The Marshaling of the Nations

THE EASTERN QUESTION

In the eleventh chapter of Daniel, history itself is sketched. It is not a prophecy given under the symbol of a lion, or great image, or something of that king: it is history itself; a sketch by the angel of God. many, in reading the eleventh chapter of Daniel, not reading it in connection with the tenth chapter, think that Daniel is the speaker in the eleventh chapter. But he is not the speaker; Daniel is only the one who wrote it. The angel of God is the speaker; and he is the angel Gabriel, as will be seen from the tenth chapter. MON 28.2

Now this eleventh chapter of Daniel is a sketch of the history from the beginning of the reign of Darius the Mede until the time of the setting up of the kingdom of God, as is shown by the words of the last verses of the eleventh chapter and the first few verses of the twelfth. It reaches from the first year of Darius the Mede until the resurrection of the dead and the end of the world. The first part of the twelfth chapter reads:— MON 28.3

“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; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise [“teachers,” margin] shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end.” Daniel 12:1-4. MON 29.1

Now, this angel says to you and to me, as he said to Daniel: “Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all; and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.” That was Xerxes. MON 29.2

Then the angel, speaking of Grecia, continues: “And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.” MON 29.3

As is well known, after the death of Alexander the Great, his kingdom was divided into four parts. One general took the western part—Greece and Macedonia proper. Another general took the northern party—Thrace and Bithynia, the territory of which Constantinople is now the center. Another took the eastern division, from the Mediterranean Sea to the border of India. And another took the southern part—Egypt, Arabia, and Cyprus. Thus the kingdom was divided exactly toward the four points of the compass. MON 30.1

Presently these four generals fell into dissensions and wars, and the power was merged into two—“the king of the North” and “the king of the South.” The king of the North occupied all of the northern part, and the Adriatic Sea to the River Indus; and the king of the south, all the rest. From about the sixth to the sixteenth verse of Daniel 11, the angel talks about the king of the North and the king of the South, in the history of the successors of Alexander. And the sixteenth verse of Daniel 11, the king of the North and the king of the South are not specified again until the fortieth verse, and “the time of the end.” MON 30.2

So, when we come to the fortieth verse of the eleventh of Daniel, we are not reading of affairs away back in the days of the empire of Greece, nor of the affairs of Rome, but of affairs down here at “the time of the end,” as mentioned in the thirty-fifth verse. Other verses also show the same thing. And bear in mind that the king of the South is always in Egypt, and the king of the North is always the power occupying the territory of which Constantinople is the center. And all the world knows that since 1453 A. D., the territory of which Constantinople is the center, has been held and ruled by the Turks. Then the king of the North at the time of the end is the Turkish dominion. MON 30.3

Now, the last verse of the eleventh chapter of Daniel, speaking of the king of the North, the power controlling the territory of which Constantinople is the center, says, “And 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.” MON 31.1

For fifty years or more the world has been expecting the end of Turkey to come. The existence of the Turkish nation has been all this time, and is to-day, due to the common consent of the great powers of Europe. Turkey exists to-day as a power solely by the agreement of Russia, Britain, Germany, and other powers of Western Europe. Only five years ago—in 1895—as will be remembered, there were riots in Constantinople, and conflicts between the Armenians and the Turks, in Asia Minor and Armenia. At that time the people of Britain and of the United States actually demanded of the nations of Europe that they should abolish the Turkish Government. At that time, in Constantinople, for at least ten days, the Armenians expected—whether for cause or not—that war would be declared on Turkey, and that the British fleet would appear on the waters of Marmora and the Bosporus, for their deliverance from Turkish rule. ⁶ Every morning, for ten days, when they awoke, the Armenians expected to see the British fleet in front of Constantinople. The people of England and the United States urged and almost demanded that their governments should move in the matter, and that the dominion of the Turk should be blotted out. But Lord Salisbury, the ninth day of November, in the year 1895, gave the answer of the Powers to all the world on that question. In his speech at the Mansion House in London, he said:— MON 31.2

“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.” MON 32.1

So, the reason that Turkey abides there is that the peace of Christendom may be preserved, and to avoid a general war among these mighty nations. And Turkey can not abide except these mighty nations do hold her there, and say that there she shall remain. When, in the midst of those troubles, in 1895, it was proposed by certain ambassadors that a certain thing be done, the emperor of Austria said in response, “We do not dare to do that: to take that step would be only setting fire to the powder.” So these mighty nations look upon the situation among themselves—of which Turkey is the key—as a powder magazine, with the train ready laid, and the danger is constantly that the fire will be set to the train, involving “in a dangerous and calamitous contest,” as Lord Salisbury said, all of the great powers of the world. MON 32.2

As Turkey can not exist except upon the agreement of the great powers—Russia, Britain, France, Germany—there is the point at which these powers meet, and around which they turn as upon a pivot. And when their agreement does go to pieces, then what do they expect as the only consequence?—Only “a dangerous and calamitous contest,” involving “all that is most powerful and civilized in Europe.” And not only do these nations expect it, Turkey herself expects it. While I was in Turkey a gentleman who is a native there, said to me that a Turkish judge while talking with him just a short time before, said: “We expect that the powers of Europe will take from us Constantinople. We shall have to leave here; and the seat of the government will have to be established in Asia; and it will finally be established in Jerusalem. And then the nations will still come and fight against us, at Jerusalem, to take that form us. And when they do, Messiah and Mahomet will come.” MON 33.1

Now what says the Scripture?—“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.” Constantinople is “between the seas;” but there is no “glorious holy mountain” there. What one place on the earth could be referred to in the Bible by the term “the glorious holy mountain”?—Jerusalem, to be sure, Jerusalem alone. The Turks themselves call Jerusalem “the holy.” It has been truly said, “In every age the memory of Jerusalem has stirred the deepest feelings: Jews, Christians, and Mahommedans turn to it with reverent affection.” MON 33.2

So, then, when the Word says that “he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain,” it means that he will move his palace from Constantinople to Jerusalem. What then?—“Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” That is what the Turks, and the mighty powers, and the people of the nations, all expect. MON 34.1

And what then?—“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.” And that is exactly what all the great powers, and the people of God, expect. MON 34.2

And what then?—“And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.” And that is also what the people of God expect. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Daniel 12:1-4. The world is just now in that “time of the end.” And the book is unsealed, to be searched through and through, that men may be wise and be delivered in that great day. MON 34.3

Now, all of these great nations move around Turkey as around a pivotal point. And that which they expect to come out of all this is precisely what the Scripture says shall come to pass—the end of the world. MON 35.1