mediately followed by the same easy conquest and settled dominion, with which other countries submitted to his yoke.

Conjoined to the last quotation from Gibbon, descriptive of the first great conquests of the Turks in the Asiatic provinces of Rome, we read in the beginning of the next paragraph,-" But the most interesting conquest of the Seljukian Turks, was THAT OF JERUSALEM, which soon became the theatre of nations."* And in the order of the things noted in the scripture of truth, we also read, in the next verse, He shall enter into the glorious land, and many (countries) shall be overthrown, ver. 41.

Not a jot or tittle shall pass from the law till all shall be fulfilled. And not a word ought ever to be added to the book of prophecy, or to any part of the scriptures of truth. The full and literal translation of the original Hebrew is-And he shall enter into the glorious land, and many shall be overthrown. In the Septuagint and Vulgate the literal translation is adopted—and no word, designating countries, is introduced into these, any more than in the Hebrew text. And every reader has only to open his Bible to observe that the term countries, being printed in italics, has no corresponding word in the original.

The king of the north, according to the strict terms of the prophecy, was to enter into countries and to overflow and pass over, before entering into the glorious land, or Judea (as under the same designation it is previously represented in this prophecy); and after entering into it, it is subsequently said, that he should stretch forth his hand upon countries. Previous and also posterior to his entrance into Judea, countries are expressly declared to be made subservient to his sway.

But the event, distinct from this,

*Gibbon's Hist. p. 375.

more immediately consequent to the entering of the king of the north into Judea, is, that many shall be overthrown-whether by him or by others, or jointly by the invaders or defenders of Judea, is not said; nor is it specified whether the many to be overthrown were people, or nations, or countries. The sole question, then, which we must look to history to resolve, is, in what manner, and to what degree, many were overthrown, at that particular period immediately preceded by the entrance of the king of the Turks, or of Soliman, the actual invader, into the holy or glorious land; or what events, marking in a striking manner, as noted above all the other conquests of the king of the north, the overthrow of many.

The words of Gibbon, already quoted, as expressive, but not so precise as those of the prophecy, shew that, in looking to the literal signification of the original words, and withdrawing, from the translated text, a word that is man's-there is then no enigma in the matter-and the fact stands forth as prominent in history as it is clearly told in the prediction. It is enough to set the text and commentary side by side.

He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many shall be overthrown ;-thus expressed by Gibbon : "But the most interesting conquest of the Seljukian Turks was that of Jerusalem, which soon became the theatre of nations."

The conquest of Jerusalem by the Turks was the signal for a conflict between Europe and Asia, of which it was the cause, as Judea was the theatre. And we may here cast a slight glance upon one of the most eventful periods in the history of man-though nothing more would be needful than to name the crusades, the very mention of which is necessarily associated in the mind of every reader with the overthrow of many.

When superstition maintained its dominion over

the minds of men, a king might plead in vain for a falling empire: but they who revered the relic of a saint more than they honoured an earthly crown, could not suffer the tombs of martyrs to remain in the possession of infidels; and they who venerated to adoration the smallest fragment of the "true cross," and whose fiercest passions such relics could not allay, were roused to indignation and vengeance at the tidings, that the holy sepulchre was trodden under the feet of the enemies of Christ. Each patron-saint would have frowned on his adopted country, had his native land, consecrated by the living presence of so many saints, the dust of which was sacred, and the very name of which was holy, been left without avengers, to cleanse it of the heathens. "A new spirit," says Gibbon, had arisen of religious chivalry and papal domination: a nerve was touched of exquisite feeling, and the sensation vibrated to the heart of Europe."

An emperor became a suppliant in vain. But he who did according to his will, and who magnified himself above all, issued his mandate, and Europe obeyed. Councils of previously unparalleled magnitude, at which pope Urban II. presided, were held at Placentia and Clermont. "His topics were obvious, his exhortation was vehement, his success inevitable. The orator was interrupted by the shouts of thousands, who with one voice, and in their rustic idiom, exclaimed aloud, God wills it, God wills it.' -It is indeed the will of God,' replied the pope ; and let this memorable word, the inspiration surely of the Holy Spirit, be for ever adopted as your cry to battle, to animate the devotion and courage of the champions of Christ. His cross is the symbol of your salvation; wear it, a red, a bloody cross, as an external mark on your breasts or shoulders, as a pledge of your

sacred and irrevocable engagement.""*-The effect was electric. Europe was in arms. And multitudes from every region were soon on the march to Palestine-a red, bloody cross their badge.-But it was not thus with an "external mark," but bearing the cross in another sense, and with hearts touched with the blood of sprinkling-it was not thus, breathing vengeance and proclaiming war on earth, but preaching salvation, peace with heaven and good will to men-it was not with a blood-red cross, but with the gospel of peace that the true champions of the cross first came forth from Palestine-or that Paul and his fellow-labourers first passed from Asia to Europe, when he saw in a vision a man of Macedonia, saying, come over and help us. In a different spirit from theirs did the crusaders go from Europe unto Asia; and different was the end and object of their labours from that of the faithful followers of Jesus. The apostles, who had looked literally upon the cross, and upon Christ crucified, and who received the last command of their risen Lord," Go ye into all nations and preach the gospel unto every creature,"-began the spiritual warfare which shall never cease-till nation shall no more rise up against nation, and men shall learn war no more. A tent-maker of Tarsus was added to their number. Inspired indeed with the Holy Spirit, they went forth from Judea with other weapons than carnal; paganism fell before them; and men learned at their word to love one another, and even to love those who hated them. But when millions, headed by kings and princes, flocked to Judea, in crusades, without a semblance to theirs, all the power of Europe could not ultimately retain one spot in Asia: he who magnified himself above every god, to whose nod monarchs were obsequious, and

*Gibbon's Hist. vol. x. p. 10, c. 52.

whose foot they kissed, could not finally resist the king of the North who came against him and robbed him of half his spiritual dominion: and the history of five crusades, which no earthly efforts ever surpassed, may be told in fewer words, and is summed up by the prophet, as one of the things noted in the Scripture of truth—many were overthrown. And instead of any true triumph to the cross resulting from the bloody crusades, the knights and kings of Christendom were for ever put to shame by the nobler Saladin -an honest believer, though in a faith that is false. It is not easy to define as it is not defined-who or what were the many that were overthrown, after the entering of the Turks into Judea-whether people, armies, or even nations.-The dead were numbered by myriads. Saracens, Turks, Egyptians, Fatimites, Mamelukes, and Catholics without number from almost every quarter in Europe, were successively, and often alternately, overthrown. And that one word, with many prefixed to it, is, for the space of two centuries, a continued history of the crusades, -the sequel of the first conquest of Jerusalem by the Turks. Judea was again bathed in blood, without being purged from iniquity. And all the combatants, on whatever side, fought in vain for the sepulchre of Jesus, as if they had been fighting for any other tomb cut out of a rock, while they were not dead unto sin, and never washed their blood-red cross into whiteness with the water of Siloam, which flows beside Gethsemane and Calvary. Their false contention for the cross was such that to be overthrown was still their doom; till Mahometans finally kept the conquest they had won, and Jerusalem was trodden down of the Gentiles; and heathens, without a challenge, possessed it again, and held the field as their own on which many were overthrown.

The Seljukian dynasty was early subdivided into