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 PS 3500 
 Copy 1 
 
 I i\e CuropeoR Crisis 
 
 . . nr\(\ the . . 
 
 American Struggle 
 
 Or " The Beginning of tt^e End." 
 
 AD SANCTIORA EREGERET. 
 BY A LAYMAN. 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress with the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. 
 
 Washington, D. C: 
 
 415 Ninth Street, 5. W. 
 
 1597. 
 

 fj 
 
 \ 
 
 DEDICATED 
 
 TO 
 
 ROBERT BURTON RODNEY, U. S. N, 
 
 AS A 
 
 Slight Tribute of Friendship, 
 
 AND ALSO OF THE HIGH REGARD IN WHICH HE 
 IS HELD BY 
 
 THE ATUHOR. 
 
 I 
 
^-^ PREFACE. 
 
 
 Goldsmith, in the preface to his " Vicar of Wakefield," can- 
 didly declares that the book would not have a large circulation 
 in the England of his day. "I have painted," says he, "the 
 good Doctor Penrose as a man whose hopes and fears, joys and 
 expectations, are drawn on futurity, and not on the transitory 
 scenes of this mortal life. How can the multitude, whose whole 
 existence is absorbed either in business or pleasure, how shall 
 they appreciate moral excellence or spiritual beauty or, to use 
 the words of inspiration : 
 
 " ' That will not hear the voice of the charmer. 
 Charm he never so wisely,' " 
 
 Now, as the whole scope and aim of this paper is to deal with 
 high subjects, which are not altogether objects of sense or time, 
 we must be content to cast our lot with the Irish parson, and 
 rest in hope. 
 
 The author does not pretend to expound the philosophy of 
 history in these few pages. That would tax the powers of 
 Burke, the teacher of statesmen, a man whose mind was like 
 the pillars of the temple, rounded and polished. Neither does 
 he attempt to interpret the prophetic scripture, which would re- 
 quire the genius of Milton, a man whose ideas came so near the 
 level of inspiration, and who talked as the peer of Apostles and 
 Prophets. But we do hope in some modest way to arouse the 
 attention of many thoughtless but well-meaning people to study 
 for themselves the signs of the times, and that man who is ' * big 
 with a deathless destiny" may not act as if God's world was 
 only a great huckster's shop in which to make money, and that 
 our statesmen may for a while forget the tariff, free trade and 
 the currency, as things not of transcendent importance, and to 
 take care that while they despise kings, they themselves be only 
 pigmies unfit to stand beside the great fathers and founders of 
 the nation. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 There's famine, pestilence and bloody strife, 
 Where Greek Armenian Christian dies ; 
 
 At home we've floods and cyclones taking life — 
 O- heavens ! the cross before the crescent flies ; 
 
 The crops are killed by frost or solar ray, 
 
 Say, O ye wise, when comes the judged day ? 
 
 IT IS the opinion of the writer that the present state 
 of the world should awaken very serious reflec- 
 tions in the minds of thoughtful men. 
 
 Is it not true that the greatest scientists of Europe, 
 astronomers and rhathematicians, honestly declare that 
 the extraordinary vicissitudes of the world's weather 
 in recent times is altogether beyond the scope of their 
 knowledge, and is to them unaccountable and some- 
 thing strange under the sun ? And who is worthy to 
 give us the meaning of this first sign of the times? 
 
 On this subject the "St. James Gazette," declares 
 that this year it has been of an extraordinary kind. 
 
 The exceptional violence of the recent tornado in Paris, analogous 
 to but fortunately far less destructive than the fearful catastrophe at 
 St. Louis in May, this year, attracts attention to^ the extraordinary 
 vicissitudes of the world's weather during the last eighteen months, 
 says the St. James Gazette. 
 
 It will be observed that storms of this locally violent character, en- 
 tirely different from what are properly termed cyclones, generally occur 
 at the close of a long period of drought, such as we have lately ex- 
 perienced. It would almost seem, indeed, as though nature, weary 
 of one type, swung over to the other side with the petulant violence 
 of a spoilt child. 
 
6 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 The tornadoes which peppered the Middle States of America this 
 spring terminated a drought which effected a large portion of the same 
 area so severely as to allow the bed of the Ohio River to be worked 
 for coal, reduced the fall at Niagara, and lowered the St. Lawrence 
 to an unprecedented extent. Extending the area of observation, we 
 find ever since February, 1895, equally abnormal conditions prevalent 
 over India, Australia, and the Pacific and Indian oceans. 
 
 For example, the southeast trade wind of the Indian Ocean and its 
 twin brother, the southwest monsoon of India, were very feeble last 
 summer, the failure of the latter causing a drought nearly down to 
 famine mark in some parts of India. 
 
 WEATHER IN AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Coincidentally with and following these conditions on the Australian 
 side of the high pressure atmospheric wall bounding the southeast 
 trades, an extraordinary prevalence of hot, dry northwest winds 
 occurred right on to April, 1896, throughout Australia and New Zea- 
 land, raising the temperature in New South Wales to such a height 
 that the government actually carried people free by rail from the 
 interior to the coast in order to save their lives. 
 
 The temperature in Sydney ran up to such record heights as 106 
 and 108 degrees, and even in New Zealand, except at the extreme 
 southern end, the famous hot northwesters of the Canterbury district 
 dried up the crops, while the North Island, especially near Auckland, 
 looked as though it had been toasted in front of some Titanic fire. 
 
 In contrast, but evidently in correspondence with these abnormal 
 features, the North Pacific was unusually stormy, Honolulu receiving 
 quite an unusual supply of *' Koua," or winter storms, while California, 
 at the boundary of the oceanic area, came in for a similar excess of its 
 curiously marked winter rains. Elsewhere drought seems to have been 
 the rule. The " low Nile" was recently a formidable obstacle to the 
 Soudan expedition, and the violent resumption of rain over its basin, 
 in common with the similar change which now seems to be everywhere 
 terminating this world land drought, is creating a fresh scourge by pro- 
 moting the conditions favorable to the spread of cholera. 
 
 CAUSES NOT KNOWN. 
 
 It is not easy to discover even the proximate causes for such a wide- 
 spread anomaly, or to draw a practical moral ; but a general survey 
 would appear to show that the equatorial rain-belt has been less devel- 
 oped than usual, and that of the atmosphere over the continents on either. 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. J 
 
 side of it has been less heaped up into narrow belts of high pressure and 
 more uniformly spread over large surfaces. 
 
 Where this occurs in summers we have the conditions which are 
 favorable to drought, merging subsequently — when the lower air remains 
 stationary, as it did over the United States in the spring, and gradually 
 becomes charged with excessive heat and humidity — into those favorable 
 to the production of local storms and tornadoes. The storm at Paris 
 was due to such conditions, and the result of stagnation, rather than an 
 increase in the ordinary movements of the atmosphere. 
 
 When the circulation over the North Atlantic is more than ordinarily 
 vigorous the energy is expended in the larger horizontal movements, 
 termed cyclones, which frequently embrace an area as large as Russia. 
 It is only when these motions are so reduced as to allow the warmer 
 lower air to penetrate the upper layers in places, like water flowing 
 through a sink, and like it to draw in the surrounding air in rapidly 
 rotating whirls, that tornadoes are generated. 
 
 Such conditions, though common enough over a large land area like 
 the United States, are, fortunately, rendered rare in Europe by virtue 
 of its latitude and geography; so that we need not conclude that the 
 tornado epidemic will ever find a favorable breeding ground over here. 
 
 Was there ever such confusion in political affairs, 
 and fresh complications crowding on the attention of 
 statesmen every day? Those men, like the scientists, 
 candidly admit that the political, like the physical, 
 world and its public affairs completely baffles their 
 comprehension. No, my reader, there is no antece- 
 dent or parallel in all history for the present state of 
 the nations. 
 
 Is it not true that helpless imbecility, ignorance 
 and folly is the present condition of all the crowned 
 heads of Europe at this hour? What mortal man is 
 able to grasp the sceptre of the world's empire and 
 put down all authority and rule and give a little peace 
 to this unhappy earth ? 
 
 What shall we say of the social order, with its capi- 
 tal and labor controversies, it strikes and lockouts, its 
 
3 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 homeless wanderers, and its unnoticed suicides ? Is 
 it not true that in one city alone, in one short year, 
 300,000 families were thrown out on the sidewalk for 
 a month's rent, and that in glorious, free America ? 
 Who can account for the rapid strides of socialism, 
 not only pervading the old world, but the new also ? 
 
 What is this but an open confession that the great 
 masses of mankind have lost faith in all forms of 
 government, and a yearning for a superior order of 
 administration than has been known to man in the 
 past ? 
 
 How is the industrial warfare, competition and ri- 
 valry of nations — how, we say, is it going to end ? 
 Who is to control and regulate its operations ? What 
 has the free trader and the political economist done 
 for the world? We should like to know. In the 
 midst of this anarchy, what are the poor, bewildered 
 children of labor looking for? Why, they expect, as 
 in France, some savior of society to arise and lead 
 them into some promised land ; but where, they don't 
 know. 
 
 Salvation from poverty, not freedom from sin, is 
 their only aim. The same quarrel that the Jews had 
 with their lawful king, is now spread over the world. 
 
 What next, the religious world or Christedom ? In 
 former days worldly or wicked men were kept out ; 
 now any man with money or influence can take the 
 foremost place, while the most ignorant one can hear 
 himself talk while the poor wise man must listen with 
 sorrow of heart to presumptuous ignorance expound- 
 ing scripture. 
 
 Is it not true that the perilous times have come 
 when men will not endure sound doctrine ? 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. g 
 
 The rise and progress of the spirit of rationalism, so 
 ably sketched by my Dublin friend, Mr. Leckey, has 
 done its work. The Holy Scriptures are no longer 
 looked on as a divine message to men, nor is the 
 church the power it ought to be — a city set on a hill 
 that cannot be hid. 
 
 Science, that a century ago was so modest and hum- 
 ble, and claimed to be the servant and handmaid of 
 religion, subordinate to the church, and used chiefly 
 as matter for illustration of the truth of Holy Writ, 
 has suddenly become arrogant and insolent, and now 
 bids defiance to all revealed truth. And what has 
 science gained ? Degraded the man to exalt the ani- 
 mal and bring him down as the companion of apes 
 and monkeys! 
 
 What would such men as Priestly and Berkeley say 
 if they were among us to-day? — Berkeley, the grand- 
 est man that ever stepped on the American continent. 
 
 The world of to-day, and especially America, with 
 all its schools, colleges and universities, is perishing 
 for lack of knowledge. Yes, high knowledge. Wis- 
 dom hath builded her house, but the materials she 
 uses are, like herself, imperishable, and such materials 
 cannot be found in huckster's shops, in newspaper of- 
 fices or Senate chambers at Washington or elsewhere. 
 
 What does all this mean for you and me, good 
 reader? What does it mean, but that a new age, a 
 new epoch, is about to dawn in the world's history. 
 
 Emerson says, and says truly, that the last effort of 
 the blessed God was made in this world specially on 
 behalf of America. If it prove unworthy of its high 
 privileges the page of history closes forever. The 
 Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, 
 
10 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 and who, then, shall open and give a second chance to 
 mankind ? 
 
 The closing years of this nineteenth century — what 
 shall we say, how shall we regard them ? Is it not 
 true that in them shall be enacted the last great act 
 in the great drama of the world's tragic history ? The 
 final act on the stage of Time, and truly a tragic one. 
 Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. Even the daily 
 newspapers of London all declare that the world is 
 now rapidly setting itself in order for the last great 
 battle of time — the battle of Armageddon. 
 
 The French Revolution, so powerfully described by 
 that great man, Carlyle, was merely national ; the im- 
 pending one is to be universal. 
 
 What a pity is it that the awful lessons therein so 
 ably described are either forgotton or ignored by this 
 busy generation of hucksters and peddlers of both 
 Europe and America. 
 
 And what is to blame for all this ? Is it not the 
 result of the catchpenny education in our public 
 schools and colleges, with the moral and spiritual 
 principles thrust out? 
 
 The French Revolution may be considered, like the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, as a miniature portrait of 
 the final and tragic scene that shall end this dispensa- 
 tion of the grace of God. 
 
 What a notable gathering of all the great ones of 
 the world appeared at the great London exhibition of 
 185 1 ! Princes, kings, statesmen, philosophers, poets; 
 the great captains of industry, free traders and politi- 
 cal economists. Besides these we had the Exeter 
 Hall speech-makers, who supplied the religious ele- 
 ment. 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 11 
 
 Rejecting all the teachings of the old prophets as 
 out of date in our new age of steam, commerce and 
 electricity and universal knowledge, each in his turn 
 became prophet on his own account. 
 
 What was the burden of their message? Nothing 
 less than universal peace and comity between all na- 
 tions. The peaceful influences of trade and commerce, 
 the kindly intercourse of neighboring nations, would, 
 as a consequence, banish forever war and bloodshed 
 from our unhappy earth. So much for theory and 
 abstract notions on untried problems of our human 
 affairs. 
 
 "Things go by contraries," says Rory O'Moore. 
 Well, how were the prophecies fulfilled ? Why, merely 
 to name the number of battles and the millions slain 
 since that day would fill this paper alone. Fights on 
 sea and land, in the old world and the new, and the 
 end is not yet. And who is to blame for all this car- 
 nage? The unruly passions of sinful men. Through 
 red seas of blood must mankind wade ere they reach 
 the promised land, when the nations shall learn war 
 no more. 
 
 It is one of the most inexorable laws of nature that 
 every disease must come to a head, as it is called, and 
 so moral evil must culminate, and be forever banished 
 from the universe of God. 
 
 " Watchman, what of the night ? " says the old pro- 
 phet. 
 
 The night cometh, and the morning, the darkest 
 night of the world's history before the dawning of 
 the glorious day, the earth's great day of jubilee and 
 rejoicing, when the "bright and morning star shall 
 arise before the sun." 
 
12 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 •' Roll up the map of Europe," said the dying states- 
 man ; " roll up the map, I say ! " when his great 
 heart was broken, poor William Pitt, son of the Earl 
 of Chatham, as he turned his face to the wall and gave 
 up the ghost. 
 
 He had passed many sleepless nights and lavished 
 England's gold to crush forever Napoleon's power in 
 Europe and his designs on the nations. 
 
 But the latter, by a master-stroke of military genius, 
 prostrated all his hopes at the battle of Austerlitz. 
 
 Discouraged and broken hearted, with the weight 
 of a nation's affairs on his shoulders, and their mis- 
 carriage and failure in his hands, was it any wonder 
 that the proudest human spirit was crushed by such 
 a load ? 
 
 What American does not remember a similar scene 
 enacted in his own country ? When Lord Fairfax, 
 grandson of Cromwell's commander-in-chief, heard 
 for the first time the news of the surrender of Corn- 
 wallis to Washington, he, too, had his proud spirit 
 broken. The glory of England had departed. " Wil- 
 liam," said he to his colored servant, " carry me up to 
 bed; it's time for me to be gone out of this world." 
 
 But, lo ! my reader, for your encouragement and 
 delight, is there not a King soon to appear, who shall 
 not fail nor be discouraged, or public affairs miscarry 
 in His hands till He have planted truth in. the earth 
 and the isles shall wait for His law. 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 1 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS. 
 
 '• I whet my glittering sword, and my hands take hold on judgment. 
 I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that 
 hate me." 
 
 THE nineteenth century! Who shall describe Its 
 public events, who shall interpret its history ? It is 
 acknowledged by the greatest of men to be the puzzle 
 of the ages. Who shall be so daring as to predict 
 what shall befall the world in the few remaining years 
 are they not shrouded in Egyptian darkness. 
 
 Washington took his departure from us on the last 
 month of the last year of the last century. What por- 
 tentious events may happen before the last month of 
 the last year of the present century, who can tell ? 
 
 Will Arnerica be able to live in secure isolation 
 while the great storm that now threatens Europe 
 shakes the nations ? We think not. The signals dis- 
 played on the mountain tops by the Bureau of History 
 point in the other direction. 
 
 " I fear greatly," says one, " that Europe is not up 
 to the level of the problem she must solve or die. The 
 newest contrivances of diplomacy are tried in the 
 scales and found wanting. Armenian, Cretan and 
 Turkish affairs are all lamentable miscarriages. 
 
 "The kings of Europe are playing with fire and 
 they know it not. Turkey has brilliantly demon- 
 strated the vitality of her military power in the midst 
 of the decomposition of the state. The Sultan is more 
 than a match for the whole of them." 
 
14 
 
 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 The question now is, Will the conscience of man- 
 kind allow the crescent to conquer an inch more of 
 God's earth, so long given to freedom and the cross, 
 or permit the wholesale destruction of Greece ? 
 
 The powers of Europe are now the laughing stock 
 of mankind. Now, or never, the hour has struck 
 when Europe must either justify her high claim by 
 her united action, or abdicate forever. 
 
 What, then ; has not the evil day come, and come 
 to stay? What student of history, what lover of 
 Scripture can look on with unconcern on the present 
 complication of public affairs ? 
 
 For the man of the world, the ancient oracles are 
 dumb ; there is no open vision, no light on his road ; 
 the word of the Lord is precious in these days, even 
 with all the science of Huxley and the inventions of 
 Edisdn and all that small fry, who have merely the 
 inventive faculty. 
 
 There are men, a few men among us at least, who 
 have the boldness to declare that what we witness to- 
 day is only the winding up of the world's accounts. 
 The balance sheet of the world's great ledger is being 
 struck ; that time, with all its advantages and responsi- 
 bilitieSj is near its close ; that as there was a begin- 
 ning, so there shall be an end to all mundane afifeirs; 
 that evil, like disease, must culminate. Give an account 
 of thy stewardship, is now the word, for thou mayest 
 be no longer steward. 
 
 Be assured, good reader, they say that the trial and 
 judgment of the nations is now quietly and silently 
 going on. 
 
 What is your attitude, ye Christian nations, while 
 the poor Armenians are slaughtered by thousands 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 
 
 IS 
 
 before your eyes ? Ye Christian nations, Russia, Ger- 
 many, Austria, Italy, France and England. What is 
 America doing ? Debating tariff bills, free trade and 
 and currency. 
 
 If those facts be true, is it not high time to awake 
 out of sleep ? What does it all mean ? Only this, 
 that a new age, a new epoch or a new dispensation is 
 about to dawn on the world. 
 
 That you might view it, good reader, from the right 
 standpoint is the chief object of this paper, and that 
 you may be counted among " the wise, who shall 
 understand." 
 
 It is no secret to students of political history, but 
 a simple fact, that whole generations of statesmen 
 looked forward with great anxiety on what for ages 
 has been known as the Eastern question, hoping at 
 least that the present crisis might not arrive in their 
 day. What were they afraid of? Why should they 
 be so alarmed ? 
 
 The truth is that no American Indian ever looked 
 on the white man's aggression on his native soil with 
 greater alarm and apprehension for the future than 
 did those men on the present phase of the Turkish 
 problem. What disposition is to be made of the false 
 prophet and his dominions ? It is not merely an em- 
 pire to be divided up, but, what is of ten thousand 
 times more importance, how is a false and fanatical 
 religous population of i8o millions to be controlled 
 and subdued ? Who shall have the temerity to put 
 down such a hornet's nest? That is the leading ques- 
 tion of the hour, and who is sufficient for these things ? 
 
 What say you, my reader? Is not the subject 
 
l5 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 fraught with questions of the greatest responsibility 
 and of gigantic proportions ? 
 
 Who is -behind the scenes ? What invisible, but 
 mysterious power is moving the great clock of time, 
 and pushing on the hands till the midnight hour of 
 time shall strike, and all is not well ? What are all 
 the great kings and potentates ? Only so many pup- 
 pets in this the last great drama to be enacted on 
 this poor earth. 
 
 Was it for no high purpose that Mahomet and his 
 followers were permitted to overrun, persecute and 
 slay the followers of Him who bore the cross to this 
 very hour? What effect has moral suasion on peo- 
 ple with such a creed ? Has it not filled many pages 
 of the world's history, and lasted for more than 1,200 
 years ? 
 
 Who can foretell for what high purpose this Sultan 
 of Turkey was raised up, like Pharoah in ancient 
 times ? The Almighty found a suitable instrument 
 for bringing to pass one of the most tremendous 
 events in the world's history. 
 
 The magnitude and significance of this subject must 
 be viewed from all sides — what it is and what it is 
 not. 
 
 When six nations at least begin a war, what lan- 
 guage shall describe the situation ? How shall we 
 compare it with anything known heretofore ? 
 
 It is not like a quarrel between Harold the Saxon 
 and William of Normandy for the crown of Albion, 
 nor the claims of Mary Stuart, queen of old Scotland. 
 Neither is it the sovereign rights of Maria Teresa and 
 the Austrian Succession, when one fine morning 
 mounted on a charger, sword in hand, she challenged 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 1 7 
 
 the north and the south, the east and the west to dis- 
 pute her queenly rights — poor woman. 
 
 It is not a paltry wrangle between the Guelphs and 
 Stuarts, nor the claims of a vulgar Napoleon to half 
 Europe. It is not like the partition of Poland, nor the 
 unification of Italy. Neither is it the confederation 
 of petty German states into one great empire, under 
 an inexperienced and pompous young gentleman, 
 with only one idea in his head, and that the military 
 one ; nor is it a family squabble, like the late rebellion 
 in the States. Nor, last of all, is it the temporal sov- 
 ereignty of the Pope. Jerusalem, not Rome, is the 
 city of the Great King. What, then, is it? Nothing 
 less than the claims of two rivals, each putting in his 
 claim for universal sovereignty. The battle will soon 
 be placed in array. Can you not see, my reader, if 
 your faith changes into penetration, that soon the 
 world will be divided into two great camps ? Which 
 side will you take ? When nationalities are broken 
 up, willing or unwilling, every man will have to take 
 his side. The heads that wear crowns had better be 
 cautious what orders they give — the men on warships 
 have already refused to obey their commanders — 
 where conscience is concerned, and soon insubordina- 
 tion will find its way into military councils. 
 
 Soon, very soon, the illusions of Christendom will 
 be suddenly dispelled before the stern realities of war 
 and bloodshed. " Think not that I came to send 
 peace on the earth; I tell you nay, but a sword," says 
 the founder of our religion. The Christ of Turkey is 
 a great personality ; he has to do with everything in 
 their religious, social, political and military affairs ; his 
 law is supreme in everyday life ; the Christ of Christen- 
 
1 8 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 (3om — the sphere of His influence has been regulated 
 ofif to dreamland — who is He in their eyes but a spectre 
 that appeared once on the pages of history but has 
 long since disappeared from the great practical issues 
 of the day, a somebody that sentimental young ladies 
 sing about when they have leisure; one Jesus, that 
 was dead, but some say He is alive. The nations must 
 be taught a terrible lesson. The so-called Christian 
 nations have made a fool and laughing stock of their 
 religion; the Turk has not, and he will force them to 
 know whether they be dogs or men. 
 
 If there be such things as religion and virtue, must 
 there not be time and place for their growth and de- 
 velopment? If faith be a substance, room must be 
 made for it, or it will destroy all other commodities, 
 for it is, in its nature, the most indestructible of all 
 substances. Where, then, is the time and place for 
 the practice of virtue, and where are the men in whom 
 it is incarnated ? 
 
 In his rude and fanatical way the Turk has made 
 ample provision for the practice of his religion. With 
 him it is the supreme thing, government is the second 
 thing, business is the last consideration. How is it 
 with Christian nations? Is it not crowded out of all 
 departments of public and private life ? Where will 
 the encroachments of the great business and political 
 affairs of this countury end? Has virtue any chance 
 of life whatever? The huckster in a small or great 
 way; what's the difference between them if they 
 control national officers? Where are the traffickers 
 and the machines and railroads to stop ? Do they 
 not claim almost all hours of the day and night? 
 There is no time or place sacred from their noise and 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 
 
 19 
 
 confusion ; they have defiled both the holy places and 
 the holy day, and even deny there are such things. 
 Man and his interests supreme. God and his Christ 
 nowhere. 
 
 Woe to the man whose lungs give out, 
 
 He's but a low and dirty clown ; 
 Great is the man, if he can shout 
 
 His friends and heighbors down. 
 
 Where greed prevails thence virtue flies, 
 Her heavenly form down in the mire ; 
 
 When she for help to heaven cries 
 Her God is a consuming fire. 
 
 People forget that a tremendous issue was once 
 forced on the Jewish nation, though they long tried 
 to ignore it, while their destiny hung in the balance, 
 and history is about to repeat on a world-wide and tre- 
 mendous scale a similar trial that will fix its destiny 
 forever; and the crucial hour is at hand. Who is 
 wise will see its imminence, and be prepared. Then it 
 was Christ or Barrabas ; now it is Christ or Mahomet. 
 
 Gird thy sword on thy thigh, O, Most Mighty, and 
 thy right hand shall teach them terrible things, ride 
 on gloriously, because of truth and righteousness! 
 
 The fanatical spirit of Islam, fierce and terrible, is 
 now roused up. Count the millions that follow the 
 prophet; and this power must be opposed by a power 
 more fierce and terrible if it is to be overcome. Dip- 
 lomacy, money, commercial interest, free trade and 
 tariff will be blown away like chaff from the threshing 
 machine. Come up with me, O, reader, like Balaam, 
 to the tops of the rocks and view the opposing forces 
 in the valleys. Can you not see from this eminence, 
 that this is a question of universal sovereignty, the 
 dominion of the whole earth ? Did not the Romans 
 
20 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 overrun and batter down the nations to make way 
 for the Kingdom of God ; and the apostles by their 
 preaching- broke down the distinction between Jew 
 and Gentile, that the Gospel might be preached to all 
 nations ? Then it overstepped all national boundaries 
 and reached all mankind. What was the meaning of 
 this but the rule and sway of Christ in the spiritual 
 realm? Now, all nations must be overturned, in the 
 military sense, and prostrated forever to make way 
 for the Great King, the desire of all nations, who shall 
 put down all rule and authorit}^ and reign as long as 
 the sun and the moon endure. 
 
 Have we not said already that the Jewish state or 
 commonwealth and its destiny was a miniature picture 
 of the condition of the whole world at its close ? 
 Were they not forced, on one memorable day, before 
 the Roman authorities, openly and before heaven, to 
 choose or reject once and forever their lawful king ? 
 That was their day of judgment, when their fate was 
 fixed. And will there not, O, reader, very soon be 
 another day when God shall so overrule the affairs of 
 this world that every man and every nation shall have 
 openly (in the midst of much tumult and excitement) 
 to declare, before high heaven, their allegiance eithtr 
 to God or the Devil, Christ or Belial. 
 
 Who is this that claims absolute sovereignty over 
 the world, and what has He to show to satisfy us? 
 
 What searching into ancient records, oaths and cov- 
 enants ! What do those old genealogies in the Gos- 
 pels stand for? Who gave this Man the right to the 
 throne of David, and all the ends of the earth ? 
 
 That great question was settled in heaven, ages 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 21 
 
 ago, but it will also have to be promulgated here; if 
 not by peaceable means, then with fire and sword. 
 
 When persuasion fails, then there will be a conten- 
 tion with other means. "Thy will be done on earth 
 as it is in heaven." Thoughtless souls, did you know 
 what you prayed for night and morn? Yet it will 
 surely be answered. " I have set my King on my 
 hol}^ hill of Zion ; be wise now, therefore, O, ye kings, 
 be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Kiss the Son, 
 lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way." 
 
 Ye great jurists, who understand Roman law, who 
 have studied Hobbes and his leviathan, or that great 
 masterpiece of political wisdom, Jean Bodin on " Sov- 
 ereignty," what say you on this subject; what is your 
 decision ? Will those claims hold good at the great 
 day when everything shall be tried by fire, or have 
 you forever become incapacitated by party warfare to 
 rise like that great man, Burke, above all parties and 
 factions, and publicly arraign a whole nation, kings, 
 lords and commons ? Was not Solomon, in all his 
 magnificence, a mere shadow of the coming King of 
 this earth ? 
 
 I wish the reader would study a work by the Irish 
 Lord Chancellor, Sir Joseph Napier, on this grand 
 theme, a man who has not learned to separate tem- 
 poral from spiritual things, the vice of modern times. 
 He knew that the Kingdom of God was partly on 
 earth and partly in heaven, and that there is a con- 
 stant intercourse going on between holy men on earth 
 and saints in heaven; but the foul breath of democracy 
 has tainted every high truth, and made it come down 
 into the level of politics or money making interests. 
 
 Amongst the crowds of fashionable sight-seers and 
 
22 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 well dressed idlers where shall be found one Queen of 
 Sheba on board steam cars or ship on a wearisome 
 journey to hear the words of wisdom ? And was she 
 not rewarded, did she not get a ghmpse through this 
 poor representative of heaven's royalty of the King 
 eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God and 
 Saviour? 
 
 The little that she saw of His glory, and the at- 
 tendance of His ministers, and the house of the Lord, 
 captivated her. The half was not told, but she be- 
 lieved the rest. 
 
 Alas, poor souls ! It 's not wisdom they want, it 's 
 the gossip of the hour. The Queen of Sheba could 
 have found plenty of that at home. She came from 
 the uttermost part of the earth— but a greater than 
 Solomon will soon appear. Who will be ready to 
 meet him ? 
 
 We close this article with a pen picture of the 
 sultan and his palace as it appeared to General Miles 
 and his friends a few days ago. 
 
 THE SULTAN GOING TO PRAYERS. 
 
 Once a week the sultan leaves his palace and pro- 
 ceeds to his mosque, a hundred yards or so from the 
 gate, for the purpose of making his devotions. It is 
 always an occasion of great solemnity and dignity, 
 and is made splendid by a review of some 10,000 
 troops, a blare of bands of music, and the presence of 
 all the nobility and officials of rank in town. All 
 appear in dress uniforms and decorations, and make a 
 scene brilliantly gay and bright. 
 
 A certain kiosk, commanding a view of the cere- 
 mony from its windows, is at the disposal of the 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 
 
 23 
 
 diplomatic corps and their friends. Through the 
 kindness of Minister Terrell, our party was invited to 
 witness the scene from this special kiosk, just within 
 the palace grounds. The general and Captain Maus 
 blossomed out in regimentals, looking very fine. We 
 were conducted through the streets to the spot by an 
 officer from the palace in great state, and were escorted 
 into a fine apartment and ranged at the windows that 
 commanded an excellent view of the grounds and the 
 mosque. The Russian, Servian and Persian ambassa- 
 dors and many personages in different costumes and 
 decorations entered the room. Introductions, cigar- 
 ettes and coffee. 
 
 COMING OF THE SULTAN. 
 
 Presently the military display began. It was really 
 a grand sight. With perfect order, the various regi- 
 ments took their positions in a glory of color to the 
 tune of Sousa's marches. There is no discount on 
 the sultan's 10,000 men, either in physique, discipline 
 or form. They are a splendid body of men. Pres- 
 ently carts of sand appeared, the contents of which 
 Vv^ere spread by many men for the purpose of making 
 the street quite clean for his royal majesty. Then 
 profound silence. The troops stood like wax images, 
 their bayonets flashing in the sun. Suddenly the 
 voice of a priest chanting the call for prayer from the 
 minaret was heard by the great assembly. The gate 
 of the palace grounds opened and the carriages bring- 
 ing the numerous wives came slowly forth, the chief 
 eunuch leading the way. They proceeded to the 
 mosque, when the horses were detached and led away. 
 Again silence. 
 
24 
 
 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 A bugle call, a sudden present arms, and the gilded 
 carriages containing the sultan and Osman Pasha 
 emerged from the palace grounds, surrounded by a 
 body guard and followed by a myriad of pashas and 
 other dignitaries. As the sultan went by he saluted 
 the troops, and they replied by the gesture of throw- 
 ing dust upon their heads. He also looked up to our 
 window and saluted, all bowing. Driven to the 
 mosque, he alighted from the carriage with Osman 
 Pasha and entered the temple. 
 
 There was an intermission of some fifteen minutes, 
 when the troops marched away, leaving only a guard 
 and a crowd of officers. The service over, the sultan 
 again appeared, and, entering a small carriage, drove 
 himself, a way of indicating that he still holds the 
 reins of government well in hand. Disappearing 
 within the royal grounds, the great gate closed and 
 the ceremony of the selamlik was over. 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CURRENT EVENTS VERIFYING PROPHETIC 
 SCRIPTURES. 
 
 WHAT need have we of any gift of prophecy 
 with the daily news in one hand and the bible 
 in the other? The only apparent obstacle is that the 
 scriptures have their own quaint phraseology and we 
 must interpret it in the language of to-day. 
 
 It was not the intention of the Author of our faith 
 that we should understand minutely the events pre- 
 dicted until they were born in time, and then, saith 
 He, the wise shall understand. 
 
 Shall we remind the student of scripture that com- 
 mentators, both on Daniel the prophet as well as on 
 St. John and his revelation, found themselves puzzled 
 by the presence of the false prophet and his empire? 
 But the events of to-day lift the mist that surrounded 
 those momentous questions; we can even place our 
 fingers on the exact time and place in the world's 
 history. "Loose the four angels which are bound in 
 the great river Euphrates to slay the third part of men." 
 Now we are all agreed that this refers to the Turkish 
 dominions and surrounding nations. 
 
 The range of vision was hindered, as in a landscape, 
 by some massive object in the distance; but now in 
 their case and ours there is an uninterrupted view, pro- 
 vided we view the events from the proper standpoint. 
 
 Ye men in high places, have ye understood and 
 grasped the situation or interpreted the facts ? 
 
 What say you, ye financiers, ye statesman, ye mer- 
 
26 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 chant princes of the earth, on no huckstering theory 
 are these things to be dealt with or understood? We 
 tell you, my friends, that though present affairs are con- 
 nected with time they run out into infinitude. And 
 what shall be the end of those things, and what sign 
 shall there be of the end of the world? 
 
 Is God the judge of the Turk, only? Is He not 
 also of the so-called Christian ? 
 
 If the Turkish Empire is the " carcass around which 
 the eagles are gathered," what shall He say of the 
 putrid mass of corruption which is hid away under 
 the fine name of Christendom? 
 
 What an exhibition before high heaven of shame 
 and ignominy, of wickedness and guilt, is here pre- 
 sented to our gaze! and yet we are told by the young 
 Kaiser that his family is a Christian family, and his 
 nation a Christian nation ; and this is the holy Roman 
 or holy Christian empire, or whatever fine name the 
 Devil has baptized it with. 
 
 Is not this day of judgment for the nations, Turk 
 and Christian ? Is not the sentence to be executed 
 speedily, when they shall surround the holy city? 
 Jerusalem is the city of the Great King — there is the 
 Throne of David, there are the thrones of judgment. 
 
 We think that the philosophy of history as well as 
 the light of revelation concur in establishing the fol- 
 lowing statements : 
 
 That the almighty Ruler of the Universe will tolerate 
 an imperfect or even a false religion, faithfully followed, 
 for a longer period of time than His truth perverted or 
 His grorious gospel when it is profaned ; that heathen 
 nations carry out the ulterior designs of His providence 
 as well as the so called Christian ones. 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 
 
 27 
 
 Who ever heard of the Turk revih'ng Mahomet in 
 any period of their history ? 
 
 Who ever heard a Turk ridiculing the Koran in 
 any public assembly or in private conversation ? 
 
 Are they not all agreed that their religion is the true 
 one, and do they not give it precedence over all the 
 arts by which money is to be made ? 
 
 Is he ashamed of his religion in any highway or 
 market place, and does not his devotions occupy the 
 supreme place in his affections ? 
 
 No Ingersol or Tom Payne would be allowed to 
 live in those dominions. 
 
 Is it any wonder he calls the Christian a dog who 
 will sell his redeemer and His cause for money and 
 push it aside as suits his convenience? 
 
 Do we not understand how a man may be to all 
 appearances a Hercules in strength, but weak in the 
 upper story, that is, in spiritual energy, and may be 
 overcome by a dwarf? The greatest bully in the 
 English army that killed scores of men, fell at Waterloo 
 at the hand of a drummer lad that no one noticed. 
 
 Do we not see before us in the case of Turkey 
 how a state may be weak or in a process of dissolution, 
 but because of its spiritual energy (call it fanaticism, 
 if you will), able to unite as one man and drive all its 
 enemies before it ? 
 
 The nations of Europe may be prepared for some 
 surprises when they get down to business, and think 
 they can easily carve up the Turk and his dominions. 
 
 What are fleets and armies and munitions of war, 
 when the mighty spirits that controlled and directed 
 them (as in the former ages), when we say the old 
 
28 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 energy has died out, and in its place imbecility and 
 inaction ? 
 
 What shall we say, then, but that the present state 
 of public afifairs was only instituted for temporary and 
 experimental purposes ; that all nations have been 
 tried and found wanting; that from them all (Amer- 
 ica included) the glory has departed; and that the 
 day of reckoning has come ; the Ancient of Days shall 
 come, and before Him shall all nations be gathered ? 
 
 What nation has not abused its liberty, and America 
 above all others? What was the higher purpose for 
 which it was given ? Ask our school teachers, or 
 even our statesmen. If ever they knew it, it is now 
 banished from their memory; they consider it the 
 great end and object of national existence. No, my 
 ignorant -friend, it is only a means to an end. The 
 old Puritans needed no man to instruct them on that 
 point; it is found in the good old book, Luke i, 74, 75. 
 
 He 's slow, He 's slow, He 's very slow, 
 
 The Lord most merciful and true, 
 But yet He '11 strike the final blow, 
 
 And all His enemies subdue. 
 
 ** Hold on," says my skeptical, friend, " I have 
 some v/eighty objections to your dismal theories. Let 
 me remind you that Richard went on a crusading 
 tour, and half Europe along with him — the intrepid 
 Richard, King of England — but it all ended in nothing. 
 How long ago? Only seven hundred years." So it 
 ended. Will it all blow over, as we say, and sensible 
 people settle down to their various occupations ? 
 Well, then we had wars and rumors of wars. Have 
 you forgotten how the first Napoleon battered old 
 Europe and turned it up-side-down? What next? 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 2g 
 
 We then had the great Crimean war; but the Turk is 
 as vigorous as ever, and refuses to die Hke a gentleman 
 — it is a dreadful interruption to free trade and com- 
 merce — while he laughs and calls us Christian dogs. 
 We understand very well what you mean by the Euro- 
 pean crisis, but what do you mean by the " Beginning 
 of the End ?" All things continue as they were from 
 the beginning. 
 
 We shall consider your three-fold object in their 
 order. 
 
 Several prophecies of the highest order had not 
 been fulfilled in King Richard's day, and therefore the 
 time was premature. A great, but undiscovered conti- 
 nent lay in the far west, which had to be peopled and 
 Christianized, of which no man was aware, and on 
 which a glorious occidental sun had set for ages, and 
 none but a red man to behold its glories. What say 
 you, my skeptical friend ? That one of the old 
 prophets, ten thousand years before, foretold. 
 
 "That from the rising of the sun to the going down 
 of the same, my name shall be great among the gen- 
 tiles, and in every place incense shall be offered to my 
 name, and a pure offering, for my name shall be great 
 among the gentiles," saith the Lord of Host. 
 
 Now, my skeptical friend, we invite your serious 
 attention while we prove to you the present compli- 
 cations of the great Eastern question are not likely to 
 blow over, as you say, and end in nothing. Not only 
 was the time premature, but they were not half pre- 
 pared in those days for so stupendous a task ; they had 
 not counted the cost; and therefore, for these reasons 
 we failed. Was there ever in all the world's history 
 such perfection of weapons of warfare, such armaments 
 
30 THF. EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 on sea and land; such millions spent on offensive and 
 defensive projectiles and fortifications; was there ever 
 such commercial rivalry and jealousl}^ among the 
 nations. By the combined influence of free trade and 
 the introduction of steamships for naval warfare, never 
 since the foundation of the world was there such 
 preparation for war, and the strange part of the story 
 is that nobody knows what power is to be attacked 
 or when, or where; and yet men do not, in ordinary 
 cases, spend money on uncertainties. 
 
 Besides, let us remember that in former days religion 
 took the form of chivalry, and it is a matter of history 
 that Richard of England actually quarreled with the 
 princes of Europe for priority, each vieing with the 
 other as to who should be first in the field, who should 
 have the most renown and military glory in driving 
 the Turk out of Europe and Palestine. 
 
 Did ever the world behold such a strange spectacle ! 
 What language can describe it ! All the nations of 
 Europe prepared for war and yet all trying to avoid 
 it ! What were strong battalions made and drilled 
 for — infantry, cavalry and artillery — if not to fight? 
 
 Who shall be first in the fight — who shall have the 
 glory of conquering the Turk ? Now it is, how can 
 we keep out of it ? Greece, little Greece, is the only 
 power that has led the van, and, beaten or victorious, 
 she has done her duty nobly. All public causes belong 
 to God. 
 
 Now is the day, and now 's the hour; 
 See the face of battle lower ; 
 See approach the Turkish power, 
 The Turk and slavery. 
 
 Willing or unwilling you have to fight, so the un- 
 seen powers have declared. When He that sitteth in 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 3 1 
 
 the heavens makes war, who can make peace ? When 
 He makes peace, who can make trouble ? None can 
 stay His hand, or say " What doest Thou ?" 
 
 Therefore we say this is the beginning of the end ; 
 the preparation for a new epoch in the world's history. 
 
 Now, my skeptical friend, what say you ? Is not 
 this something new under the sun ? 
 
 The two last objections are easily answered. The 
 wars of Napoleon and the Crimean War, neither were 
 religious in any sense, but quite the opposite — two 
 selfish nations fighting for their own interests, without 
 any redeeming qualities to make up for them ; trade 
 and integrity of empire were the main objects. Ver- 
 ily, " He taketh the wise in their own craftiness." 
 
 What, then, is the conclusion of the world's history? 
 Is it the gospel of despair? Nothing of the kind, my 
 brother. But as the great architect surveys a great 
 building ruined and dilapidated, will make no patch- 
 work of such an old structure. He must first tear 
 down the old before beginning the new. 
 
 "Behold, I create," He saith, "a new heaven and a 
 new earth." And He will surely do it, and set up the 
 new temple then more glorious than ever. 
 
 Therefore, every truly Christian man in the church 
 can say : " Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, 
 for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of 
 them, and as a citizen in the world. Hallelujah ! 
 for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." 
 
32 
 
 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 BRIEF SUMMARY OF FORGOTTEN TRUTHS. 
 
 That though God is in the heavens, yet this earth is the grand theatre 
 of his operations — using all forces, moral, spiritual and physical. 
 
 That he is the great king and absolute sovereign of the world, yet 
 has granted a limited. sovereignty to men on earth for temporary and ex- 
 perimental purposes; but the absolute jurisdiction vv^as never given to 
 any man or angel, only to His Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 IT IS the testimony of every wise man that God is 
 ruling the earth with infinite wisdom and right- 
 eousness. 
 
 Who, but a fool, imagines that it is ruled by the 
 force of public opinion or the wills and passions of 
 sinful men ? 
 
 Who can believe that it is ruled by acts of Congress 
 or acts of English Parliaments or Supreme Courts of 
 the United States or the Sandwich Islands ? 
 
 Who can believe that this world is ruled according 
 to the ideas of hucksters and peddlers and such men 
 as originate world's fairs and summon church con- 
 gresses ? 
 
 Who but the profane and vulgar believe that this 
 *' moving temple of the infinite" is for them only a 
 gigantic huckster's shop, where the precious fruits of 
 the earth are held merely for gambling purposes ? 
 
 Who can believe that a league of kings is capable of 
 governing this world aright when some new Napoleon 
 may scatter them all in one short year? 
 
 That the mediatorial reign of Christ is nearly fin- 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 
 
 33 
 
 ished, and what is called *' The acceptable year of the 
 Lord," will very soon end; and the day of vengeance 
 will begin, and that it will begin at the house of God, 
 and if the righteous scarcely be saved, '* where will 
 the ungodly and the sinner appear ?" 
 
 That our blessed Redeemer was the prophet and 
 the priest, now He is going to be the King. '* To this 
 end," says He, " was I born." 
 
 " Gird thy sword on thy thigh, O Most Mighty." 
 
 " Gather my saints together," saith He, ** those that 
 have made covenant with me by sacrifice." 
 
 And the armies of heaven followed Him. 
 
 " Be wise, now, therefore, O ye kings ; be instructed, 
 ye judges of the earth. Kiss the Son, lest He be 
 angry and ye perish from the way." 
 
 "A short work will the Lord make on earth ; for 
 the elect sake it will be shortened." 
 
 That only those who are in Christ as in the ark, 
 shall outlive the sea of fire, for the earth and all that 
 is therein shall be burned up. " Rejoice and be glad," 
 saith the prophet, " for behold I create a new heaven 
 and a new earth." 
 
 That the present dispensation is not for the con- 
 version of the world, only for the elect; not men in 
 the mass, but individuals from every kindred of the 
 earth. 
 
 That there are four regenerations in order of time: 
 that of the soul in the Divine image ; of the body into 
 the image of the glorious body of Christ; the re- 
 generation of the nations and also of the physical 
 world itself, for the creature itself also shall be de- 
 livered from the bondage of corruption into the 
 glorious liberty of the children of light. 
 
34 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 That the best man on the earth to-day is only a 
 tenant-at-will — a pilgrim on his way home. That 
 the ungodly man, though a millionaire, has no true 
 title to anything here — houses, lands or real estate, as 
 he calls it — nay, not even to life itself. Boor soul ! he 
 is only permitted to live by the forbearance of God — 
 like the dog, sufferance is the badge of his existence. 
 
 That the kingdom that is to break up all other 
 kingdoms and to stand forever, is about to be estab- 
 lished. 
 
 That there shall be no peace on this earth any 
 more until the desire of ail nations comes. In His 
 day shall the righteous flourish, and sinners be con- 
 sumed out of the earth. 
 
 From these fundamental ideas we may readily see 
 that the old Greeks had a nobler idea of government 
 than our American statesman (if, indeed, there be any 
 such to-day) have. They knew very well that there 
 was no use in framing Constitutions and making laws 
 without the sanction of the gods, and without a center 
 of worship and supreme authority, and so they had 
 the temple of Apollo. But soon as the people rule 
 there is no need of any Divine sanction or blessing 
 on their deliberations. An earnest American scholar 
 states some very unwelcome truths : " The whole 
 educational system of our country is dwindling down 
 to the narrow limits of the practical. Religion itself is 
 made to subserve the practical catchpenny idea of life. 
 I challenge the States to-day, with their seventy mil- 
 lions, to furnish such a grand body of men as sat in the 
 Continental Congress, when there were only a handful 
 of population. These men were trained in the learned 
 professions as a mere matter of accomplishment, and 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 
 
 35 
 
 especially to speculative philosophy, as indispensible 
 to the enjoyment of life." 
 
 They were, therefore, men of thought, and the 
 powers they had cultivated in this respect were totally 
 irrespective of any practical use to which they might 
 be applied. The statesman of to-day has first an eye 
 to self. Abstract thought is not a paying commod- 
 ity. How can such men have exalted views of the 
 general purpose of government ? The want of thought 
 is painfully exemplified in the present condition of our 
 country. For years past, the United States Govern- 
 ment has completely lost all the grand principles for 
 which it was founded, or basely used them as a prac- 
 tical contrivance to be used as the instrument of self- 
 aggrandizement, or for corporate or sectional robbery, 
 instead of the high and holy purpose for which it was 
 originally instituted — mutual protection, and the main- 
 tenance of a universal brotherhood. 
 
 "What is the wisdom of the world," says the 
 apostle " and its princes ?" It all ends in nothing. Let 
 some master mind sketch for us the political history of 
 old Europe even for the past fifty years, and what 
 does it teach us? That not one of the public meas- 
 ures or acts of parliament, or concordats of popes or 
 statesmen, considered as abstract propositions, ever 
 carried out the intentions of the framers when put into 
 execution, but had the most opposite and disastrous 
 results to the nation for which they were intended. 
 
 Where is the wisdom of the wise ? Shall we instance 
 the history of Italy, Spain, France, even Old Mexico ? 
 Nearly all these nations have been brought to the 
 verge of ruin by following the political advice of the 
 church. We shall single out the latest illustration. 
 
36 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 It was believed by many — church dignitaries and 
 others — that the disestabHshment of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church in Ireland would prove a blessing 
 to the Roman Catholic population, and so it seemed 
 while it was merely an abstract proposition. Now 
 for the facts in the case. The author has seen the 
 result with his own eyes. 
 
 The rectors of the various parishes, being married 
 men with model families surrounding them, formed, 
 so to speak, a miniature court and circle of society. 
 Around them were numbers of old ladies living on 
 jointures and annuities, retired old gentlemen and 
 merchants, half-pay officers, literary men and others 
 who had money in bank and lived to enjoy themselves. 
 
 All such persons had a host of poor Roman Cath- 
 olic people dependent on them for a living — gardeners, 
 washerwomen, shoemakers, tailors, teachers, lackeys, 
 coachmen, grooms and others- — but as soon as they 
 were annoyed by the turbulence and excitement of 
 the disestablishment, they took wings and flew away, 
 some to the Channel Islands, some to Wales and 
 others to London. " We can live anywhere," say 
 they, and off" they went. 
 
 What is the consequence ? The population in the 
 towns is worse off* now than ever, while the Church 
 in Ireland has not been essentially injured. 
 
 What a glorious example did the good Lord leave 
 to His apostles, if their successors had only walked in 
 His footsteps in such matters. 
 
 He refused to interfere even in the government of a 
 household, and its domestic arrangements at Bethany. 
 " Speak to my sister, that she help me." " No." 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 
 
 37 
 
 ** Speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance 
 with me." "No. Man, who made me a judge?" 
 Shall we give tribute to Caeser ? By all means. The 
 king is the minister of God — no quarreling with 
 earthly governments either in Jerusalem or Italy. 
 No ; Christ the wisdom of God knew better, and Christ 
 the power of God waited for His day, when all things 
 shall be put under His feet. 
 
38 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE PAROUSIA, OR THE SECOND ADVENT. 
 
 Eternal Father, Thou hast said 
 
 That Christ all glory shall obtain ; 
 That He who once a sufferer bled, 
 
 Shall o'er the earth a victor reign. 
 We wait Thy coming, Saviour, King, 
 
 Long ages hath prepared Thy way ; 
 Now all abroad Thy banner fling, 
 
 Set time's great battle in array. 
 
 IT IS a singular fact, and worthy to be recorded, 
 that there has been always in the church a regular 
 succession of godly men who have made the second 
 advent and the glorious appearing of our Redeemer 
 their special subject of study. Those men, both lay 
 and clerical, have borne aloft that glorious truth, and 
 we to-day hear their voices sounding down through 
 the centuries. What is it but the note of earth's 
 jubilee, the blessed consummation of our redemption. 
 When He shall appear we shall be like Him. 
 
 And it is also too true that there has been a regular 
 succession of scoffers, from St. Peter's day even until 
 now; a class of men who have made it the special 
 object of their lives to mock the Christian's hope, and 
 who would, if they dared, efface from every monument 
 and tomb stone which the piety of our forefathers 
 erected to their memory the consoling words, "Died 
 in the faith of the Gospel." 
 
 When the glory of this hope grows dim or begins 
 to fade through our negligence, then indeed are we 
 for the time miserable, for we are saved by hope; 
 
AND THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 
 
 39 
 
 therefore, let us hold fast the rejoicing of the hope firm 
 unto the end — "for we have not followed cunningly 
 devised fables when we made known unto you the 
 power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were 
 eye witnesses of His majesty," says the apostle. 
 
 It is only a false church or a decayed one that is 
 careless concerning the bridegroom's return. 
 
 But the friend of the bridegroom rejoiceth greatly 
 because of the bridegroom's return. This, alone, is 
 the filling up of their cup of joy. 
 
 We have been accused of mixing up spiritual and 
 material things in a curious fashion, but this will only 
 appear as wrong to those who have tried to limit and 
 circumscribe the sovereignty of the Redeemer, and 
 those persons who imagine religion must be confined 
 to the four walls of a building, singing of hymns and 
 relation of experiences. 
 
 The sphere of His influence has been excluded 
 from our schools and colleges, business and legisla- 
 tion, whereas it includes everything in heaven and 
 earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones 
 or dominions, principalities, power, things present and 
 things to come. He that was. He that is, and He that 
 is to come, the Almighty. All kings must bow down 
 before Him ; all nations serve Him. 
 
 There are multitudes of ill-instructed Christians 
 who imagine that the Gospel was merely intended for 
 the conversion of a certain number of individuals only, 
 and has nothing to do with the revolutions in states 
 and empires. The Gospel not only includes the moral 
 law, but also regulates the civil institutions of men. 
 
 The Kingdom of Israel was not established without 
 fighting and bloodshed, and so neither will the King- 
 
40 
 
 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS. 
 
 dom of Christ. " Think not that I am come to send 
 peace on the earth ; nay, but a sword. Nation shall 
 rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;" 
 and we are warranted by Scripture to declare that 
 immediately previous to the second advent of Our 
 Lord, this world will be in a frightful state of anarchy 
 and confusion. 
 
 Who will be so bold as to deny that all the wars 
 and revolutions of Old Europe for the past three 
 hundred years, can be directly traced to the teachings 
 and influence of one man, and who was he ? Martin 
 Luther. 
 
 The nations shall be ruled with a rod of iron, and 
 their violence controlled, or they shall be dashed in 
 pieces like a potter's vessel. 
 
 Has my reader ever pondered on the meaning of 
 the prophet's words, " overturn, overturn, overturn 
 until He comes, whose right is to reign" ? And there 
 never will be peace on the earth until that blessed 
 event takes place. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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