Israel. Warning after warning is given in the last message of mercy to the world. Appeal after appeal is made. The worst of sinners are to hear the call. All are to be given a final test. Loath to give up, sorrowful, yet hoping, Christ knocks at the door of the heart.
When the Saviour saw in the Jewish people a nation divorced from God, He saw also a professed Christian Church united to the world and the papacy. And as He stood upon Olivet, weeping over Jerusalem till the sun sank behind the western hills, so He is weeping over and pleading with sinners in these last moments of time. Soon He will say to the angels who are holding the four winds, “Let the plagues loose; let darkness, destruction, and death come upon the transgressors of my law.” Will He be obliged to say to those who have had great light and knowledge, as He said to the Jews, “If thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes”?
A SOLEMN FACT.
By G. B. Thompson
ELDER G. B. THOMPSON.
(Rome, N. Y.)
On the tenth day of the seventh month, Oct. 22, 1844, the long prophetic period of twenty-three hundred days ended, and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, or work of the investigative judgment, began. This date is as fixed and certain as the nativity of Christ. It is marked by well-known events, rendering a mistake impossible. Unbelievers of every kind have sought for half a century to overthrow this mighty fact, but the pillars remain; the temple of truth is unmoved.
Fifty-seven years have passed by with stately and measured tread since this solemn, searching work began at the tribunal of the universal Judge. “The judgment was set, and the books were opened.” “And the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” With nations and with individuals the Lord has kept a faithful and impartial account. Our record is on high. The deeds, the thoughts, the motives of the heart, are all faithfully written down.
The judgment begins at the house of God. 1 Peter 4: 17. “Another book was opened, which is the book of life.” Ponderous volume! In it are recorded the names of all who have had life by believing on the Son. When the judgment was set, this book was opened, and an investigation of the character of those composing the “house of God” was begun. For nearly three-score years this solemn work has been in progress, and name after name and page after page passed by. What a court is this! The Ancient of days is there; the Redeemer, your Advocate and mine, is there; ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of angels are there; there is no appeal from its decisions; the verdict in each case is just and final.
How far has this judgment work progressed? What generation is now passing in review before the scrutiny of Him who sits upon the throne? Have the generations of long ago been judged, and the verdict recorded? Are those who lived when Christ was on earth being examined? Or has the work of judgment passed down through the world’s midnight—the Dark Ages—and numbered the true Israel of the Most High? Or during the nearly six decades, has that work come down into the century just closed, and have the records of this momentous cycle of time been investigated? Are the events of the century just born, the lives of men now living,— your record and mine,—being reviewed? Just how far this work has progressed no man knows; but in the typical work the allotted time was comparatively brief, and we know that the last pages in the great church roll—the book of life—will soon be reached, and the fiat of Rev. 22: 11 go forth, fixing irrevocably the destiny of every soul.
How sober this fact should make us! What searching of heart it should create in us! We know not when our name will come up. Who is ready to have his case called up and the final verdict rendered? Is everything just as we should desire to have it if we knew that our names were the next in order?
Some are carrying strife, hatred, and envy in their hearts, even against their brethren, expecting sometime to fix matters up. Well, now is the time. You haven’t a moment to lose. Delay is dangerous. You must gain the victory on this point or lose heaven. Some are sure the Lord has a work for them to do in His vineyard, and sometime they hope to get their secular business so arranged that they can do it. Now is the time to “cut loose,” and labor for perishing souls.
Others are robbing God in tithes and offerings, promising their darkened soul that when they get out of debt, they will give the Lord His own. It is time we took our hands out of the Lord’s treasury, and ceased to rob the One who is on the throne, who is our Judge, and who is about to pass final sentence upon us. Can we afford to rob Him under such conditions as these? To the writer it seems terrible that, at this advanced stage of the message, the Judge at the door, the judgment almost over, it is still necessary to plead with those who know these things to cease robbing the Lord! When will the power of this wicked covetousness be broken in every heart?
Others are clinging to secret sins, some darling indulgence, hoping sometime to get the victory. Delay no longer. To-day is the time. The judgment hour hastens to its close. Men born since the Saviour entered the holiest of all are whitening with age; the last generation is hoary. If ever there was a time when men should be seeking the Lord with all the heart, that time is now.
“When the Judge shall weigh our motives
For eternal gain or loss,
Shall we stand as gold before Him?
Or as vile and worthless dross”?
HOW SHALL THEY HEAR WITHOUT A PREACHER?
By W. H. Thurston
ELDER W. H. THURSTON.
(Concluded.)
EVERYTHING is astir with the intensity of the times. Men’s hearts are failing them, and the Macedonian cry, “Come over . . . and help us,” is being repeated from every land. The time has come for the world to hear the gospel, but “how shall they hear without a preacher?” People everywhere are waiting for us to bring them the message of mercy. Who will go? Who will give freely of their means, and from now on pay an honest tithe, that the gospel work be not hindered?
“But,” says one, “have we not been sending missionaries all over the world, and isn’t a good work being done?”—Yes, we have sent many abroad, and the work is well started in many places; but we want to increase the number tenfold, yes, a hundredfold, that the message may go with power and rapidity to earth’s remotest bounds. It is the gospel to all the world in this generation, brethren and sisters. It can be done; it shall be done, for God has pledged His word, and we all want a part in doing the work.
“Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.” And let all say with Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” And let us serve Him in spirit and in truth, and bring all the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be sufficient funds for the finishing of the gospel in this generation.
“All that men enjoy they receive from the Lord’s great firm, and He is pleased to have His heritage enjoy His goods; but all who stand under the blood-stained banner of Prince Immanuel are to acknowledge their dependence upon God and their accountability to Him by returning to the treasury a certain portion as His own.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI.
One of our brethren told me recently that he had never prospered so well and enjoyed so much of the blessing of God as he had since he began keeping an accurate account of the Lord’s money and paying an honest tithe. It is sure to be so, for the Lord has promised. The time has come for God’s people everywhere to be transferring their treasures. Many can sell a part of their farm, and turn the money into the gospel work. All should curtail expenses, and give as God has prospered them, bringing all the tithe into the storehouse.
It has been my experience in foreign field work that the brethren and sisters there manifest a deeper interest in the progress of the message and the coming of the Lord than we do in the home field. Why is this? Are we growing cold? Do we feel that the Lord delayeth His coming? Let us all renew our faith and hope, and claim the promise. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” “Behold, He cometh.” “This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.”
Some are alive to the situation, but we desire that every one should be stirred with the message for this time, and be up and doing while the opportunity affords. In some parts of the world our churches are saying to the minister, “Go work for souls that are perishing, souls that are still in darkness. We who know the truth will care for ourselves, keep up the meetings, and pray for you as you go.” “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel.” We hope all our churches will soon join in this sentiment, put away all differences, and prepare to meet the Lord. “Behold, He cometh.” He is coming in this generation. Let us all believe it. Let us talk it. Let us pray it. Let us show it in our lives, and be loyal to God in all things.
“The tithe . . . is holy,” and belongs to the Lord. Don’t lose the blessing longer by withholding the Lord’s money, but turn it all into the treasury, and hasten our welcome into the city of God. “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.”
GOD'S TESTS SUFFICIENT.
By Mrs. Ada D. Wellman
MRS. ADA D. WELLMAN.
(Oakland, Cal.)
It is taken for granted, by many persons, that any one possessing the gift of prophecy must necessarily use perfect language; and that any imperfection of speech in the message indicates that the message is not divine.
God has given tests whereby we may distinguish between a divine message and a human; but grammatical speech is not one of those tests, and we are not warranted in applying such as He has not given.
That the gift of prophecy is not always accompanied with the gift of tongues, is illustrated by the experience of Moses; for though he was given revelations of divine glory, and sent as an ambassador of heaven to the Egyptian king and to the Hebrew people, yet he must needs employ his brother as spokesman, because of his own lack of readiness and accuracy in the use of651the Egyptian language. True, God would have miraculously bestowed upon Moses proficiency in this respect, had Moses possessed faith to claim the gift. But while he fell short of the full purpose of God, as indeed do all mortals, nevertheless he was a true prophet; and the instruction given through him to Aaron, and by Aaron to the people, was the word of God to the people, notwithstanding it came thus indirectly.
The first revelation of God to Paul rendered that scholarly man incapable of good penmanship, the divine radiance having seriously impaired his eyesight; hence he was obliged to employ an amanuensis to write of the things which God had revealed.
The claim that a divine communication must be accompanied with all the qualifications of a writer and speaker, would imply that a prophet be able to speak in many languages, in order to give his message to all who ought to hear it; but we are told in Holy Writ that to one is given “prophecy; . . . to another divers kinds of tongues.”
As “the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you,” let us not insist that one member of the body of Christ should say to the other members (a prophet say to penmen, rhetoricians, and interpreters), “I have no need of you.”
RUSSIA'S PLACE IN PROPHECY.
By CHAS. T. EVERSON.
CHAS. T. EVERSON.
For many centuries the Teutonic element has been the predominating influence in shaping the civilization of Europe. But during the last century the Slavonic element, of which Russia is the leading representative, has been making its influence felt very materially. The student of history views with alarm the rapid strides that Russia is making toward becoming the most potent factor in shaping the destiny of Europe.
No one who is at all familiar with the present situation can fail to realize that Russia is the leader of those nations that are opposed to the policy of England. Many who are acquainted with the inner life of European politics are fearful lest Russia will gain such an ascendancy that it will force its civilization upon Europe.
A power of such tremendous significance in the world at a time when all the great lines of prophecy are meeting their fulfillment must certainly have some place in Biblical predictions. The great nations of the past have all come under the notice of the divine record. In the seventh chapter of Daniel, under the symbol of the lion, we see the Babylonian kingdom brought to view, while the bear symbolizes the Medo-Persian power. The leopard represents the Grecian nation, and the fourth beast represents the Roman Empire. Under the symbol of the ten horns of the last beast are brought to view the divisions of the Roman Empire. These divisions are still to be seen in the present nations of Europe. The English people represent the Saxon division, the French are descendants of the Franks, the Alemanni were the beginning of the German nation, Visigoths of the Spanish people, while Italy came from the Lombard division. Thus we see that the leading nations of the past, as well as the principal nations of Europe to-day, are brought to view in this prophecy.
But Russia did not come under any one of the divisions of the Roman Empire. The United States is plainly brought to view in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, beginning at the eleventh verse. If all the leading nations of the past and the present are thus indicated in prophecy, why should not such a powerful nation as Russia also be brought to view? And we are not mistaken in concluding that such is the case; for its place in the final conflict is plainly outlined.
In connection with the prophecy of the final destruction of the Ottoman Empire as brought to view in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, reference is also made to Russia. This chapter, beginning with the Medo-Persian nation, carries us down the stream of time until the great papal persecution, brought to view in verses 33–35, which ended in 1798. Verses 38–43 bring to view the Napoleonic wars against Egypt and Turkey, and then in verse 44, the thought is introduced that the Turkish power should be troubled by tidings out of the north. The nation that is north of Turkey is Russia, and its designs upon Turkey are well known. This verse speaks of the Turkish power going “forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.”
The person viewing the relative strength of Turkey, “the king of the north,” and Russia would naturally suppose that the prophecy had the facts reversed. But when we recall the real facts in connection with the Crimean wars, we remember that Russia was the power that was humiliated, and not Turkey, as one would naturally suppose would be the case. For the Powers of Europe stepped in and gave their support to Turkey, so that Russia was compelled to accept very humiliating terms of peace. She was obliged to disarm her ships of war and dismantle her fortresses on the shores of the Black Sea. But Russia has since that time disregarded her agreement, and fitted up a navy and strengthened her fortifications till she is one of the most formidable enemies in the political arena.
But the Scriptures refer more explicitly to Russia in the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth chapters of Ezekiel. Here the Lord recognizes that Russia is not only a powerful nation, but a leader of nations in the final conflict. Here is outlined what nations will ally themselves with Russia when the final stroke is given whereby she expects to gain the mastery of the world. In the first verses of the thirty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel we have these words: “And, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.” The Revised Version reads thus: “Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him.” Used in this connection, Gog is a word meaning ruler or czar. So this prophecy refers to the ruler of the land of Magog, who is also the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. Turning to the tenth chapter of Genesis, we notice that Magog, Tubal, and Meshech are grandsons of Noah. We learn from history that these three settled in the territory that to-day is occupied by the Russians. The descendants of Magog peopled the greater portion of Asia north of the Caspian Sea, and dwelt in the land that anciently was called Scythia, to-day included in Asiatic Russia.
Tubal settled in the territory that now bears the name of Tobolsk. Tobolsk is situated in the northwestern part of Asiatic Russia, just east of the Ural Mountains. Meshech and Tubal are names that are closely associated in the early history of the settlement of Europe. Their descendants were called Moschi and Thibereni by Herodotus. They dwelt originally in Cappadocia, Colchis, and Armenia, but were driven to a small area at the foot of the Caucasus on the Black Sea. From this place some of them crossed into Scythia, now in Russian possession. There the Moschi became known as Muskows, and later as “Muscovites, who built Moscow, and who still give name to Russia, Muscovy, throughout the East.”—Rawlinson.
The prince of Rosh is the prince of all these, as we see from the text. Rosh is the root of the modern term “Russia.” “Gesenius considers it beyond doubt that by Rosh is intended the tribe on the north of the Taurus, so called from the neighborhood to the Rha, or Volga, and that in this name and tribe we have the first traces of the Russ or Russian nation.”—McClintock and Strong's Encyclopedia. “This early Biblical notice of so great an empire is doubly interesting from its being a solitary instance.”—Id.
The prince of Russia therefore, as outlined in prophecy, held under his sway Magog, Meshech, and Tubal. And all these are parts of the Russian nation of to-day. Therefore this is a prophecy of Russia. Not only is it a prophecy of the extent of Russia's dominion, but it views Russia from the standpoint of the last days. For in connection with this record of what the Russian nation is doing, we read these significant words in Eze. 39:17–20: “And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God: Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. . . . And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God.” This same prophecy is brought to view in Rev. 19:17, 18, and is given in connection with the second coming of Christ, and reads as follows: “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.” The verses before and after these plainly bring to view the second coming of Christ.
So we see that these chapters in Ezekiel bring to view the Russian power at the time of the end. The power that is spoken of in the prophecy is represented as coming from the “north quarters,” and this is true of Russia in a special sense; for she occupies almost the entire northern part of the continents of Europe and Asia, and consequently holds more territory in the north than any other power in the world.
In the fourth verse of the thirty-eighth chapter, Russia is represented as going forth, and then being drawn back from the place into which it had entered. This scripture says that this power was drawn back by a hook being placed into its jaws. This being symbolic language, it is necessarily not a literal hook. But the thirty-ninth chapter and the second verse speaks of the Russian power being turned back by a hook of six teeth (margin). It appears, therefore, that the Russian power entered into some place from which it was drawn back by a constraining force that was composed of six divisions. If we look at the recent history of Russia,—for this prophecy, as we have seen, relates to the time just before Christ's coming,—we observe that this is just what occurred in the Turko-Russian War of 1877 and in the Berlin Treaty that followed. Russia had entered the Turkish domain, and would have held a part of it if she had not been drawn back by the powers that drew up the Berlin Treaty. There were just six Powers that were present at Berlin and drew up the treaty whereby Russia was compelled to give up her cherished hopes of holding what she would have possessed had not these powers interfered. The powers present were England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Turkey.
But we see from the eighth verse of the thirty-eighth chapter, that Russia shall enter again, in the latter days, into this country from which she was drawn back, or the country “that is brought back from the sword.” In the fourth verse of this chapter we see that when Russia goes forth the next time, it shall be with its entire652army, having many horsemen and well equipped for battle. And they make an exceedingly great army. She does not go forth this time alone, but is allied with several other powers. Persia is the first one that is mentioned as allied with her. And the person who has watched the recent dealings of Russia in Persia knows that Russia practically controls that country at present. The newspapers have shown how Russia has gained control of the finances of the Persian kingdom, and thereby practically controls it. It was the policy of Peter the Great as outlined in his last will that Russia should gain Persia, as that opened up the way to the East and India. It is evident, therefore, that Persia will be with Russia when she goes forth.
Ethiopia, the next mentioned, is the country that to-day is called Abyssinia. It would seem incredible that Russia should ever come in contact with, or have any influence with, this small nation, which is situated in the heart of Africa. But a judge in Colorado, on the basis of this prophecy, made the statement that such would be the case; and a year had not elapsed before the prediction was verified. For Abyssinia became involved in the African difficulties of a few years ago, and sought and obtained the alliance of Russia.
Lybia, the next mentioned, is that part of Africa that to-day is known as the Barbary States. And why she will be related to Russia is not difficult of comprehension when we remember that she is allied to France, and France is the next power brought to view. Gomer is another of the grandsons of Noah. He first came into Russia, but being driven out, finally settled in the territory that to-day comprises the French Republic, and here his descendants colonized. That Russia and France are allied powers has been evident to most people for a number of years. Not long ago that alliance was renewed. One of the leading San Francisco papers came out with the large headlines, “France and Russia Renew Their Alliance.” It further said that President Loubet was decorated by Emperor Nicholas with the Order of St. Andrew. The Russian ambassador, on handing the Order of St. Andrew to the president of the French Republic, said: “His majesty desires you to see in this act a proof of the high esteem he entertains for you and a token of his unchanging sentiments for the growth of this friendly and allied nation.” M. Loubet replied as follows, “His majesty has wished to testify once again to the persistence of his feelings toward this friendly and allied nation: we, in turn, see in this action a proof of his majesty's wish to draw still closer the ties which unite the two governments and peoples. I beg you to transmit to his majesty my gratitude and to assure him that the French government is striving every day to maintain this union so profitable to the two nations.” M. Loubet entertained the Russian ambassador at dinner. And in the evening a torchlight procession followed, the streets being gayly decorated with the intertwined flags of France and Russia. Thus we plainly see that the prophecy is fulfilling exactly in the events taking place around us to-day.
The next name mentioned is that Togarmah. Togarmah is another grandson of Noah, and he settled in the country that to-day is inhabited by the Armenians. It would naturally follow that when Russia enters into Turkey to take it, the Armenians, who have suffered such atrocities at the hands of the Turks, would be with the power that fights against the Turks.
Thus we have indicated what the prophecy outlines as the Russian policy, and what nations will ally themselves with her. Peter the Great outlined in his last will a policy that the Russian nation has followed as far as possible. One of the main points in this policy was the capture of Constantinople. To this end Russia has been working ever since. But she has been hindered from fulfilling her cherished plan thus far. But the prophecy indicates that the next time she attempts its capture, she will follow a different tactic. Previously she has always been alone in her endeavors to accomplish this end, but the next time she attempts it, she will not only have all the force at her command that she can muster, but allied powers besides.
England, on the other hand, is the leader of those that are opposed to Russia's policy of gaining Constantinople and Persia. The first would interfere with her commerce on the Mediterranean Sea, and the latter would open the way for Russia to gain possession of India. There is much talk of an Anglo-American alliance, and the tide of public sentiment seems to be turning in that direction, and undoubtedly our government will be involved in such a contest when it comes. One of the leading professors in church history has said that the people of England may have their differences in church matters and politics; but if it came to Russia taking Constantinople, they would stand as one man to oppose it.
With a powerful nation like England and all the allies that she could obtain, opposed by Russia with all her allies, all the world would be involved in battle. And when we consider that these foremost nations of the world will be armed with the destructive weapons that are constantly growing more deadly, what a battle that will be! Surely the word of the prophet will be verified that “the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.” The reason they are not buried is that there are so many slain and so few to bury them that they remain unburied. The next event follows naturally upon this. The angel calls for all the beasts of prey and the birds of prey to come to the feast and eat the flesh of the men of war and the horses, as brought to view, as we have already noticed, in Eze. 39:17–20.
As we see all things about us indicating that this time is drawing near, it brings good cheer to him that is trusting God, for he can look up and see that his redemption is drawing near. And to the one that is out of the ark of safety it should be an invitation telling him that there is shelter from the approaching storm in the Lord Jesus Christ.