the Greeks, and also Judea, Egypt, Lybia, and Ethiopia: and by these conquests the empire of the Turks was set up, as may be known by the extent thereof. These wars commenced, A. C. 1258, when the four kingdoms of the Turks seated upon Euphrates, that of Armenia Major seated at Miyapharekin, Megarkin, or Martyropolis, that of Mesopotamia seated at Mosul, that of all Syria seated at Aleppo, and that of Cappadocia seated at Iconium, were invaded by the Tartars under Hulacu, and driven into the western parts of Asia Minor, where they made war upon the Greeks, and began to erect the present empire of the Turks. Upon the sounding of the sixth trumpet, John 'heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar,'(Apoc. ix. 15, &c.,) which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound at the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.' By the four horns of the golden altar, is signified the situation of the head cities of the said four kingdoms, Miyapharekin, Mosul, Aleppo, and Iconium, which were in a quadrangle. They slew the third part of men when they conquered the Greek empire, and took Constantinople, A. C. 1453. And they began to be' prepared' for this purpose, when Olub Arslan began to conquer the nations upon Euphrates, A. C. 1063. The interval is called 'an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year,' or 391 prophetic days, which are years. In the first thirty years, Olub Arslan and Melechschah conquered the nations upon Euphrates, and reigned over the whole. Melechschah died, A.C. 1092, and was succeeded by a little child; and then this kingdom broke into the four kingdoms above-mentioned."

"The mystical period of an hour, a day, a month, and a year, generally considered as 391 years and a month, has had several different dates assigned for its commencement; this period is reckoned by Mr. Habershon from the capture of Constantinople, when artillery was used (Rev. IX. 17) with such success by Mahommed II. in 1453; the termination of the Turkish woe would thus be brought down to 1844."*

"The sixth trumpet called the Turks into political existence, Rev. Ix. 13-21: the sixth vial exterminates their power from the prophetical earth."

A rapid declension of the empires of Turkey and Persia has taken place since the close of the war in 1815, and nothing can be more easily imagined, than that these powers must shortly" come to an end" through the steady policy of Russia; and it farther appears signified, that no other power will effectually endeavour to avert their extinction.

We were formerly anxious to anticipate how the Barbary States, as an almost impregnable section of the Turkish empire, were to exhibit a decline of power, particularly in the reduction of their territories; but this has become at least more explicable since the conquests of the French. "The Mussulmauns," it is observed in a late publication, "all believe that Mhidhie-The standing proof that we are looking for,' as he is called-will visit the earth at a future period; they are said to possess prophecies that lead them to expect the twelve hundred and sixtieth year of the Hegirah, as the time for his coming."+"Like the true Christians, they are looking forward to that period, when Jesus Christ shall revisit the earth, and when all men shall be of one faith.". "The Mahommedans suppose

*Bickersteth.

vol. i., p. 135.

Observations by Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali,

Vol. ii., p. 425.

to make us all of their religion. For they say that, though Mahommed is the greater prophet, and his religion the only true one, yet that Mahommed is not risen from the dead, but that Jesus is, and that in his person this visitation is to take place;" a somewhat remarkable though partial coincidence of faith. But when once this delusion shall be removed,—and its religious and political fabric must stand or fall together, a door will be opened for the more effectual entrance of the gospel; and many from the mass of this extensive empire will doubtless "enter into the sheepfold of Christ, and find pasture."

Then," the way of the kings of the east shall be prepared,”—which, whether we conceive with some, to signify the restoration of the Jews, or apply it to the extension of the gospel among the heathen and Mahommedan countries of India, and those which extend to the confines of Palestine, or whether we regard it as the allied preparation of some eastern powers to possess themselves of the countries then no longer under Mahommedan rule; we cannot doubt but that God will greatly facilitate those events which usher in that important period,-" The days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, in which the mystery of God" shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets."

It may be desirable here to give some short account of the Turkish government and people. "The orthodox Turk, of whatever rank, is taught to despise all other fields of learning than the Koran, under the belief that Mahommed has recorded all that his faithful followers are required to know. He knows nothing of the countries beyond the bounds of the sultan's dominions. The Turks (unlike the liberal Persians, who have made some advances

in science) are unacquainted with the uses of the commonest scientific instruments, which are exhibited to them by travellers, just as we do to amuse children. Notwithstanding that this people have been for nearly four centuries in absolute possession of all the noblest remains of ancient art, they have evinced no taste for architecture or sculpture, whilst painting and music are equally unknown to them. They found, at the conquest of the eastern empire, splendid and substantial public and private edifices, which have been barbarously destroyed or allowed to crumble beneath the hand of time; and huts of wood, compared by travellers to large boxes standing in rows with their lids opening upon hinges, compose the streets of modern Constantinople, and other large cities. The roads, even in the vicinity of the capital, which in former ages maintained an unrivalled celebrity, are described by the last tourist to be now in so neglected a state as to present a barrier against the progress of artillery, as complete as though it had been designed by an engineer for that purpose.

*

"The cause of all this decay is ascribable to the genius of the Turkish government-a fierce, unmitigated, military despotism-allied with the fanaticism of a brutalizing religion, which teaches its followers to rely solely on the sword, and to disdain all improvement or labour. The sultan, who is the vicegerent of the prophet, holds both temporal and spiritual authority over his followers; and this enables him to sway the lives and destinies of the people, with an absoluteness greater than was ever enjoyed by any tyrant of ancient times. Every man who is invested with absolute power, is at liberty to delegate his power unim

Willis-"Pencillings by the Way."

+ Quin-" Voyage down the Danube."

pared to another: the sultan is the vicegerent of the prophet; every pacha is a representative of the sultan; and every soldier who carries an order, the representative of the pacha. The situations of pacha and cadi, or judge, are all given to the highest bidders, who are removable at will, and of course, take care to idemnify themselves at the expense of the governed. It is a fact of public notoriety,' says Thornton,*that governments of every description are openly sold at the porte; they are held for the term of one year only, and at the ensuing bairam the leases must be renewed or transferred to a less parsimonious competitor. The regular remittance of the taxes and tribute is the only acknowledged criterion of upright administration.' It is a fundamental principle that all the property conquered by the Turks belongs to the sultan. Hence the Christians are accounted the slaves of the conqueror, and they are only allowed to live by paying a heavy tribute, the receipt for which bears that it is the ransom for their heads! The Turk knows nothing, and cares as little, about freedom of commerce; he disdains trade himself, and despises it in others. Far from favouring the extension of commerce, one great cause of the present barbarism and the past unhappy condition of Turkey, is to be found in the aversion and contempt which its people bear for trade. 'The Jews,' says Hadji Khalfa, the Turkish writer, in speaking of Salonica, employ many workmen in their different manufactories, and support a number of schools, in which there are not fewer than two hundred masters. The caravans that travel from Salonica to Semlin, Vienna, and Leipsig, are loaded with cotton, tobacco, carpets, and leather.' 'It is a shame,' continues the orthodox Hadji Khalfa,

6

* Present State of Turkey.