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vent of the Saviour, and the proximate dissolution of the Turkish Empire, forcibly illustrates our text, and several other passages of prophecy. Before the final destruction of Mahomedanism it is said, (Dan. xi. 44.) "But tidings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him."

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From the repeated assaults which have been made by Russia on the North, by Persia and the rebellion of dependent provinces and vice-royalties, on the East, the Turkish Empire has become circumscribed almost within the walls of Constantinople; and her foreign relations now shew this prophecy of Daniel has been fulfilled. We have seen also the Turks "go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly take away many; and how they have planted "the tabernacles of their palaces between the seas, in the glorious holy Mountain," in the late war of the Ottomans and their European allies against Egypt, Syria, Bagdad, and Damascus, which countries lie between the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Persian Gulf and Red Sea ; and we may calmly rest in the anticipation that the last sentence will be speedily followed out, "Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him."

The date of the dissolution of the Turkish Empire being nigh at hand,—as we are taught by prophecy to believe, and by the history of the world to perceive and understand-it becomes an affair of the

A line drawn from Constantinople to Pekin, will divide the East, betwixt England and Russia; the countries excepting Persia, and it may now be added Affghanistan-south of the limit, falling to the former, whilst Russia emphatically rules in the north, without exception; her predominance in Persia, exhibiting her political supremacy in the east, no less than the Geographical superiority of her prophetic position, let the end speak.

deepest interest to ascertain by the signs of the times the period when this important event is to take place, because the knowledge thereof forebodes a position of the world, which involves the eternal happiness of mankind. The time of the event, however, it is not so important to be acquainted with, as the conviction of its certainty: because it is said, "Behold, I come as a thief," consequently the exact time must be doubtful; we should therefore always be prepared. We are reproved by the Saviour for not observing common events when indicated by the signs of the times; and if the political signs of these times lead us to a just inference of the probable speedy destruction of the Turkish Empire, we shall be subject to the reproof of lukewarmness, by allowing them to pass unnoticed-to the charge of apathy. Moreover could we prove the period now is, when he shall come to his end; by that result we should illuminate the dormant sense of prophecy, and illustrate the object for which the word of inspiration was given to the world for it is written "the words are closed up and sealed, till the time of the end; (Dan. xii. 9, 10.) "and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." How essential then, that we should labour to understand when the signs of the times solicit our attention, that we may not be numbered amongst those who shall not understand, but try to assume a position amongst the wise, who shall understand at the time of the end. I shall endeavour to shew that by the present state of Islam, we are justified in the opinion of the time of the end being at hand, and the consequent awful responsibility we incur from indifference, and the moral obligation of inquiring into and understanding, as the wise shall understand.

It is one of the cardinal points of the Mahomedan faith, that church and state cannot exist separately, and independent of each other. The principle is known in their commentaries and traditions by the epithets 'Deen and Dunia,' the first signifying religion, and the ceremonies thereof, and Dunia their secular obligations. Their religion is intimately and systema, tically mixed up with their secular policy. The Sultan is the head of their religion, as he is of their government; and the authority of their chief, who is both Pope and Emperor, has been delegated with ceremonies of authentic investiture from Mahomed, the founder of their false doctrine: consequently, on the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, or cessation of Turkish rule there will virtually and prophetically, be a termination of the Moslem faith, and the religion must cease, with the political power, to exist as an independent principle in the social condition of the world.

It has been generally supposed that the reigning family of Constantinople is descended from the prophet of Arabia. This belief is an error. The Sultan is of Turkish, not of Arab blood, as he should be if the reverse was true. He is the lineal repre sentative of Toghrul Beg, a character well known in oriental history, and famous in the annals of our ecclesiastical economy. Toghrul was a Tartar Prince, who received the investiture of 'commander of the faithful' from Al Kerim, the last of the Khaleefas, who reigned at Bagdad. At the cere mony of presentation, this Prince, being advanced to the station of Mahomed's vicegerent upon earth, was decorated by Al Kerim with two swords,-the sword of the faith, and the sword of the state. He

received seven dresses of honor, and seven female slaves were conferred upon him, representing the 'haft ukleem,' or seven climates, a term which in Asiatic phraseology, or imaginative geography, signifies the known world, over which the commander of the faithful was commissioned to hold dominion; and he was expressly charged with, and stimulated to, the conquest of the Christian powers of Europe. The descendants of Toghrul were subsequently in prophetic language, bound in the Euphrates; and the Princes of this dynasty represent, with their hosts, the four angels, who were "prepared, for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of man."

From the period of the last Khaleefas, their power became hereditary in the family of Toghrul, and has been handed down through an uninterrupted and unprecedented succession of human glory to the present imbecile occupant of a tottering throne; this power may be deputed, but cannot be usurped.

Previous to the European conquests of the Turks, the flame of bigotry and Moslem enthusiasm raged with irresistible fury and overwhelming desolation. Empires were overthrown; dominions crushed; and the sword and Koran made the rule of social order throughout a great part of Asia, and several European kingdoms were also subjugated to Mahomedan sway; but from the period of the conquest of Constantinople by Mahmood ul Saney, (i.e. Mahmood the second,) the high-strained principle of general intolerance that sustained and extended their faith has gradually declined, and the late innovations in jurisprudence, and the military system of the Turks prove the official indifference of the commander of

the faithful to the alleged sanctity of his national institutions. With the Turks, to reform is to destroy, because the Koran, which is the base of all their laws, leaves no optional and discretionary power in the executive; neither is there any admission of a renovating process to repair the decay and oblivion of institutions stationary in the progressive march of mind; * the prescriptions of the Koran are absolute, and should be administered now as they were in ages past, when the star of the prophet intensely glared upon the false professors of an apostate church, of a transgressing and idolatrous race. public firman of the commander of the faithful has virtually displaced the authority of the Koran, and all religions are now, by the command of the Mahomedan Khaleefa, or high priest, equal before the laws.

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The population of the Moslem world is rapidly decreasing. The causes which produce this decay are evident to those acquainted with the laws, the manners and the customs of the people. The tyrannical and oppressive system of fiscal policy, which deprives the peasant of all extraneous wealth, accruing from the utmost stretch of labour, and leaves merely the miserable portion of necessary rations for animal subsistence, is widely destructive of human life. The effect of polygamy in depopulating a community is a gradual and hereditary evil, which when accompanied by general mendicity, ultimately oper

* Thus Spain and other Roman Catholic countries, owing to their assumption of infallibility in religion, are still stationary in civilization, compared with the march of intellect evinced by the other kingdoms of Europe. Even France is oppressed with the Roman Catholic doctrine, which prevents the advance of civilization among nations, no less than Mahomedanism.

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