the Church is waking up to the importance of prophetic study. "Coming
events cast their shadows before," is a trite but true saying, and here
as true as anywhere. Men feel in their fears and hopes the pressure of
prophecy. The Church is remarkably anxious and unrest. Governments are
suspicious and confused. The populace are restless and threatening.
Indeed, everything conspires in Church, State, and people, to forecast
the future. A thunderstorm is felt before it is seen or heard. It
shadows the mind, thrills the nerves, and pains the rheumatic limbs.
Many in 1858 felt war coming in our own country. Many were at a loss to
interpret their fears. Some, however, interpreted the signs of the time
and sounded an alarm.
The few years to come are pregnant with angry forces. Men are busy in
Russia, Germany, France, England, and America, sowing the winds, and the
harvest will surely be whirlwinds. But, beyond all, the sky is clear.
War ceases, commerce revives, the nations accept a settled peace, science
and religion join hand in hand to prepare the wastes and woes of war.
The beast is overcome, Anti-Christ is slain, and the dragon is banished
from the earth. Jerusalem again rises in splendour from the grave of
desolation. Again Canaan will become the glory of all lands, and
Jerusalem the glory of Canaan. Here, again, after centuries of
wandering, shall the throne of David find rest, and on it one of David's
seed, chosen and anointed of God, accepted of men, and served by the
nations. Crowned and imperial Salem shall become the home of her
long-captive sons and daughters. Israel and Judah shall meet together,
and shall be one stick, one people, having one head, one throne, one
city, one Lord, even Jesus. "Therefore, they shall come and sing in the
height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for
wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of
the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not
sorrow any more at all" (Jeremiah xxxi. 12).
No one can read the prophecies that find their fulfilment after the
battle of Armageddon--or, as the prophets have it, "after those
days"--without being ravished with delight. Israel in her palmy days,
and Judah in her glory! A nation called of God, and ruled by God through
David or Solomon; how inviting! When Heaven was their Defence and
Provider; when the fidelity of men to God was enough of defence, and the
morality of a people was a rich manure giving an abundant harvest in
field, stall, and orchard; then we see the true position of a nation, its
grandeur and prosperity. I am convinced that morality has a more
intimate relation with the forces and wealth of nature than we are in the
habit of believing. God can give increased measure to the harvest,
fruitfulness to the vine, plenty in the orchard, increase in the stall,
and addition to the household. Time upon time are these blessings
promised by the prophets to Israel and Judah in the latter day.
Take notice of a few statements of the prophets responding to those
times--the times that will ensue after the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and
the Jews are again possessed of, and settled in, Palestine. Jeremiah, in
the 30th chapter and 31st, refers to those times: "For lo, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of My people,
Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause them to return to the
land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it"--referring
to this time and the battle of Armageddon, in which Israel will be tested
as we have before shown. "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is
like it; it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved
out of it." Now, we ask, why will it be specially a time of trouble? We
answer, Because of the strength of the combined forces that will be
arrayed against Israel--that is, England. The forces, as set forth in
the Scriptures, are _thirteen on one side_, _led by Russia_, and _four on
the other_, which will be _led by England_. The _thirteen_ are: 1st,
Gog; 2nd, Magog; 3rd, Rosh; 4th, Meshech; 5th, Tubal; 6th, Persia; 7th,
Ethiopia; 8th, Libya; 9th, Gomer; 10th, Togarmah; 11th, the Beast; 12th,
the Dragon; and 13th, Anti-Christ. The _four_ are: 1st, Sheba; 2nd,
Dedan; 3rd, Merchants of Tarshish with all their young lions; 4th, the
Jews and Israelites settled in Palestine, that will not be led astray by
Anti-Christ.
To understand the prophets when forecasting the future, we must keep in
mind that in speaking of a nation's destiny in the future, they would
speak of it by the name it had at that time, if such a nation had an
existence at that time. But in course of time, such nations would change
their name, and sometimes locality; in such a case they must be found.
For instance, if one desires to know the destiny of Turkey, he will find
it set forth by the prophets under the name of Edom and Esau. Moab and
Ammon are found in the Poles and Hungarians; they were the sons of Lot.
In all parts of the world the children of Abraham have an attachment for
each other. Thus India was peopled at first by the descendants of
Abraham; hence they will mix with, and accept English rule sooner than
any other people. "But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham
had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he
yet lived, Eastward, unto the East country" (Gen. xxv. 6). If we trace
back the origin of a people to their head or founder, we will better
understand their peculiarities and national idiosyncrasies. Study
Ishmael to understand the Arabs, Esau to understand the Turks, Ammon and
Moab to understand the Poles and Hungarians. Study the character and
condition of Manasseh in Egypt, as being brought up in a palace, and
being the lawful heir, but deprived of his birthright by a Providence
which he could not understand, and you have at once a key to the Pilgrim
character, and the characteristics of a real American--why he hates
titles, kings, and aristocracies. But he forgets not the place of his
youth when he had the great seal made; for on the reverse of the great
seal of the United States you will have the figure of a Pyramid crowned
with the All-seeing eye. No Tribe but the Tribe of Manasseh could say,
or did say, "We are a great people." Yet so this Tribe said to Joshua
(see Josh. xvii.). So we often say, "We are a great people."
Rachel and Leah, the two wives of Jacob, are the real source of the
separation of the Ten Tribes of Israel from Judah. Each wife sought to
have her son as a leader. Thus between Judah and Joseph began the spirit
of rivalry. Ephraim took up the cause of Rachel. David and Saul's
bitterness lies here. David stood for Leah, and Saul for Rachel. The
descendants of the North of Ireland, being from the Tribe of Dan, have
ever been distinct from the rest of the Irish in features, enterprise,
spirit and religion; for the others are the Canaanites of old, the
Philistines.
Who do the thirteen enemies stand for to-day? Let me answer you briefly.
Gog stands for the Caucasians or mountain tribes of Caucasus. Magog
covers the inhabitants and country North of the Caucasian mountains, and
they are known as Tartars. Rosh, or Roosh, means the real Russians.
Their ruler is called by the Prophet Ezekiel _Nasi Roosh_. We translate
it the chief prince of Meshech. This portion, or people of Russia, are
the old Babylonians, hence the hate and rivalry between England and that
nation. Meshech means the Muscovites, who made Moscow what it is. Tubal
is found in the Siberians. Meshech and Tubal are generally mentioned
together in the Scriptures, and, strange to say, they are found together
in history to-day. Moscow is the capital of Meshech, for though to the
world St. Petersburgh seems to be, yet every imperial document is signed
and dated Moscow. Tobolski is the capital of Tubal or Siberia. Persia
still retains its ancient name, and will be easily recognised. Also the
same with Ethiopia. Libya takes in a portion of the African race. Gomer
stands for the Germans in part, for those who descended from Gomer. From
this word Gomer is Gomeron, Gemren, and the country Germia, hence,
Germany and Germans. Togarmah includes the people of Independent
Tartary. The Dragon includes China. The Beast, the Jesuits and their
followers, which will take in France, Spain, Italy, and South America;
and at first divide even England, especially Ireland, and the United
States. Anti-Christ will be chiefly sustained by the Jews, who will have
been settled in Palestine.
The four opposing forces led by England: Sheba represents India, who is
already training for this time of battle. Dedan embraces Arabia,
especially that part occupied by the Sultan of Muscat. Merchants of
Tarshish and all the young lions, means England and her colonies, in
which is embraced the United States. Manasseh will have to stretch out a
helping hand to Jacob in the time of his trouble, for she cannot allow
liberty to be enslaved, and freedom of worship and conscience to be
trampled under foot. The plague will come here sooner than we think, by
a civil and internal division among ourselves, which will force us to
take part. The Jews that are not carried away with Anti-Christ will join
with their brethren of Israel. The called, the chosen, and the faithful,
will be one party, and they will be on the Lord's side.
If during the late Turkish war we could have had our despatches agreeable
to ancient names of people and country, they would have sounded queer.
Instead of reading of the Russians passing the Caucasus, and moving upon
Erzeroum by way of Kars, we should have read: Rapid advance of the
Babylonians under the chief prince of Meshech. Successful passage of the
Pison. The whole land of Havilah occupied. The men of Togarmah rally at
Gihon. Fierce fighting in Eden. The invaders defeated in the mountains
of Ararat. For according to ancient names of people and country, such
was the fact. It is comforting to all God's people to know from His Word
that there is a time of peace; that there is a golden age in the near
future. Dr. McKay has the Christian idea in his poem:
"There is a good time coming, boys,
Wait a little longer;
Let us aid it all we can,
Every woman, every man,
The good time coming."
When will the 1,335 days of years, spoken of in the text, end? We
answer, About the year 1957. And why that year? Because these days
evidently date there, beginning from the time the daily sacrifice is
taken away and the city trodden under foot. The little goat horn of
Daniel viii. 9 stands, we have before shown you, for 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." It stands
for Mahommedanism, which was to overturn Christianity for a given period,
a time, times, and a half time, or in figures, 1260. Now Mahommed was
accepted and crowned at Mecca in the year 622. If we add 1260 and 622,
we have 1882--a time that is very plainly pointed out in the Pyramid.
Daniel says, "Seventy weeks are determined upon Thy people and upon Thy
holy city," Jerusalem. These weeks put into prophetic years make 490,
which, of course, brings us to the time when Jerusalem was destroyed by
Titus. Daniel asked how long the vision concerning the daily sacrifice
and transgression of desolation to give the sanctuary and people to be
trodden down? The answer was, Unto 2,300 days, taking a day for a year.
Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70. Take this from 490 and we have
420. Now these 420 years taken from 2,300 will bring 1880. Then the
sanctuary is to be cleansed--that is, Jerusalem will be in the possession
of England. She now is.
From about 1880, or 1882, England will possess Jerusalem. In the twelfth
chapter of Daniel, eleventh verse, we find thirty days added to the
1,200, making 1,290; these added thirty years denote the time England
will have to contend for her right to Palestine. It will finally be
acknowledged, however, by all nations. In 1935 the battle of Armageddon
will end, but Palestine will not be fully settled down to a peaceful
possession till 1957. Then the government will be fully established and
acknowledged all over the world. The kings and Gentile nations will have
gone up to Jerusalem and given in their adherence. Then all the world
will be federated to David's throne. The year 1957 I arrive at by the
same rule as the other--1,335 when added to 622, makes 1,957. "Blessed,"
says Daniel, "are they who see that time."
The world is to undergo some marvellous changes these next few
years--mechanically, politically, socially, and morally; the telephone,
the phonograph, the microphone, the telemachole and coming improvements
will transform our modes of labour and learning beyond our present
conception. God times inventions and improvements to the advancement of
His kingdom.
I do not regard inventions as mere accidents, but as the outcoming of a
Divine intent through human agencies. Watts and Wesley both did good
service for the Church and the world. Edison and others of kindred minds
are scientific prophets. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness
thereof." All is made subservient to the progress of the kingdom of
heaven. The doctrine of the evolution of man as taught by Darwin is
neither complimentary to man or God; but the doctrine of devolution is.
Man is a developing creature; a creature who takes centuries to grow in.
The devolution of God is through man by means of all the increasing
facilities and agencies that make man stronger, wiser, and better. The
secret powers and forces of nature are revealed to man in the ratio of
his ability to apply them, on the same scale as we instruct our children.
In the latter days, or the period spoken of by Daniel, nature will be
Divinely prompted with an impulse of generosity not now known, for then
men will be wise enough, strong enough, and good enough, to use the same
and not abuse. The prophetic teachings glow with promises of regaling
plenty, peace and good will in those days. "I will multiply upon you man
and beasts; and they shall increase and bring fruit; and I will settle
you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your
beginnings; and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezek. xxxvi. 11).
Again: "I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the
field, that ye receive no more reproach of famine, among the heathen." I
submit and believe that all this God will do by what men are pleased to
call natural law. The Divine will not rudely break in upon His own
established laws.
Sin impairs the energy and growth of man, and so infringes upon Nature.
As man frees himself from the bondage and sequences of sin, he will rise
higher and higher in his command and authority over Nature's forces.
Three several times the earth has been cursed, which curse is gradually
removed as man returns unto his God in loving and obedient service. "And
now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to
receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground,
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength" (Gen. iv. 11). The
secret of a world's wealth and peace lies here, and it were well if
reformers and agitators understood this. For they work best who work in
harmony with God and His laws.
[Picture: Pyramid picture]
"In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the
land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord; and it
shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the
land of Egypt."--Isaiah xix. 19.
THE STONE WITNESS. {159}
DISCOURSE XVII.
THE GREAT PYRAMID--WHO JOB WAS--WHO BUILT THE PYRAMID--WHAT IT WAS BUILT
FOR--AN EPITOME OF THE EARTH--THE HISTORY OF MAN CONTAINED IN IT, PAST
AND FUTURE--SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE, ETC., ETC.
The wonderful discourses of the Rev. Dr. Wild, of Brooklyn, were
continued last Sunday evening, before a thronged congregation in Elm
Place Church. Under the organ gallery, behind the pulpit, was a
representation of the Pyramid, or as the learned doctor terms it, "the
stone Bible," its massive rectangular dark stone foundation and some of
the most interesting of its interior passages, chambers, and mysteries.
All eyes were fastened in scrutiny upon it, well knowing that some
revelation of unusual Christian interest would be made by the Doctor from
it as soon as his lecture commenced. The preliminary exercises of
singing by a well-trained choir and prayer were therefore impatiently
listened to by many whose thoughts were concentrated on the wonders of
the Pyramid and its astounding confirmation of the prophetic Scriptures.
Dr. Wild read a lesson from Job xxxviii., remarking that the author of
that book was also the engineering director or architectural author of
the Pyramid and identical with Shem and Melchisedec. The book of Job is
the oldest book in the world by 200 or 300 years. Shem, or Job, was
ninety-eight years old when he entered the ark, and he lived thirty years
after Abraham, with whom therefore he shook hands, as well as with
Methuselah, who shook hands with Adam. Only one man, therefore, stood
between Adam and Shem, and only two, or not quite two, between Adam and
Abraham. The book of Berosus, of Babylon, is the only one that compares
with Job in antiquity. This was the age of tradition before Moses
compiled the first portions of it. In the days of Abraham, Shem was the
patriarch, or oldest, of his family; and it was therefore to him he did
homage, according to the patriarchal custom, under the name of
Melchisedec, when returning from the slaughter of the kings. Shem had
brought with him from the days before the flood much of the knowledge and
wisdom which had been accumulated in the earth during the 2,000 years
previous to that event, and which was swept away when only eight persons
were saved in the ark. We have been told that the human race has
gradually improved, and that our ancestors in far off ages were monkeys,
or something of that sort, but the remains of the ruins and knowledge of
antiquity show everything the reverse of this to be the truth. Look at
that Pyramid. We could not build it to-day, with all our boasted
science. It will bear in every respect the closest scientific scrutiny.
Our greatest scientists are only beginning to comprehend the depths of
its mysteries, yet it is over 4,000 years old. The capstone on top of it
is a Pyramid in itself, in miniature, unlike anything of the kind or any
other building on the earth. The reverend gentleman then continued to
read from Job xxxviii., and shew that the writer of it was master of
astronomical and geographical science and the builder of the Pyramid,
which is a miniature of the measurement of the earth and indicates the
history of the human race. After this preliminary dissertation he took
for his text Isaiah xxviii. 29: "This also cometh forth from the Lord of
hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working."
The Bible is a growing book, being more read and better understood as the
years pass by; and as men shall increase in knowledge and power, so the
Bible will gain in influence and authority. Opposition to its teaching,
and vaunting denial of its authority, shall be made subservient to its
interests by goading on the Church to a wiser and more noble defence and
exposition of the same. No theology can levy upon the well-defined facts
of science in confirmation of the sublime teachings of inspiration. The
Christian student need not hold himself in timid dread for fear the
scientist will discover aught in the realms of nature that will
contradict the Word of God: for as sure as God is the Author of both, so
surely shall we find an agreement between revelation and science at every
point truly understood--increased light means increased evidence.
Nations and men, nature and Providence, are united witnesses for God, and
the Scriptures, and the more we know of the past, the better shall we
understand the present and forecast the future. Let us recognise the
future. Let us recognise the important difference between the Bible
subjectively and objectively--that is, between what the Bible really is
and what men think it is. Let us be free enough, bold enough, and wise
enough, to claim the Bible itself. Let us unyoke it from tradition,
which claims to be superior, or even equal. Let us divorce it from
councils, from creeds, from sects and denominations; let us lift it up
out of the ecclesiastical rut of ages. Let us with a commendable pride
count ourselves worthy and able to formulate our own creeds, make our own
prayers and confessions, accounting that the liberties of our fathers
have been bequeathed to their children, and that the same God who gave
them liberty and power is no less gracious to us, their offsprings.
Traditions, councils, creeds, and degrees are worth much unto us as aids
to a higher life, and a nobler civilisation. The Christian fathers, the
Luthers, Calvins, Knoxes, Wesleys, and others, were our servants, as we
will be the servants of coming generations. They worked grandly, they
wrought well, they procured for us a goodly heritage; to them we are
indebted. Yet it was not their purpose nor the design of Providence to
enslave us, or to stereotype the Church for the ages to come. Increased
light is increased evidence, enabling us the better to understand the
Word of God. When a publisher has stereotyped a book, he is naturally
loath to make any change or correction; so Churches who have stereotyped
the Bible are very unwilling to change, to receive light. Hence, they
are sometimes found opposing the march of a better civilisation, proving
and sustaining all manner of institutions and tyrannies: the torturing
and terrible Inquisition of Spain, the punishment and hanging of supposed
witches by England and New England, the bondage and slavery of the South.
So, to prove their creeds and systems correct, they each have a mode of
their own, Catholic, Episcopalian, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist,
&c. _So also_, theologians have often been impatient to reconcile the
Scriptures with history, even to suggest mistakes in the sacred record.
Instance Daniel being made the THIRD RULER. _They supposed it meant
second_, but later researches show that Babylon had two rulers at that
time--namely, Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar--so Daniel was made a third.
See the remains of Borsippia, near Babylon (Dan. v. 29). Now we know
that both Daniel and Berosus, the old Babylonian historians, were right,
and the Bible was right in using the word third. God in His revelation
has always been equal to man's need. Tradition--Abraham saw Shem, for
Shem lived some thirty years after Abraham's death. Shem, and
Melchisedek, and Job, are likely the same person. Certainly, Shem and
Melchisedek are the same, and by Egyptian historians called Philitis.
This Philitis was the builder of the Great Pyramid. Now Shem saw
Methuselah and Methuselah Adam. Thus, then, tradition would be
sufficient. As tradition failed, the written Word began. There is
little doubt now but that _Shem_, called also Melchisedek, was the
builder of the Pyramid, being instructed of God, as his father Noah had
been in building the ark, and as Moses with the tabernacle, and Solomon
with the temple, as the prophet in the text and context shows that the
wisdom of the man is often the gift of God. _See Moses also_. "And the
Lord spake unto Moses, saying: See, I have called by name Bezaleel, the
son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the Tribe of Judah; and I have filled him
with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in
knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship: to devise cunning works, to
work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to
set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.
And, behold, I have given him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the Tribe
of Dan; and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom
that they may make all that I have commanded thee" (Exodus xxxi. 1-6).