Till the end of next year the Armenians will suffer more than ever
before. Perhaps a million will be massacred yet, not only in Turkey,
but in Russia. The Jews, also, in great numbers, and not only the
Jews and the Armenians, but the Americans and Englishmen too. The key
rests in the character of the present Czar. Nicholas II is not like
his father or grandfather, a strong man. I will not discuss the moral
character of the two Alexanders, but I allow their powerful intellects
and strong wills. They favored the Armenians. But the present Czar
has no strength of character at all; he is weak both in intellect and
morals. The Sultan is called the sick man of Turkey, but the Czar is
the sick man of Russia. His short-sightedness in upholding Turkey is
one proof. Up to the time of the coronation next May you will see no
more massacres, for the Czar has ordered the Sultan to hold his hand,
that there may be a peaceful ceremony, not clouded with horrors; that
over, he will not only give the Sultan leave to unchain his dogs,
but he will unchain his own. The atrocities in Turkish Armenia will
be redoubled, and the Czar himself inflict on the Armenians all that
has been inflicted on the Jews. Even this is not all: The Czar will
instruct the Sultan to get rid of all American missionaries, either
banishing them as breeders of sedition, or, if they refuse to go,
requiring the United States government to order them back. Probably the
government will obey. Probably, also, the missionaries will not obey
the government; they will stay where they are. Then the Sultan will
say he is not responsible for their lives, and will issue secret orders
to kill them, which will be carried out. Further, the Czar will begin
a fresh persecution of the Jews, and order the Sultan to follow suit
on the Jews in Turkey, which will be done; no fear of the Sultan's
refusing an order to butcher anybody. Still more, the Czar will
command him in secret to banish the English missionaries from Turkey;
the Sultan will request the English government to call them back,
and there is little doubt that Lord Salisbury will comply; but they,
like the Americans, will refuse to go. Then they will be murdered by
secret orders from the Sultan, who will say he is not responsible for
it. These massacres will continue for two years more. The victims will
cry aloud, the Americans and English will have greater mass-meetings,
but the governments of both will do nothing. And Germany, Austria,
and Italy will look calmly on; if they act it will be with the Czar,
and not against him. Meantime both in Europe and America the war
preparations will continue with greater zeal and energy, until the
cup is full, until the crisis comes; then the noble blood of the
Anglo-Saxon race will begin to boil, and the English and American
people at once will be aroused like one man, and the governments
will have to yield. The wrathful Jews will contribute Jewish capital
for the war expenses; the wrathful Armenians throughout the world
will give both money and soldiers to the governments fighting their
battles. And a fierce battle will be fought between Russia, Turkey,
and France on one side; America, England, the Jews, and the Armenians
on the other. The former alliance will be beaten: the Czar's Greek
Church bigotry, the Sultan's Mohammedan fanaticism, and France's
infidelity together will be crushed; Russia will go to pieces, Turkey
will go to pieces, France will go to pieces; Armenia will be free,
Judea will be free. The scattered Armenians will return to Armenia,
the scattered Jews will return to Judea. Both the Armenians and the
Jews will have their separate governments; not kings, not princes,
but a clean republican form of government. Russia and Turkey will
be opened to the gospel work. Where now hundreds of missionaries
are going from England and America to other lands, then thousands
of them will go; and Christian America and England will open their
hearts and purses together to send as many missionaries as they can
to Russia, to Turkey, and to France. They will hasten the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. They will prepare the way for the coming King,
who has the power both in heaven and on the earth.
What will become of Germany, Austria, and Italy, who form the Triple
Alliance? That alliance will be dissolved. The German Emperor is trying
hard to maintain it, but he will fail. France will once in a while
threaten Germany with vengeance, but she will never be able to carry
it out, and there is no need for it, because the German people during
this century will get rid of their Emperor. There will be a great
civil war in Germany, between the people and the army. If the German
emperor could do it, he would begin to crush the Socialists now. He
will order his soldiers to kill their brothers and fathers, but they
will not,--they are not as foolish as the Emperor; the only result
will be the break-up of the German Union, and the division of Germany
into small republican governments. Italy, Austria, and Spain will all
have the same fate: civil war, and splitting into small republics. No
czars, no emperors, no princes, no lords will remain. Government will
be for the people, of the people, by the people. The time has come;
this century will purify the whole world. But until it is purified,
a great deal of fire will burn, very great battles will be fought,
until freedom and peace shall reign. And the Armenian blood, now
continually pouring like a river in Armenia, will be the cause and
the foundation of the coming freedom of the world. For the present,
the world is not free; it is not civilized. It cannot be with such
rulers. To be free and happy, the people must be aroused, and get rid
of them. The United States must be the example to the older nations;
they must embrace Washington's principles.
It is true that England and America will never go regularly to work
to give freedom to Judea and Armenia, nor with that intention. Their
immediate motive will be to punish Russia and Turkey for the murder
of the missionaries, and after the victory is won, by the help of
Jewish and Armenian purses and swords, the Armenians and Jews will
be rewarded by giving them their original homes and mother-lands.
This will be laughed at by many, perhaps most, as a romantic and
pleasant dream. They will say it can never be accomplished during this
century; perhaps in the future, after a century or two, but not now. I
am used to this incredulity; my predictions are never believed at the
time: but after they come true they are. This century is not like the
other centuries; a day in this century is equal to a year of those
which have passed away. We may expect from a year of it as much as
from a century in the ancient times. This world is a wonderful world
now, and will be more wonderful hereafter. The future of the world
is bright, and the world will be brighter and happier.
Why do I keep repeating "two years"? Why do I not say one year or three
years, or a few years? I have reasons for it: one is the political
situation in Europe, and the other is the Bible prophecy in the Book
of Revelation.