PROPHETIC LATTER DAYS—OUR BEARINGS IN THE AGES—UNWISE IMPATIENCE—ISRAEL TO BE ALWAYS A NATION—HER EMPIRE—HISTORIC CAREER OF AND FUTURE OF ENGLAND, AMERICA, AND JUDAH—RELATIVE INCREASE OF POPULATION—THE INFIDEL SAXON—JEWISH, BRITISH, AND AMERICAN INTERESTS ONE—A FULL END OF ALL NATIONS BUT ISRAEL—FAMINE HENCEFORTH ONLY FOR THE HEATHEN—ARBITRATION TO BE ENFORCED BY ISRAEL—AMERICAN ABSORBTION—STARTLING FIGURES OF FUTURE POPULATION—THE BALANCE OF POWER.

“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”—Hosea i. 10.

A period of time is frequently referred to in the Scriptures as being the “latter days.” It is, therefore, very important for the prophetic student, and the Church of Christ at large, that the time of days spoken of should be known. For connected with these days are a number of prophecies waiting fulfilment, and they are of such a nature that their fulfilment may easily be discerned. In breadth and scope they cover much territory and include many people. They cannot be hid in a corner, for the parts are so numerous and the interests so great. The fulfilment of these prophecies will make a radical and fundamental change in Church and State.

I take it for granted we are now entering into the time of the latter days—a time that precedes by a natural consequence the millennium. It is, therefore, unwise on the part of any person to claim that Christ may come any day, and that His millennial reign may be begun at any moment. It is but fair that we should carefully consider our bearings in the circle of Providence and our position in the ages. The story and work of redemption are grand, full of interest and thrilling incidents; still we must take things in their order. Some stories we read are very fascinating. The plot culminates, the characters and incidents converge toward and centre in the hero. At such a point we are often carried away with our sympathy for the hero; we become anxious for him, and desires to know the issues, and so are tempted to skip a few pages and get at the end unwisely and unlawfully. Thus I think many are carried away by a loving desire for the millennium; they become anxious for the return of the Hero of redemption; they skip a few pages of Providence, and come to the end too soon.

These days are preparative, and in such a preparative stage we are warranted to look for the fulfilment of certain prophecies; for prophecies, indeed, of such a nature and character that no Bible student need be mistaken as to the time, place, and conditions of fulfilment. We have called your attention to one of these prophecies, and pointed out to you how the same was literally fulfilling before the eyes of all. God, in olden times, made promises to Abraham, the patriarchs, and their seed. These promises were nothing more nor less than prophecies. He attested the same by His own oath. He called to witness the sun, moon, stars, sea, night, day, the seasons, seedtime and harvest. These He called His ordinances. These ordinances may depart from before Him, but the seed of Israel should not cease to be a nation. They were not only to be a nation, but a company of nations. To this end, in the latter days, they were to come in possession of the isles of the sea, the coasts of the earth, waste and desolate places; to inherit the seed of the Gentiles, and cause their desolate cities to be filled. They were to possess and rule over the heathen. In the latter days they were to possess Edom and Esau—that is, Turkey—and so come in possession of their own land, Palestine. Now I call you to witness, and ask you if these things are so? Before your eyes, before mine, before the eyes of all the world, God is fulfilling His promises made to the fathers.

The very exceptions to the sweeping and comprehensive possessions of the seed of Jacob are pyramidal witnesses to the same. The House of Judah was to become homeless, without a nation and without a government, after they left Palestine; but to be a people known by the race feature, and by their unwavering adherence, attachment, and fidelity to the Mosaic worship. This exception all can see, and none can truthfully deny. They have had money and men enough to buy and rule a nation, but as yet they have none. Their talent, their ability, and their money, have been the chief factor in the rule, prosperity, and greatness of many nations in the past as well as now. And the second conception is not less grand and conclusive. Let any one inquire what was to be the portion of the Tribe of Manasseh, and they will find that Manasseh was to be a distinct people, a great people; for so said the dying patriarch Jacob. Now such a people, a great people, we hold Manasseh to be at this day in the people of the United States. Some sixty colonies England has overrun, established, or conquered, and she is busy at work yet conquering and gathering in. But is it not remarkable that she has never lost one of the many save the United States? Will any one give an earthly reason for this marvellous exception? I presume no one can. There is, however, a Divine reason. Moses, when giving his prophetic benediction to the Tribes of Israel, gives us an insight into this question. Speaking of Joseph and the wonderful blessing in store for his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, he says: “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns; and with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh” (Deut, xxxiii. 17). And further light is thrown on this subject when we notice what Isaiah says in the forty-ninth chapter. The children of Israel, when settled in some Isles, would lose a portion of themselves, and still the “children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me, give place to me that I may dwell.” The simple and natural interpretation of such a passage is, that the Isles referred to were the British Isles. The children lost refer to Manasseh, the Pilgrims, and Puritans who came from England. And the cry for more room after they have left, shall lead England to look for lands in which to colonise her surplus population, all of which she has done and is doing.

Surely in these things there is something more than chance. Yes, there is a divine purpose fulfilled. Seeing, then, that God will put the land into Israel’s hand, there will run another blessing parallel with this—namely, a peculiar increase of the seed, or children of Israel, so that they may occupy and control these lands. These two prophecies are to be fulfilling on a parallel line at the same time. Are they so fulfilling? We answer, Yes; and the answer all the world may verify, for the facts are of such a nature that if they are not so fulfilling it can be very easily disproved.

The prophet tells us in the text that the children of Israel are to be numerous—to be numerous in an extraordinary degree—so much so that it shall appear partly miraculous when such increase is compared to other people or judged by the common methods of reasoning. Hosea had three children; the first a son. He called him Jezreel. This son was set for a witness that God would cause to cease the House of Israel in Palestine—that Israel should cease to be a nation for a time. This idea Isaiah points out under the type of an abandoned wife. God styles Himself the Husband of Israel, and that He had given the wife a bill of divorcement. Thus the two prophets agree, and history ratifies both.

Hosea’s second child he calls Lo-Ruhamah. She was set for a witness that God would take away His mercy from the House of Israel for a time, and that God would utterly take them away out of the land. So He did; for a few years after this we find the children of Israel were carried captive into Assyria by Shalmaneser, and the Assyrians were brought and put in their place. And from these Assyrians, who were planted in the cities and country left by the children of Israel, we get the Samaritans, who were, as you see, not Jews nor Israelites by generation—they were manufactured Jews only. “And the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day” (2 Kings xvii. 23). During this captivity, which is even in force till now, barren Israel, the divorced one, was to have more children than the married one—namely, Judah.

We find that the third child born to Hosea is called Lo-ammi, meaning, “Ye are not My people.” This child pro-figured the casting out of the Jews; that they would refuse to accept God in Christ, and He therefore would reject them. Thus the Jews became wanderers from their own land. And the land rests in desolation, enjoying her Sabbath of rest, while her sons and daughters are being chastised and trained for their return.

The time will come when God will call Israel to Him, and have mercy upon her, when the divorced one shall be restored to her husband. “And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call Me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali” (Hos. ii. 16). Now Ishi means husband, and Baali stands for Lord. Saxons have been looked upon as being infidels by the rest of the world. The Mohammedans and Buddhists never reckoned the Saxons as being the sons of God; and Catholic Europe and Greek Russia have looked upon England as infidel and heretical. And the Saxons themselves never went so far in their knowledge as to know who they were, their origin and work. But the prophet says: “It shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.” And the time will come when Lo-Ruhamah shall become Ru-hamah, which means to have obtained mercy. And Lo-Ammi shall become Ammi, which means that this is My people. And Jezreel, which was a sign of dispersion, shall be the sign of gathering. “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.” Then the Jews (Ammi) will call the Saxons their sister, long lost, but found at last. The Saxons (Ru-hamah) will call the Jews their brother, those whom in the past they have hated and persecuted; and thought themselves far removed from Jewish blood. Now they both will acknowledge a common generation, and Abraham their father. And one with his eyes half open can see this part of the prophecy fulfilling. The Jews, England, and United States, from this and henceforth, are one in interest, policy, and destiny.

These being the latter days, let us look for the signs of the multiplying of the seed so that they be as the sea sands God promised to Abraham, saying: “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies” (Gen. xxii. 17). Old Jacob foretold that Joseph would be a fruitful bough, whose branches would run over the wall—that is, colonise. This increase is to be seen in two ways. Let me direct your attention to one of these ways, in a special manner, because it is so singular and unique, so distinct and discernable. In Jeremiah xxx. 10, 11, we find a remarkable statement: “Fear not, O Israel, for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee. Though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” That Israel has been punished and corrected no one will deny who is acquainted with her history and sojourn from the time she was carried captive to this day. But has the other part of the saying been fulfilled? We answer, Yes—as the law of colonisation has progressed. The Ancient Britons are no more; Saxon Israel has entirely supplanted them, just as Manasseh in the United States is supplanting the aborigines or Indians. They perish and disappear like snow before the rising sun. Not all we can do on the line of legislation, philanthropy, and religion, is sufficient to stay the ravages of this long-ago declared decree of Heaven. Go to Canada, and you find they are perishing; in Newfoundland they are entirely gone, and in every other province they are fast disappearing, save such as are saved by incorporation, by marriage, and salt stayed by the power of Christianity; but both these remedies are only temporal—they perish in spite of all in the heated atmosphere of Israel’s civilisation. Some few tribes may hold their own and seem to increase, but such does not invalidate the evidence of the decree. For they have perished in such numbers, and so uniformly, when in contact with Israel, that history proclaims the decree fulfilled.

The native inhabitants of Van Dieman, called Tasmanians, have entirely become extinct. The Maories of New Zealand are rapidly diminishing. Fifty years ago they were 200,000 strong; now only about 50,000. In a few more years they will be gone. The same is true in all the other Australian provinces. The same is true of many isles of the sea, also of the African colonies. In these things, so exceptional, we can surely say, with the magicians of old who contended against Moses, “This is the finger of God.” Thus we see Israel increasing, by the law of diminution going on among the Gentiles. Israel in the latter day was to be blessed with plenty in the orchards, stall, and field: “For I will lay no more famine upon you, saith the Lord.” The past year we learn that some 10,000,000 of Chinese perished in famine. India, in one part, has been greatly reduced in number by the same scourge. This country will be partly protected from the operation of this law—for no doubt a large portion are from Abraham. “But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, Eastward, unto the East country” (Gen. xxv. 6). This same scourge does not follow the colonising of other nations. It did not follow Spain, nor the Dutch, nor France.

If you turn to the prophets, you will soon learn how they are to increase in the latter days—not by a comparison on the line of diminution only, but in and from themselves. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the House of Israel and the House of Judah with the seed of man and beast” (Jer. xxxi. 27). Have these days come? We again say, Yes; and these kind of prophecies are being fulfilled in this day in so special a manner as to make certain the times we live in. Through Israel, Judah, and Manasseh, the earth is to find the equilibrium of peace. The Jews will furnish the money, for in the increasing ascendancy, and multiplying power, and authority of England and America, the Jews will draw closer to them and invest more and more their money with them, because of greater security and profit. The balance of power and even compulsion will be in the hands of England and America, to force arbitration on disputing nations, and they will do so, having set the precedents themselves in the Alabama and fish treaties. At present, many will refuse this idea, and point to the famous Monroe doctrine. Now that doctrine has had its time, nearly; and it has served a good purpose for the country. The mercantile growth, and general producing power of this country, will cause us to abandon our selfish protection policy; for of all other people on the face of the earth we will want free trade; for we will have the greatest surplus of mercantile and agricultural productions, and in a short time our very position and ability will push away all competitors. Once our mercantile and agricultural interests are cast in other nations, we will then have an interest in their wars and peace, and will be led to interfere.

The chief way in which the balance of power will fall into English and American hands is in the fulfilling of the blessings of the text: the multiplying of this people, first by natural increase, and second by incorporation and absorption. Look at this law of absorption; how vigorous and sure! If you turn into a field of grass fowls, pigs, horses, and cows, you get chicken-meat, pork, horseflesh, and beef. The individualism in each creature absorbs and converts the same field of grass into themselves. So into this country are coming people of every nation and race, but the individualism of Manasseh will in due time make them all Manassehites. The children of the Russians, Poles, Spanish, and so on, become American in taste, manners, and sympathies. They are being grafted into the tree of Manasseh.

But look at the law of increase naturally. Take the population of several countries as given in the last census, and carefully note the relative increase, and how long it takes each nation to double its number. Russia, eighty-six millions, doubles every 100 years; Germany, forty-two millions, doubles every 100 years; Turkey, forty-seven millions, doubles every 550 years; Austria, thirty-seven millions, doubles every 100 years; France, thirty-six millions, doubles every 140 years; Great Britain, thirty-three millions, doubles every 55 years; United States, forty millions, doubles every 25 years; Italy, twenty-seven millions, doubles every 125 years; Egypt, seventeen millions, doubles every 150 years; Spain, sixteen millions, doubles every 112 years; English colonies, ten millions, doubles every 25 years. Now make a calculation for 100 years, from 1878 to 1978, and see how these countries stand in population and their relative position. Russia will have one hundred and seventy-two millions; Germany, eighty-four; Turkey, fifty-six; Austria, seventy-four; France, fifty-nine; Great Britain, one hundred and thirty-seven; Italy, forty-one; Egypt, twenty-nine; Spain, twenty-eight; United States, six hundred and forty; and the English colonies, one hundred and sixty—and that is not reckoning the natives in the colonies, only the descendants of the English. Of course, in a country like India, the natives will be a considerable number, and they might properly be reckoned in with the colonial items, and so swell the number of Israel’s power.

Now these figures show a wonderful conclusion. In simple language, we find that in 1978, the English-speaking race, or Israelites, will number 937 millions, while all of Russia, Germany, Turkey, Austria, France, Italy, Egypt, and Spain, will only number 543 millions. Where then, we ask, will be the balance of power? And why should this certain law come into operation at this time, if it be not the blessing foretold by the prophets? And can we not see that these are the latter days, and that God is fulfilling His promises to Israel?

The blood of Abraham and the faith of Abraham have been wonderfully preserved and projected down through the centuries with telling effect. And on this line the Darwinian theory of election is very true, for the survival of the fittest is the proclaimed law of Heaven. There is power in land possession and there is power in number, and if these two factors maintain their force for one hundred years, then we infer of certainty that the sceptre of rule and destiny of the world will be in the hands of Israel, unless the laws of nature are reversed, and the promises of God fail. The Word of God cannot fail or return unto Him void; it must accomplish that whereunto He sent it and prosper in things designed, or as Jeremiah xxiii. 20 says: “The anger of the Lord shall not return until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.”