DISCOURSE VII.

FUTURE HISTORY OF THE WORLD-THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PAPACY COMMENCED-IRELAND TO BE FREE AND INDEPENDENT OF ENGLAND AND ROME-FUTURE GLORY OF BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES.

"Thou, O King, sawest and beheld a great image. This great image whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible."-Dan. ii. 31.

About 2,500 years ago the kingdom of Babylon was strong, great, and prosperous. The king of this vast empire is known in history as Nebuchadnezzar. His reign had been marked with great victories over the surrounding nations. The mighty Empire of a.s.syria he had conquered; Egypt he had wasted and almost destroyed; Palestine he had reduced to strange and pitiable desolation, having carried the Jewish inhabitants captive into the region of Babylon. Among these captives we find Daniel, the prophet of Judah. In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's consolidated reign, as king over Babylon and a.s.syria, he dreamed a dream which gave him much anxiety of mind and troubled him very much. This dream he could not remember nor explain, save that it had left a terrible impression on his mind. The wise men were confounded, for they could neither declare the vision or its meaning. The king, in his rage, decreed them all to death. At this point appears Daniel, one of the captives of Judah. Moved of G.o.d, he presents himself before the king and makes known to him the vision and interpretation.

The king had seen a great metallic image, excellent in brightness and terrible in form. It was a human figure of ma.s.sive proportions, standing erect with outstretched arms, and of a mixed and strange composition.

The head was of fine gold. The breast and arms were of silver. The belly and thighs of bra.s.s. The legs of iron, the feet part of iron and part of clay. While the king was gazing on this monstrous figure with intense interest, his attention was arrested by the appearance of a small stone-this stone was alone; there appeared no hands handling it or moving it. It was cut out of the mountain without hands. In this stone there appears to be a good deal of the supernatural. At once this little stone a.s.saults the image, beginning at the feet. The battle is surely unequal; the battle continues, and during the struggle the stone actually grows; the image falls to pieces-the feet, thigh, breast, and head-and victory is with the stone. By the time the image is wholly destroyed the stone has become a mountain; or, as Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the bra.s.s, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the Summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."

In this vision and interpretation we have a line of history laid bare so clearly that we need not err. The beginning is the time and kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. The image stands for four great earthly monarchies, extending down through the centuries even to this time and day-and a little further; for these monarchies are not yet wholly destroyed, and the stone-kingdom does not yet fill the world. Of this fifth, or stone kingdom, there is to be no end by conquest, or decay, or succession.

Daniel says that this kingdom shall not be left to other people-that is, it shall never be succeeded.

The peculiar features of the stone-kingdom make it interesting to ascertain what kingdom, monarchy, and people stand for it; for such kingdom, though small at the beginning, is to grow, prosper, and continue to the end of time. Guided by the Scriptures and history, let us look for these four earthly monarchies; and the better to accomplish our task, let us stretch the giant figure on his back; then his head of gold will rest in Babylon, his silver breast and arms will take in Media and Persia, his belly and thighs will take in Greece, and his legs and feet will take in Rome. Thus, then, the gold head stood for Babylon, and is now in this day represented and found in Russia-for Russia is a continuation of Babylon. The _Czar_ is on the line of Nebuchadne_zzar_.

This gold-headed kingdom will be the last destroyed-the destruction begins at the feet. Russia, therefore, has yet a lease of life and prosperity; but, finally, she too will yield the contests and disappear before the stone-kingdom. The gold stands for work and endurance, as the head is significant of supremacy; but the stone will finally destroy it.

The silver, next in value and endurance, of which were the arms and breast, stands for Persia. Centuries ago Persia was the great Power of the earth. At one time it would seem as if she never would decay or ever have a rival; but her day came, and she has dwindled down to the little kingdom and monarchy-the Persia of to-day. Her power is gone, she is consumptive, and will soon disappear as a separate kingdom. The present visit of the King of Persia to the Czar at St. Petersburg is not without meaning. The gold head of Russia will need the a.s.sistance of the arms of Persia by-and-bye.

The bra.s.s parts stand well and appropriately for ancient Greece-an Empire once so gigantic and powerful, a people so polished and learned, but long ago their time, and work, and place were marked out. And now the time is nearly gone and the work done, hence they will soon disappear. The present little kingdom of Greece is all that is left. Bra.s.s is in itself corrosive, so the Greek Empire has gradually eaten itself away. What sublime lessons the prophets of old taught us!

The iron and clay, of which were the legs and feet, stand for the great Roman Empire, which in its day was so solid and grand with its law and order, its soldiers and statesmen. This Empire that tried the hopeless experiment of mixing clay and iron-that is, Church and State as inaugurated by Constantine. This nation that tried to fuse together Paganism and Christianity. This nation that tried to stand on two equal feet, and to encompa.s.s the whole of man, body and spirit. Well might Daniel say of this brittle Empire that it should be partly strong and partly weak. In conscience and the empire of the soul Christ alone is King. No wonder that the Roman Empire has disappeared. The iron part is now entirely gone. The Pope and the Church of Rome foolishly arrogate to themselves to be this kingdom. They still try and believe in mixing the iron and clay-they yet claim authority in the spirit realm. Obedience to Christ and the Pope cannot be on the spiritual or clay side. No man can supremely serve two masters. On the iron side no man can be loyal to his country and the Pope at the same time. No man can serve two masters at the same time, both of which claim and demand supremacy. These things cannot be mixed. "And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."

How true the prophetic utterances of the prophet! The Catholics and Protestants do not mix easily, not socially, not politically, nor educationally. How are we to mix freely with those who think we are heretics and d.a.m.nable? How can we socially mix with a people so lordly in their claims and deficient in character as many are-a people who, when true to their profession, must be our secret or open enemies-who sink their manhood and parental claims, so as to depend upon the priest for forgiveness and on him for instruction? Thus, at the priest's command, the coming generations are divided and embittered in the fact of separate schools for Catholics and Protestants. These men of clay and lordly air, claim rights superior to the State, despising the State provision for education. Daniel said, "The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." If so, as sure as the iron part has disappeared, so will the clay.

Now a clearer view, a purer faith and greater liberty are dawning upon our Catholic friends, which is making many of them feel too manly and n.o.ble to be longer slaves to priest or Pope. Bereft of temporal power, they henceforth will have to win and fight their way, as others, on the purity of their doctrines and practice. In such a strife we can but wish them, and all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, great success.

Thus in the short outline of these four kingdoms we see enough to show us that G.o.d has kept His word. How marvellous are His ways! how complete His work!

Let us now look at this stone kingdom. This fifth kingdom is as much material and political as the other four, and stands for a king, country, and people. It does not come into existence until the image is perfect.

For it is while Nebuchadnezzar was looking at the image he saw the stone cut out of the mountain-its growth was gradual. Its work was to destroy this image and fill the world. As these kingdoms became weaker and smaller, it would become stronger and larger.

What king, country, and people respond to this kingdom? The answer is as easy as to find the other, if we keep our minds free from prejudice and open to truth.

First, this kingdom was of Divine origin. Second, it was small at first.

Third, the more it fights the more it grows. Fourth, it breaks in pieces this image, beginning at the feet. It is in fact the sworn enemy of all the four kingdoms. Fifth, it is to fill the world and thus become a universal kingdom and monarchy. In this latter sense it will be a fit type of the kingdom of Christ.

Just such a kingdom as this did G.o.d repeatedly promise to Abraham and his descendants. David's throne and seed royal are to be established before Him for ever. He promised to David's throne perpetuity, and that David's seed should always be on the throne-not in a spiritual sense as some think-but naturally and actually in this world.

G.o.d promised to Israel, as a people and a kingdom, such pre-eminence in origin, power, and growth. The answer, then, is simple and plain-England, as representing the Lost Tribes of Israel, and Queen Victoria being a direct descendant from David. For she came of James VI., of Scotland-he from Bruce and Duncan, and Malcolm, and Kenneth, and Kenneth through the kings of Argyleshire, Alpin, and Donald, and Fergus.

Then through the long line of Irish Kings from Earca to Heremon, of Tara, and he married Tea Tephi, the daughter of Zedekiah, who, through Jeremiah the prophet, had been hid from the destroying vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar. He killed all her brothers and kindred, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and took him a captive to Babylon, where he died.

Look also at the British nation, learned as they are, yet no historian can tell who the English were originally. Sharon Turner, the best and most trustworthy on the origin of the Saxons, fails to solve the question. He traces them into Central Asia, but there he stops. They here form part of the Aryan race, speaking the Sanscrit language, from which came the Greek and Latin. And from this place and people came forth the Goths and their language, and also the Saxons and their language came to view here. The German and Saxon both seem to have come forth from the Aryan stock.

The very place the Saxons came from is the very place where the Lost Tribes were carried captive to by the King of a.s.syria, about 725 years before Christ, as we read in the second book of Kings, seventeenth chapter. Take the very word Saxon. This word comes from the Sanscrit: Saka Suna. Saka means era, epoch, or date, and Suna means void, without.

Hence the word Saxon means a people whose origin is unknown-void of date.

True, Nebuchadnezzar saw no hands cutting the little stone out from the mountain. The origin of the English nation is hid because G.o.d cast away His people for a time-not for ever. It is this view of the stone kingdom that corresponds to the prophets, to history, especially to the English history.

The very island itself is insignificant, and no doubt was once joined to the continent of Europe. The formation on both sides of the English Channel-that is, on the French and English coasts, are the same-namely, chalk. The ocean in time past washed through a pa.s.sage, and thus prepared a place for exiled Israel to rest in, and renew their strength.

Why should this small island and a few and scattered people become so powerful, so as to sweep the sea, and dictate on land, constantly engaged in war, and though small, winning victory upon victory, and like the stone, growing stronger and stronger, after fighting the whole of Europe, giving liberties in religion that oftentimes imperilled her safety at home, opening her ports to all the world, and venturing to compete in trade with all nations?

How came they to take India, a country of so vast an extent, so powerful, rich, and chivalrous a country, at that time composed of sixteen separate and powerful nations, speaking thirty-six different languages, and numbering in population some 200,000,000?

With all her faults, still to her the world owes much. She has stood for liberty in person and conscience. The world has little to-day which enn.o.bles men and nations but what she has produced or aided in producing.

The right foot of the image stands for France, while the left signifies Spain. On these two feet long stood Rome, as all know. When these two feet were broken, then soon followed the downfall of Rome as an empire, and as they are conquered for Jesus, so will the empire of Rome, as a Church, fall.

In the year 1346 took place the battle of Cressey, led by Edward III.

Then the little stone fell on the right foot, and since then it has fallen on that same foot victoriously 218 times. On the left foot, Spain, thirty-five times. All this time this stone has been growing. In 1665 the English, under General Penn, took Jamaica, and every four years since they have added a colony. Now that little stone bears rule over fifty-five colonies, one empire, namely, India, and one dominion, Canada.

And yet, mighty as England was, she could not subdue the American provinces, feeble and scattered colonists as they were. Then they sought to fight against Providence. Old Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph, Ephraim, and Mana.s.seh, and then predicted their destiny, saying of Mana.s.seh, "He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a mult.i.tude of nations." So they are; and so Mana.s.seh is a great people in the American nation.

This stone cut out of the mountain has much to do and destroy; it is still watching the head of gold. Israel and Babylon are still face to face. Greece will first disappear, although England is trying to revive it. Next, Persia will go, then Babylon, or head of gold. Russia will have grown to giant-like proportions, and will finally measure swords with England. The stone will win. England will then move her royal residence and throne to Jerusalem. Every country and province may then be independent, like Canada, but federated to the central government.

Ireland will then be free, yes, doubly free-free from Rome and free from England as a State, but still federated to the central government. It is thus this stone will fill the earth. America will federate, the central government will be destroyed. State rights increase. These are some of the things suggested and taught by this vision.

LITTLE HORN AND TURKEY.

DISCOURSE VIII.

THE TURKS THE ISHMAELITES-ENGLAND AND RUSSIA TO PARt.i.tION THE MAHOMMEDAN EMPIRE-WHY ENGLAND SYMPATHISES WITH TURKEY.

"And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the South, and toward the East, and toward the pleasant land."-Daniel viii. 9.

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, in which he saw a great metallic image of human form. The head of gold stood for Babylon; the silver arms and breast for Persia; the bra.s.s belly and thighs for Greece; the iron legs and feet of iron and clay for Rome. To all this we find history has faithfully and beautifully responded.

A few years after this we find that Daniel has a dream, which is interpreted to him by an angel. From it we learn that the ten toes symbolised ten kingdoms which were to arise out of the Roman Empire.

In the chapter from which we take our text, we are introduced into the secrets of a vision which Daniel had. The place of the vision is on the banks of the River Ulai, in the province of Elam, and in the gorgeous palace of Shushan-a place and palace made famous and familiar to us by the doings of King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. In other words, the scene is changed from the palace of Babylon to the palace of Persia.

In this vision, Pesia is typified by a ram, the two horns of which represented Persia and Media, for they formed one Empire at this time, under the powerful rule and reign of Cyrus, who, coming from the East, pushed his conquests "Westward, and Northward, and Southward." "The two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last." From history we know that Media conquered Persia, and we know, also, that finally Persia gained ascendancy, so that the higher came up last, and is even in existence to-day as the small kingdom of Persia; but Media has long since disappeared.

While the seer Daniel was considering, behold an he-goat came from the West. This goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Horn generally symbolises power; here it symbolises a king of peculiar power, Daniel tells us. Goat-like, it bounded over the earth rapidly, pushing and goring its adversaries. Can any one at all acquainted with history fail to see how fitly and grandly this description of the goat forecasts the origin and progress of the Greek Empire?

Subst.i.tute Alexander the Great for the notable horn, and you at once mate history and this vision. Surely G.o.d has not left Himself without witnesses. "Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of G.o.d." So we may freely say unto the historians and students of history, Truly, in these things we see the finger of G.o.d.

Could any historian describe more faithfully and accurately the invasions, conquests, and victories of Alexander the Great, especially his a.s.sault on the Persians? How marvellous and simple the description by Daniel: "And he came to the ram that had two horns (Persia), which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power; and I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand."

And with the same majestic simplicity we have the downfall of Alexander and the division of his Empire described. Listen! "Therefore the he-goat waxed very great; and when he was strong the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven."

To fully understand the sacred writer here, you must call to mind a little of history, more and better, for all knowledge only aids us the better and better to read the Bible.

What beast save the goat could characterise Alexander and his reign? He was the son of Philip of Macedon, born 356 B.C., and died in 323. He began his reign at twenty years of age, and closed it in twelve years and eight months. No man in the same time ever fought so many battles, won so many victories, and subdued so many people. No man, before or since, ever ruled over so many people and such a kingdom. Queen Victoria is in these things his only rival. But with his sudden death the fruits of his victories are re-distributed. His Empire was divided into four parts; the four Diadochi were his successors. What lessons may men and nations learn by studying the prophecies!

"For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of G.o.d spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost;" and unto this sure word of prophecy we do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation" (2 Peter i. 20). As naturally as nature responds to the seasons, so will providence to prophecy. We can discern Spring-time, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. The garden will reveal to us Winter as distinct from Summer, so in interpreting prophecy we must always look for an agreement between providence and the world. As naturally as the goat symbolises Alexander, so will providence in natural history respond. Winter, with its winds, storms, and frost; with its leafless trees and desolate gardens, proclaim, beyond a doubt, which season of the four is bearing rule. Such a thing cannot be of private interpretation; and prophecy, when fulfilled, is as easy seen, and is not of private interpretation. A man is as foolish in forging prophecy as one would be in trying to forge Winter by putting artificial leaves on trees, and flowers on bushes. The thing is easily known if we exercise our reason. In this line of thought we are sorry to note that men have more faith than reason; hence the blunderings of prophetic writers, and the leaders of Adventism and Millenarianism. Prophecy unfulfilled commands and demands our faith-much more faith than reason, for it is impossible to see how some things can come to pa.s.s, but if they are subjects of prophecy they surely will, whether we understand them or not.

A prophecy fulfilled, however, appeals more to reason than faith, for if fulfilled, it can readily be demonstrated.