plain fifteen miles long, and no one to cultivate it, a lake like an inland sea, full of fish, and no one to eat them, and the magnificent walls of a city more than eight miles in circumference, and no one to inhabit it." Not only the acts of the Government, but documents given by Mr. Walsh in his Appendix, shew that Turkey still retains its cruelty and oppression, its poisonous doctrines and its hostility to the word of God. This may be seen in the Fetva and warning issued at Constantinople, in February, 1823, and the Firman, published in June, 1824, prohibiting the buying or selling of the Turkish Bible. The following extract of a statement, given in the German Courier, August 10, 1836, from Constantinople, will show that the awful dispensations connected with the sixth vial continue towards the Turkish empire. "The town of the Dardanelles, which has just been almost totally burnt, contained a population of 20,000 souls; it is unknown whether the fire originated in evil design or not. From the moment of its first breaking out the greatest efforts were made to save the powder magazines which contained an immense quantity of combustible materials. The last batteries have fallen a prey to the flames." Thus every thing seems to conspire to render Turkey defenceless. -Record, Sept. 8, 1836. In the midst of these scenes of desolation and misery, what a cheering and steady light does the blessed and sure word of prophecy present to our minds. Isaiah lviii. 12; lxi. 4. Every thing respecting the Turkish empire that has taken place since the earlier editions of this work exhibits the same drying up of the Euphrates. The intelligent Paris correspondent of the Record [423] gives the following statement, date July 2, 1839, "In a recent debate in the Chamber of Deputies, the speech of M. La Martine is stated to be to this effect: The Ottoman empire, he declares, exists no more, that it is a mere phantom, that to attempt to re-establish it, or to prop it up into a temporary feeble strength would be labour lost; that the idea of substituting for it an Arabian power, an Egyptian dynasty, having Mahomet Ali for its founder, is an equally vain thought; that the pasha and Ibrahim are but splendid transitory meteors of the eastern sky, and their performances but mirages of the desert; that the whole territory, whether belonging to the Porte or to the Viceroy of Egypt, should be regarded as a waste in the political world, awaiting the incursions of European civilization; that instead, therefore, of deprecating war in the east, that event should be hailed as a signal to civilized Europe, meaning France, to regenerate the race who inhabit that region, that the Anglo-Russian system of the status quo should be totally abjured, and that a new empire should be aimed at, whether by the conquest of one western power or by the division of Turkey and Egypt, between several powers he does not say. "I am not," he says, "a Revolutionist, I am not a political adventurer, but I declare without hesitation that France, Europe, Asia, civilization, humanity, will all gain by a war in the east, which will precipitate us into an unknown career; nous appellerons tous dans la carriere de l'inconnu." The word of God has distinctly enough pointed out that career, in the day of tribulation and the final triumph, not of any human kingdom, but of the kingdom of Christ, and his only. The Journal des Debats has noticed that the Sultan had seen some of the largest and fairest provinces of his immense empire wrested from him by conquest, or partly alienated by treaty and usurpation of his sovereign rights, instancing Moldavia, Wallachia, Greece, Egypt, and Syria. While these sheets have been passing through the press, the position of Turkey and Egypt has become increasingly interesting to every mind alive to the times in which we are living. The vigorous, energetic, and determined Sultan Mahmoud Khan II. died about July 1, 1839, and has been succeeded by, it is said, a feeble-minded youth of 16. The war has been renewed in Syria, and the Turks defeated by the Egyptian army under Ibrahim, [424] between Bir and Aintab, on the right bank of the Euphrates. The correspondent of the Standard observes: "The days of the Turkish empire are numbered. Worldly wisdom boasted much of Mahmoud. Mahomedanism, like Popery, must be overthrown. Prophecy must be accomplished. All diplomatic attempts to prop up the Turkish empire must fail, against the positive declarations of the word of God." IX. RESTORATION OF THE JEWS TO THEIR OWN LAND. It will be observed that the author considers this event likely to commence within a few years. See pages 214-217. We may then expect some symptoms even now of the preparing of the way. And not to speak of movements among the Jews themselves, and the assurance of the considerable increase of the number of the Jews in the Holy Land in the last twenty years, political events have tended very materially to direct the attention of all nations to the east, and to furnish, it may be, vast facilities for this event. The public attention in this country was powerfully called to this by an able article in the Quarterly Review, on the present state of the Jews; and recent political events, (August, 1839,) speeches in the French Chambers, the death of the Sultan, the victory of Ibrahim Pacha, the defection of the Turkish admiral, rapidly followed each other, and have justly excited the attention of all Europe. It is a delightful fact that our government have appointed a British Vice-Consul, W. T. Young, Esq., at Jerusalem, not only for commercial purposes but also for the protection of the Jews returning from our country to Judea. He entered Jerusalem on the 10th of April, 1839, and in a letter received from him by the author, he says, "The Chief Rabbi came out to meet me about half a mile from the city gate. It certainly was a most interesting and affecting thought that our beloved country had been permitted to be the first publicly to shew her consideration for the law of Israel. Much movement is going on among the Jews here. It has pleased our heavenly Father to bless in a remarkable manner the labours of his servants; two Sundays ago we had the [425] first baptism of the Infant Protestant church at Jerusalem. There are other three waiting the opportunity publicly to avow their belief that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, men of influence and consequence in the Synagogue, besides other earnest enquirers." He justly asks, "Why does the church of England lock up her acknowledged superiority in a little island like Great Britain? What ground our beloved country might and ought to occupy! The influence she ought to have, and might have through that appointed means, her simple and dignified and spiritual form of worship, connected with the good she might do in establishing sound Scriptural truths, and thereby bursting asunder the chains of slavery both in body and soul that entwine around millions, is truly exciting! "The Jews are here in the most interesting state, like some timid animal that has found its liberty, looking round to see which road to take. We must now soon be called upon to rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad; a nation is about to be born in a day. Every thing here is evidently in a political way preparing for the great conflict, and in the meanwhile Israel is making ready and gaining favour in the sight of the nations, that they may go forth as from Egypt with the spoil of the Gentiles." Another recent event is thus recorded in the Standard, of August 6, 1839, in a letter, dated Alexandria, July 17: "Sir Moses Montefiore arrived here on the 12th inst. from Syria. He has made proposals to Mehemet Ali to establish a bank here, with a capital of one million sterling, provided he will do away with the many legal disqualifications of the Jews. Sir M. Montefiore has already rented a large tract of land in Palestine, on a lease of 50 years, and holds out every inducement to his people to become agriculturists in the land of their forefathers; as one principal object of his banking institution will be rendering the necessary assistance for the prosecution of agricultural pursuits, the real riches of these countries. I fear his scheme is premature. A great and long-prophesied event may be brought about in its appointed time. A million of capital would nowhere have greater weight than in these countries. Sir M. Montefiore had his first audience from Mehemet Ali in full court dress, as sheriff of London." The wonderful progress of steam navigation and railway travelling brings distant nations near to each other. We reach America [426] in twelve days, Syria and Egypt in a fortnight, or three weeks, India in two months. Every thing betokens the preparation for those great changes which God's word so clearly predicts. X. PLAN OF A COURSE OF LECTURES ON PROPHETICAL SUBJECTS. The following heads were prepared to meet the desire of a friend for a Course of Lectures on Prophecy, to be given by those who had studied the subject and agreed in the four points of union with which the list begins. They are here added, as calculated to direct the attention of the reader to those parts of this subject which have yet to be more fully considered, and in the possible hope they may be useful in promoting the object for which they were originally prepared. POINTS OF UNION. 1. A Future Millennium. 2. Pre-Millennial Advent. 3. Political Restoration of Israel. 4. General Protestant Application of the Apocalypse. 75* |