LATTER DAY PROPHETIC PROMISES—TIME OF ISRAEL’S REVIVAL—PYRAMID TESTIMONY—BRITISH ISLAND POPULATION IN 1882—AFFINITY BETWEEN ENGLISH AND HEBREW—CELL OF THE HONEYBEE—ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE—LION OF LANGUAGES—FOREIGN TESTIMONY—ALL TONGUES INDIGENOUS BUT ENGLISH—THE PRE-MILLENNIAL TOKENS.

“For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.”—Zephaniah iii. 9.

In the last two discourses we called your attention to two prophecies that are now fulfilling; they are on parallel lines of time and territory. The first had reference to the rapid accumulation of the lands of the earth by Israel. Accepting the Anglo-Saxons as being the children and descendants of Jacob, it naturally follows that the prophetic blessings and promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their heirs, should find a fulfilment in these, the latter days, and that such fulfilment should be found in the English nation, among the Jews, and in the United States. It is easy to see and believe that the curses prophetically pronounced on Judah and Israel have been fulfilled, especially on the House of Judah. The promises to the House of Israel are now being grandly realised. England is in possession of the isles of the sea, the coasts of the earth, the waste and desolate places, the heathen is her inheritance, and she is inheriting the seed of the Gentiles, and causing their desolate cities to be inhabited. From the taking of Jamaica, by General Penn, in 1655, to the peaceful cession of Cyprus, the course of this little island nation has been onward and upward. And if her conquests and progress are not amenable to prophecy, for an interpretation, then the wonder is still greater. The facts are with us, and must be accounted for some way. The second had reference to the multitudinous seed of Israel in the latter days. Till two hundred years ago the Anglo-Saxons were not in this respect distinct from other races; indeed, for centuries they were distinct rather for their weakness in multiplying power and number. Many other races have exceeded them in this particular. But no sooner do we come abreast of the latter day time than we find the laws of centuries changed. In thermal science it is an axiom that heat expands all bodies, and of course that cold contracts them. But to this general rule there is one beautiful and benevolent exception: it is in water; for if we start with water at thirty-two degrees, we find the remarkable phenomenon of cold expanding all below thirty-two, and heat expanding all above. If we take water at 212 degrees and withdraw it from the heat, it will continue to contract till we reach thirty-two; then the law is reversed, and the water expands. Now the reversion of this law, at this particular point, is wonderfully expressive of Divine forethought and benevolence. By such a change ice is made to float in water, and so save our lakes, streams, and wells from being frozen solid. As this exception is to thermal science, so is the law of reproduction to Israel in this day. This people, who have been behind other races, now, at an appointed time, step to the front. The law seems to be reversed, and that too for a benevolent purpose—for the very purpose that they might be able to fulfil the mission assigned them in these last days, to occupy the new lands and evangelise the world. One prophecy seems to call for the other, for what would be the use of the lands without the people, or the people without the lands? It is an amazing fact that Queen Victoria should bear rule over one-third of the population of the whole earth, and that Israel, including Manasseh, should own one-fourth of the land.

But this amazing fact is made reasonable when we accept the Queen as being of the seed of David, and an heir to the promises attaching to David’s throne, and when we accept the Anglo-Saxons as being the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Then prophecy, Providence, and facts, are a trinity—they are one sublime whole. God, speaking through Moses, said He would punish to reform Israel for seven times—and seven times prophetically understood, means 2,520 years. If we allow that Israel were carried captive in the year 725 before Christ, then Israel would come into freedom, or be reformed, about 1795; because if we add 725 to 1,795, we get 2,520. Up to this point they were to be robbed of their children and to be few in number (see Lev. xxvi. 22). In the year 1795 Israel were to be relieved from these curses; and about this time this special law of reproduction came into operation; or, if we take the lamentations of Hosea vi. 1–3: “Come and let us return unto the Lord, for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up; after two days will He revive us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning, and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” By this passage, our day and the special providences of this period are mournfully and graphically referred to. Here a day stands for a thousand years, “for a day with the Lord is as a thousand years;” so that when two thousand years should have passed by, Ephraim, who stands for Israel, was to be revived and blessed with fruitfulness sometime during the third day, or thousand years. In ancient time a day was counted when it had a majority—that is, when it had passed the half. The prophet here says we were to be revived, or raised up, on the third day. So, if you again take these three thousand-year days, you will find that two of them are to be completely passed, and during the third we were to be raised. The number we have given, 2,520, exactly meets the interpretation—2,000 complete, and 520 make a majority for the third day by the twenty over the half. These prophetic figures tally well with the existing state of things. About the beginning of this century England assumed to lead the world. It is a remarkable coincidence that, in the last century, the question of how to multiply the population was a subject of debate and legislation in the British Parliament. But what legislation failed to do, God in His providence did at the appointed time.

It is a curious fact, and well worth noticing, that the famous witness of the Lord of hosts in Egypt, the Great Pyramid, forecasts what the number of Israel and Judah would be in the year 1882. As Israel is symbolised in the Grand Gallery, it is found that the cubic contents of the same, in inches, is about 36,000,000; thus by some this is interpreted to mean that inches stand for individuals, and if so, then England proper will have this number in 1880. Whether this is a true interpretation or not, we all know that these figures will be about right. The Queen’s Chamber of the Pyramid symbolises the number and condition of the Jews.

From these two prophecies, so sublimely fulfilling, let me invite your attention to another that is now maturing. It, too, is parallel with the other two. We refer to the peculiar growth, power, and progress of the English language. After Israel went into captivity, they were to lose their language and take or form another. “For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people” (Isa. xxviii. 11). We will all agree that the English language is not the Hebrew; and if we are Israelites, then indeed God is speaking to us in another tongue, for few of us read His Word in Hebrew. It is read to the millions in the English; hence the millions hear God speak to them in another tongue than that of Hebrew. Between the English and Hebrew languages there is an intimate relation, especially back a few years, before the English had grown so much. The Hebrew was a very limited language; not numbering more than 7,000 words. The English is now said to number about 80,000. The most lavish writer does not use over 10,000; the common average is about 3,000. In the English we have not less than 1,000 Hebrew roots. This, comparing the languages a few years back, is a large percentage. In names of persons and places the Hebrew is very prominent in England.

I take it for a fact that language is of Divine origin. Men have written on the origin of language from every standpoint; the majority of them trying to account for its existence without allowing so noble a source. The first man, Adam, I believe, could talk as easily and naturally as he could see, and hear, and taste. Speech was a part of his endowment. There is nothing more wonderful in a man talking than a bird singing, save that speech is a higher order of utterance. Dumb nature performs marvels every day as mighty and wonderful as man’s talking. The honey-bee builds its cells, ignorant of the fact that such construction is the solution of a problem which had troubled men for centuries to solve. At what point shall certain lines meet so as to give the most room with the least material and have the greatest strength in the building? This problem is said to have been worked out by a Mr. McLaughland, a noted Scotch mathematician, who arrived at his conclusion by laborious and careful fluxionary calculation. To his surprise, and to the surprise of the world, such lines and such a building were found in the common bee cell. Now I hold that the same Creator who gave to the bee the mathematical instinct could endow man with the instinct of speech. Even to animal instinct we find a certain variation and permitted latitude in what is called adaptive instinct. So in man we find this same instinct of adaptation in a higher sense. The instinct comes into play when we suppose a number of persons separated from others, each living in different quarters of the globe. In such a condition, though of the same language when first separated, they would not remain so long—that is, in the primitive state of society. Thus, among the tribes of Africa, at this day, languages are widening and varying from a once common centre. So Israel in captivity would lose the Hebrew gradually. The language of the people among whom they settled was the Sanskrit, from which a score of languages have come—the German, French, and Italian, Saxon and others. The Saxon of to-day, compared with the Saxon of 2,000 years ago, is very different; so much so that for us to learn and speak it would be equal to learning a new language. Thus the English language is a thing of growth. In the year 1362 the Saxon was made the court language of England. From that time onward its growth has been wonderful.

The prophetic outlines and Divine place of this language may be seen in the germal foundations, which give unto it such vigour, tenacity, and capabilities of expansion. All the features of this language go to show that it is destined to be the medium of a world’s intercourse, and that it very suitably belongs to Israel, in whose hand will be the destiny of the world. It is the lion of languages. It will grow anywhere, and by reason of its tenacity when once it gets a foothold it abides. It is peculiarly suited to the humanities of every race, clime, and condition; there is no limit to its expansive adaptability. It is in a special manner voracious in the destruction of other languages; wherever it goes, it sounds the death-knell of all the rest.

Soon as this language entered Britain, it began its work of destruction. Before it has disappeared the real British, the Cymric or Welsh, Erse or Irish, the Gaelic of Scotland, and the Manx of the Isle of Man. The British Keltic is entirely gone; the rest are entirely local. Beside these it ousted from the island the Norse, the Norman-French, and several other tongues that tried to transplant themselves on English soil. It is at work in every part of the globe, planting itself and displacing others. A few years ago French was the language best suited for a traveller on the Continent. But this has changed. Now the English is by far superior. And why is it that the English is supplanting all others? To answer such a question in a scientific way, one cannot do better than quote from the great and learned German philologist, Prof. Grimm, of Berlin. He says of it: “It has a thorough power of expression, such as no other language ever possessed. It may truly be called a world-language, for no other can compare with it in richness, reasonableness, and solidity of texture.” But perhaps the most definite and distinct testimony given by a foreigner touching the future ubiquity of the Anglo-Saxon race and language, is that put forward by Provost Paradol, a learned Frenchman. He says “that neither Russia nor united Germany, supposing that they should attain the highest fortune, can pretend to impede that current of things, nor prevent that solution, relatively near at hand, of the long rivalry of European races for the ultimate colonisation and domination of the universe. The world will not be Russian, nor German, nor French, alas! nor Spanish.” He concludes that it will be Anglo-Saxon.

A British poet has presented in poetry the special features of several of the European languages, which we give:—

“Greek’s a harp we love to hear;
Latin is a trumpet clear;
Spanish like an organ swells;
Italian rings its bridal bells;
France, with many a frolic mien,
Tunes her sprightly violin;
Loud the German rolls his drum
When Russia’s clashing cymbals come;
But British sons may well rejoice,
For English is the human voice.”

There are eight languages in the bounds of Christian civilisation that may be accounted powerful, because they are the tongues of vigorous people; they are the English, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Scandinavian. But of these all are indigenous, except the English, so that they die if transplanted. Look at this country and behold what a cemetery it is for languages. Once the French had strong hold and promised to abide here; but it is now nearly gone, even from the state of Louisiana and Canada, the last places of retreat.

If we take note of the population according to these several languages, we shall see the prophetic future of the English. It is spoken by about ninety millions, Russian seventy-five, German fifty-six, French forty, Spanish thirty-eight, Italian twenty-nine, Portuguese fourteen, and Scandinavian nine. Within the control of the governments of these languages we find England to have rule over 255,000,000 people, who do not as yet speak English, and we find that the other seven have only seventy-five millions outside of themselves. Here is an important difference. If we look at them by territorial limits, leaving out Russia, we find the English language to own 13,382,686 square miles, Germany 449,684, French 571,578, Spanish 4,694,811, Italian 114,466, Portuguese 4,028,311, and Scandinavian 1,308,830. The aggregate number of square miles possessed by these six languages, is 11,167,620, which altogether, you see, own 2,215,066 miles square less than the English. The balance itself is more than Germany, France, and Spain put together. The English language is divided only into two governments, but the other six are divided into twenty-six, all of which governments are bitter one toward the other; each trying to supplant one another, while England and the United States are at peace, and will ever remain so. In one hundred years from now the English language will be spoken by a thousand million people. Thus we need no stretch of fancy to see that what the prophet speaks of in the text will be accomplished in due time.

This language will soon be universal; by common consent it will become the language of the world. All the changes going on among nations forecast its ubiquity. China, by an imperial decree, has just added to her language 700 English words. Her sons by the thousand are with us, and by the thousand they are learning our mother tongue. The Japanese, till a few years ago, carried on their foreign correspondence through the Dutch, but now they have changed to the English. Besides, in the 50,000 schools in Japan English is being taught. If science has an answer for this strange phenomenon, so have we. Ours is, that it is the will of Heaven. Confusion of tongues came at Babel as a punishment. By this means Heaven scattered the unwilling descendants of Noah. When Noah came forth from the Ark, God bade him multiply and replenish the earth—that is, fill it up. Babel, however, was built as a monument of centralisation, for the builders gave as a reason for building it, “Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth.” By a confusion of tongues they were scattered. Since then we have had some 1,500 distinct languages, and some 3,500 colloquials, or say 5,000 different forms of speech. At the present time 600 of the primary are dead, so that there are about 900 languages now spoken on all the earth, with about 2,500 colloquials.

When these means have answered their end—namely, to make us occupy all parts of the earth—then they will die out. It then follows that as the world fills, languages must disappear. So they do. The English and German were the last languages to come into existence. No new ones are now being made. Alphabets are increasing, because missionaries are reducing spoken languages among the heathen into a written form. The Bible is translated into two hundred different tongues. This itself will only lead the millions back to English. All ship papers are now made out in English excepting the French, and no doubt they will soon have to follow in the wake.

The day of Pentecost foreshowed the universality of some language. Pentecost was a type, and the English is the antitype. The strangers from Phrygia, Pamphylia, Libya, Pontus, and Cappadocia, mingled with the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Cretes, and Arabians. They all heard the Gospel in their own tongue. The different tongues make a wall of division, making them strangers one with another; but the Holy Ghost took away this wall, and they were all face to face, able to understand one another. The same power that here multiplied the gift of tongues—giving to some several—surely could give to Adam one. Away with a faith that cannot give God credit with being the Author of language.

No sooner do we see England in guardian possession of Syria than the idea enters into the scheme of reform of extending the English language. The Board of Directors of the Syrian Protestant College at Beyrout have shown their appreciation of the new era of British influence by a recent vote, which is to the effect that on January 1, 1879, all instruction in the college shall be through the English language. The Arabic will only be taught as any other dead language. This remarkable action shows that British influence in Syria is hereafter to be more than simply diplomatic; it is to be an all-pervading and controlling power, affecting every interest of Society. Truly another Pentecostal day is drawing nigh—a day when all the world shall hear the Gospel in the language of Israel. In all these things we see the lively tokens and pre-millennial agencies hastening on the day of the Lord.