The prophecies affecting our days are clear; so much so, that he who runs may read, if need be. But an impatient activity urges men on, bedazzling their eyes, which at once unnerves and unfits them for reading or judging. “In your patience possess ye your souls,” said the blessed Master to His disciples of old, and not less through them unto us.
“Order is Heaven’s first law,” it has been said; and surely order pervades the prophecies. But the pulpits in general over-ride this order, and are not slow to malign such men as Edward Hine, of London, England, when the fact is, that his theory of the prophecies and mode of interpretation are vastly more natural, responsive, and reasonable than the ill-adjusted, unnatural, and non-responsive system of current theology. A person is under obligation to use that key for the unlocking of prophecy which fits the best, and that responds to providential events the most natural, without regard to the antiquated systems and mode of Church, sect, or college theology. Hine’s theory, as it is called sometimes, is as much superior to the old system of interpretation, as the railway Pullman car is to the ricketty old stage coach.
The Anglo-Saxon Israel theory neither destroys or introduces any new principle, but discovers and applies that which had been long hidden. The introduction of steam and electricity did not destroy or produce any new principle, but simply
discovered and applied, in an improved form, that which had been in the world from Adam down till now.
As men in science, mechanics, and practical life, throw overboard men and things of the past, so should we in theology, Church life, and experience, when we can do better. Reverence for persons, and respect for ideas, should not enslave us. Let us move on, doing better and better. We do not care to believe all the theology of a Martin Luther. When we can make an advance on men, or theories, we should do so. Bacon and Newton are now in part rejected, without intending, or in fact doing them any dishonour or disrespect. So are Calvin and Wesley, on the same principle, by every good theologian. If a theory be advanced that opens up the Scriptures, and especially the prophecies, better than those before existing, let the pulpit accept it, throwing aside its mawkishness and age-intrenched stupidity. I have no hesitation to say, after over twenty-five years of experience with preachers and pulpit, that the majority of preachers are lazy and indifferent in study. For this reason many of them are deterred from examining any new theory. Many have said to me, and written to me, that if they accepted the Lost Tribe theory it would destroy nearly all their old sermons, and necessitate the making of new ones—a work they were not willing to undertake. It will, therefore, be a long time before the pulpit is reformed. In these days there are many strikes. While in Canada, on my vacation, I agreed to lecture for a Church choir on the prophet Jeremiah’s visit to Ireland. But some preachers banded together and stopped it; and, in consequence of it, the choir struck and refused to sing the following Sunday. Passing by this strike, I really wish the laymen would strike and call the pulpit to an account and rouse it from its lethargy, and demand that it should untrammel itself and be free and equal to the age and demand. I have met with miserly persons who didn’t believe in beautiful churches, or the missionary cause, or any cause indeed that wanted money.
They would argue for plainness, and so on. The secret of their peculiar ideas on these matters was to be found in their stinginess and their love of money. They advocated such theories because it saved them from contributing. Like a man I met with on my vacation tour who said that he saved forty dollars a year by pretending to be angry with the minister or some of the deacons when they came round collecting money. Some ministers, no doubt the majority of them, talk about holding on to the old landmarks and being orthodox for the very reason that to make a move implies labour, which they are not willing to give, hence they prate about orthodoxy and landmarks as a pretext to cover over their indifference. He is the most orthodox who searches after the truth and keeps up with the age. “Prove all things, hold fast that which is good,” says Paul. These pretended followers of Paul say: “Prove nothing, hold fast what you have got.”
It is as plain as A, B, C, that the Bible teaches the return of the Jews and Ten Lost Tribes of Israel to the land of Palestine. Also, that after they are settled in this land Anti-Christ appears. The dragon and beast are already in existence, but Anti-Christ is not; the spirit of Anti-Christ is. When Israel and Judah are settled and prosperous in the old fatherland, then is to come on the battle of Armageddon. Thank Heaven! that though the struggle will be awful, it will be final, and victory will turn on the Lord’s side. Then will be set up a kingdom that shall endure in abiding peace and prosperity for at least a thousand years. The world will nestle in regaling plenty and great assurance. This kingdom is to be set up in the latter days of the four kingdoms spoken of by Daniel. By this we understand that these kingdoms will have their day, and by succession, after a time, run out. These kingdoms—namely, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome—are now disappearing. Rome, politically, is gone, Persia will soon be absorbed, also Greece. Babylon, being continued in
the Empire of Russia, has yet a glorious future before it for the next fifty years or so, then she will disappear to rise no more. The cry will go forth, “Babylon is fallen.” In Nebuchadnezzar’s image you will remember that the stone cut out of the mountain began to destroy the metallic image upward, hence these kingdoms will disappear in reverse order to their origin. First Rome, which has gone; next Greece, which is nearly gone; then Persia, and then Russia. The new kingdom will fill the world. Already it foreshadows the outlines of possession by its immense territory of to-day. Then a scion of the House of David shall be enthroned in Jerusalem. All the other great capitals will have been destroyed. It is surprisingly grand to read of that day, king and kingdom. Let me read to you a few verses from Jeremiah, chapter xxiii.: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is His name whereby He shall be called: the Lord our Righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the House of Israel out of the North country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.” The words, “that day,” are often used, and if we desire to know when that day is, we have data in the great fact that it is the other side of Armageddon, and Armageddon is the other side of the settlement of Israel and Judah in Palestine.
I wish, just here, to correct many of you, as well as some of the public journals. Of late I have frequently seen it stated in the papers that I predicted the end of the world in 1882. And many persons have actually asked if I did really think so. The truth of the matter is, in my sermons on the Great Pyramid
I pointed out to you the remarkable fact that the Grand Gallery was 1,882 inches long. Beginning with the birth of the Saviour, these inches stand for years. This gallery suddenly ends, excepting that it is continued in a narrow passage, the narrowest in the whole building, for fifty-three inches. Then comes the King’s Chamber, which before you enter, you pass under a portcullis in the form of an olive leaf. In this chamber all is equal, quiet, and central. Now, what I believe this pillar of witness in Egypt teaches (see Isa. xix. 19) is, that in 1882 the whole world will enter upon a time of great trouble, war, pestilence, and famine, and for fifty-three years these troubles will continue more or less. Then about 1935 will occur the battle of Armageddon, which will be the finishing touch, the end of wars. I arrive at this, when I follow the teachings of the Pyramid, by adding 1882 and 53, which gives me 1935. Even then the world will not end, but only begin the millennium morn, which will last for a thousand years or more.