IN the preceding study we found that when the Turkish government must leave Constantinople, a new capital will be established in Asia at Jerusalem.MEDM July 31, 1906, page 34.1

And to the question, What then? the answer, given by the angel of the Lord, is, “He shall come to his end.”MEDM July 31, 1906, page 34.2

In full, the angel’s word is: “He shall plant the tabernacle of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” Daniel 11:45.MEDM July 31, 1906, page 34.3

The facts given in the preceding articles show how systematically and how continuously the Turkish power has been positively helped. These show also that long, long ago, he would have come to his end if he had not been so powerfully helped. This was strongly expressed in the discussions in 1895 in an article in the London Times by the Duke of Argyle, as follows:—MEDM July 31, 1906, page 34.4

“It is not too much to say that England has twice saved Turkey from complete subjection since 1853. It is largely—mainly—due to our action that she now exists at all as an independent power. On both these occasions we dragged the powers of Europe along with us in maintaining the Ottoman government.”MEDM July 31, 1906, page 34.5

Thus it has been hitherto. Thus it is now. Thus it will be once more. When he loses Constantinople he will be helped till he shall “Plant the tabernacles”—the temporary habitations, moveable dwellings,—“of his palace” in Jerusalem; and that will be the last. After that, he will be helped no more. And so “he shall come to his end.”MEDM July 31, 1906, page 34.6

And then what?MEDM July 31, 1906, page 34.7

This is the greatest question of all. It has been the one great question, all along. And there is just one answer to it. That answer is, A war of the powers.MEDM July 31, 1906, page 34.8

If any other answer than this could have been found, there would be no Turkish power in existence to-day; it would have been ended long ago. But no other answer than a general war, could be found. And it is the certainty of such a war, and the dread of it, that all these years have kept the European powers constantly in such intensity of anxiety and perplexity to keep the Ottoman Empire in existence.MEDM July 31, 1906, page 34.9

We have seen that it was “The fear of a general conflagration” that kept that empire from falling in 1829. In a speech in the German parliament in 1888 Prince Bismark declared that it was only the Berlin Congress that prevented the war of 1877-78 “from putting the whole of Europe in a blaze.” In 1895 when in a council a certain move was proposed, the emperor of Austria exclaimed, “No! that would set fire to the powder.” And November 9, 1895, Lord Salisbury, then prime minister of Britain, in his speech at the Mansion House—a speech, which, in the then conditions in Turkey and the general unrest elsewhere, was made, to the world and for the information of the world—told the whole story and defined the situation in the following remarkable passage:—MEDM July 31, 1906, page 35.1

“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 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.”MEDM July 31, 1906, page 35.2

When it is “for the peace of Christendom” that the Ottoman Empire should stand; then, when that empire falls, what can follow but the war of Christendom? When more than sixty years ago, the danger was that if then the Ottoman Empire should fall, the fire thus lighted would involve all that was “most powerful and civilized in Europe in a dangerous and calamitous contest;” and when that is a danger that “has not passed away;” then when now the Ottoman Empire shall fall, what can possibly follow but that “all that is most powerful and civilized in Europe” will be involved in a contest that will be as much more “dangerous and calamitous” as these powers are greater and more powerful now than they were sixty years ago? That is to say therefore, What can possibly follow the fall of the Ottoman Empire, but the mightiest war that has ever been known?MEDM July 31, 1906, page 35.3

And what is the secret of this certainty of such an awful war, upon the fall of the Ottoman Empire? Why cannot the powers agree on some course that will avoid that dreadful thing? The answer is: It is the same old ambition for world-empire. It is simply because the determination of each great power to be the one greatest power. It is simply because that each one of the great powers is eager to possess the most possible of the earth’s surface; and therefore, the most possible of the territories of the Ottoman Empire.MEDM July 31, 1906, page 35.4

It has been openly stated, and permanently with the Ottoman Empire, “Political ambition and territorial greed” have been “the mainsprings of European policy;” that “The rivalry of the great powers of Europe is solely responsible for the fact the catastrophe predicted centuries ago has not yet overtaken the Ottoman Empire;” and that “the regeneration of Turkey” would have been possible, “if Europe were seriously disposed to prevent the outbreak of the great war which would be likely to follow on the heels of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.”—Arminius Vambery; in Historian’s History of the World,” pp. 428, 433, 436.MEDM July 31, 1906, page 35.5

War then—a “great war;” a “general conflagration;” “the whole of Europe in a blaze;” the war of Christendom; “a dangerous and calamitous contest involving all that is most powerful and civilized in Europe;”—this is what follows when the Ottoman Empire comes to its ends.MEDM July 31, 1906, page 35.6

Such is the only logic of the situation; such is the only expectation of the nations; and such, only expressed in other words, is the statement of the angel—“He shall come to his end and none shall help him. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince that 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, everyone 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 for ever and ever.” Daniel 11:45, 12:1-4.MEDM July 31, 1906, page 35.7

More concerning this greatest of all wars, and What then? will be the study next week.MEDM July 31, 1906, page 35.8

July 24, 1906

August 7, 1906