Edward Hoare

“ And now, after all these centuries have passed, after great empires have risen and fallen according to His prophecy, after every species of effort has been made in vain to silence God’s Word, after every available means have been employed,—political influence, religious influence, priestly assumption, and fiery persecution—to stamp out God’s truth, we see the Lord Jesus with a mighty hand fulfilling His word, carrying out His purpose, and preparing the way for victory. ”

“ I endeavoured in the last lecture to bring before you the blessed hope of our Lord’s return, and to show, from the great outlines of prophecy, that there is enough to justify the expectations of those who humbly trust that we shall not have much longer to wait. I purposely avoided any reference to what are called the ‘signs of the times,’ and confined your attention exclusively to what may be called the great backbone of prophecy, i.e., to the prophetic history of the four mighty kingdoms which were foretold as holding the empire of the world. ”

“ But, besides that, we must remember that our whole faith depends on Holy Scripture. All that we know of the Lord Jesus Christ, of His great high-priesthood, of His atoning blood, of His free salvation, of the gift of the Holy Ghost, of the new birth, and of the coming Advent, all our hope for the future, and all our rest for the present, depend simply and entirely on the Word of God. ”

“ Turkey in Africa has almost ceased to exist. Turkey in Europe may last a little longer, but is going fast. As for Turkey in Asia, it has ceased to be a power to any great distance east of the Euphrates; and I fully believe that on the west of the river the drying-up process will be steadily continued till the floods recede from Palestine, and that beautiful land shall be set free from the blight of Turkish misgovernment, and handed over to be once more a land flowing with milk and honey to its rightful possessors, the seed of Abraham, the nation to which God has given it. ”

“ There is no city in the whole world which fills so important a place in the Word of God as Jerusalem. There are several others which are more prominent in the world’s politics, but in the great economy of God, as revealed in Sacred Scripture, Jerusalem stands out pre-eminent above them all. We Englishmen think of London, with its vast population and enormous wealth, as the leading city of the world; but except in so far as it is the capital of one of the isles of the sea, it has no place in prophecy. ”

“ Alive with all the realities of the body, and all the faculties of the mind, memory, and conscience; but with the poor soul naked, without a claim, without an excuse, without an atonement, without a plea, without a Saviour, without any hope for all eternity of either concealment or forgiveness. ”

“ May you be amongst those who can peacefully look for His appearing, because you are clothed in His righteousness! May you be kept walking in the light, and cleansed from all sin through His most precious blood! Then you will have nothing to fear, but everything to hope for, in the thought of His coming. Then He will never come as a thief to you, for you will be ready at any time to open the door and welcome Him. As the bride delights in the bridegroom, so will you delight in Him. ”

“ But all in vain, for the toes are irrecoverably divided, and whatever is done, though as an aggregate they retain their power, as individual nations they are always distinct. I have no time to enter into detail, but I regard this division as a most remarkable fulfilment of the prophetic word. More than five hundred years before the coming of the Lord there was a captive in Babylon, and God so directed that man’s mind, as through him to communicate to the world even then the present position of modern Europe. ”

“ Should they not strengthen faith and confirm us in a simple, childlike, unquestioning trust in the inspired word of the living God? Who but God Himself could have foretold either to Daniel or John the rise and decay of the Ottoman Empire? It is God’s own word, then, with which we are dealing when we study Holy Scripture. There may be things in it completely beyond all power of human calculation, as the history of the p. 54Ottoman Empire was utterly beyond the human calculation of either Daniel or John. But God’s truth does not depend on our power of calculation. ”

“ In the days of the Cæsars united Rome was supreme in the pomp of the iron empire. Its body was Europe, and its heart was the p. 10emperor. It was one as much as Babylon had been one under Nebuchadnezzar. But look at it now. There is all the old power; for Europe and its races practically govern the world. It has not lost its iron. But there is no one kingdom that embodies all. The power is vested in a cluster of independent nations. ”

“ The Lord Jesus Christ will be collecting His forces, and Satan his: there will be on both sides the mustering of the host. Those that are on the side of the Lamb will rally round His banner, ‘called, and chosen, and faithful’; and those that are under the influence of any of the seductive spirits will throw themselves into the ranks of open opposition. The characteristic of the day will be, not sloth or indifference, but zeal, eagerness, and conflict. ”

“ No one asks you to trust in rulers either in Church or State, for the Scripture says, ‘Put not your trust in princes.’ What we ask you to do is to trust the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of God. ”

“ We may well say, ‘What have we to do with the Turks, or the Turks with us in our own daily, private walk with God?’ It may surprise some of you when I say that, although no man can explain the reason of the connexion, I believe it to be very intimate, and that the religious life of modern Christendom is in a most remarkable manner bound up with the decline of the Turkish Empire. ”

“ We cannot see the three unclean spirits coming forth, but we can see Turkey decaying; and that is God’s visible signal that the invisible spirits are at work. If ever, therefore, there was a time for especial watchfulness it is now. If ever there was a time when our young people require to be cautioned, and warned, and helped, and guided, it is now. And you will observe that the warning is given to those who have some garments. ”

“ Thus, of the two powers that have trodden down Jerusalem, one is already extinct, and the head of the other at its last gasp. The foot of the Sick Man is the only foot now remaining on the neck of Jerusalem, and the Sick Man is dying. ”

“ We may safely say that the first of the two oppressors is no more.
But what shall we say of the second? of that Turkey which is the only power now treading down Jerusalem? I would meet this by another question. Is there any politician in Europe who has the least expectation of Turkey remaining in its present position for another ten years? Whatever little political power it retains is dying out as fast as it can die. ”

“ There is not one spirit only, but there are three acting together. We are taught, therefore, that at the time of the drying up of the Euphrates we must be prepared for subtle and seductive power of various forms and characters. If there were only one spirit the danger might assume only one form: but as there are three spirits acting together we should be on our guard against every possible combination. ”

“ And how must the Church of God feel when, after her long night of toil and difficulty, she stands face to face before Him whom her soul loveth, and enters into the full enjoyment of the promise, ‘So shall we ever be with the Lord?’ There will be no tears then, for there will be no sorrow; no death then, for p. 2there will be no more curse; no sin then, for we shall see Him as He is, and shall be like Him. Then will be the time of resurrection, when all the firstborn of God shall awake to a life without decay and without corruption ”

“ It is high time, therefore, that we act on His own words: ‘When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.’ He does not say, ‘Wait till they have all come to pass,’ but ‘look up as soon as they begin.’ Now they most undoubtedly have begun, and for a long time have been in progress. ”

“ The result is that, without dwelling on any minute detail, we are brought by the great, long-continued facts of European history, to the most important conclusion that, in all probability, we are approaching the time when Jerusalem shall no longer be trodden down of the Gentiles, and when therefore, the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. It is only reasonable to suppose that when the oppressors are taken out of the way the oppression will come to an end ”

“ It is the one great empire existing in the world that originated on the banks of the river Euphrates. It was in the district to the east of that river that the Turk, who originally came from Turkistan, became a formidable power, and from thence that the Turkish hosts were let loose against Roman Christendom. For we must remember that the Turks, or Ottomans, do not belong to the soil of Turkey. The French are the natives of France, and the Italians of Italy, but the Turks are not the natives of Turkey, but invaders from Asia. They hold the country by conquest. ”

“ If such a warning is so clearly given, how can He be said to come as a thief? He Himself teaches us perfectly clearly that the meaning of the illustration is that, as the thief comes without giving notice, so He will return without previously giving any such notice of His approach as will arouse the sleepers. The thief does not tell you when he is coming; and when he comes, he neither knocks the door nor rings the bell. But he comes quietly. He does nothing to disturb those that are asleep, and His object is to enter unobserved. ”

“ In the same year Moldavia and Wallachia, and the territory north of the Danube, were set free from the Ottoman yoke; and now there seems to be every hope that Herzegovina and Bosnia will succeed in shaking off the invader. Indeed, the whole Turkish empire is in such a condition that if the statesmen of Europe could agree as to who should possess Constantinople, the whole Ottoman Power would in all probability be driven out of Europe before another year is over. ”

“ If God is consuming her, God’s people must have nothing to do with her either in politics or religion, for if they do, they will find themselves drawn into the vortex into which she must infallibly sink. ”

“ Now no one can have watched the progress of men’s minds during the last half century without observing that this has been most remarkably the case. There cannot be a doubt as to the fact that, while the Turkish power has been declining, the powers of good and evil throughout Christendom have been awakening into life. The two processes have gone on side by side. Turkey has been drying up, and almost p. 63every state in Europe has been aroused to religious conflict. Many amongst us have been able to trace the vast change that has taken place during our own lifetimes. ”

“ It is impossible to imagine anything more delightful than the prospect of the promised return of our most blessed Saviour. How do the father and the mother feel when they welcome their long-absent son from India? ”

“ Let any one who has the slightest doubt as to the inspiration of Scripture look at the facts. Two thousand four hundred years ago there was a prophet, the prophet Daniel, by the river of Ulai, and he foresaw in a vision the rise and progress of a mighty power, telling us at the same time how long it was likely to continue. Six hundred years after him there arose another prophet, who described what appears to be the same power, and gave a graphic picture both of its progress and decay. Students of Holy Scripture have since been diligently occupied in the study of these two prophecies ”