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If then it cannot, in any but an inchoate manner, relate to the overthrow of the literal Tyre and its prince; it must, ultimately and properly, relate to the overthrow of some power and some potentate at the era of the restoration of Israel, considered by the prophet as antitypical to ancient Tyre and its prince.

Here therefore the question is, Ihat power, and what prince, at the time of the end, can we reasonably suppose to be intended in this typical prediction, to which Ezekiel, after the manner of the ancient prophets *, glides as it were insensibly from his literal prediction respecting the overthrow of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar ?

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The first idea, that will probably strike the reader, is, that the antitypical Tyre must be the great maritime and commercial nation, so frequently pointed out, either more or less directly, as taking a very active part in the troubles of the last ages and in the first restoration of the Jewish part of the

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* Similar instances of double prophecy occur in Isaiah xiii. xiv. 1-27. and Zephaniah ii. 13-15. iii. This last prediction will be discussed hereafter in its proper place. Mr. Lowth, when treating of Isaiah x. 20, very justly observes, that "it is "usual with the prophets, when they foretell some extraordinary event in or near their own times, to carry their views on "farther, and point at some greater deliverance which God "shall vouchsafe to his people in the latter ages of the world." Much the same remark is made by Bp. Hurd. "The style of "the prophet so adapts itself to this double prospect, as to paint the near and subordinate event in terms that emphatically represent the distant and more considerable.”

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Israelitish people: more especially since, if this maritime power itself be no where else precisely styled Tyre, its navy is undoubtedly typified by the Tyrian ships of Tarshish *.

This idea, however probable at the first sight, is certainly erroneous. The antitypical Tyre is to be utterly destroyed at the era of the restoration: the great maritime power is not then to be destroyed, but is to be successfully engaged in accomplishing that very restoration. The antitypical Tyre is plainly described as a persecutor, as the principal persecutor, of the Jews; for, when it is overthrown, then the rankling and ulcerating thorn shall cease for ever to afflict the children of Israel ; the great maritime power is employed in the honourable office of carrying God's message to his people; of taking them under its protection; and of bringing their sons from far, not spoiled, but their gold and silver with them, in a navy that securely bids defiance to all the opposition of their enemies †. The antitypical Tyre is some state or empire, that once professed pure religion, but at the era of the restoration had notoriously apostatized from it: the great maritime power is plainly a nation of faithful worshippers, as sufficiently appears from the prophecies respecting it that have been already considered. Finally, Daniel and St. John give us jointly a very full list of all the states and supersti

*Isaiah lx. 9.

+ See Isaiah xviii. and lx. 8, 9.

tions that are to be overthrown together at the close of the 1260 years, which Daniel assures us is likewise the era of the restoration of Judah and Israel. These are the ten-horned beast under its last head, or the papal Roman empire under the line of the Carlovingian princes; its little horn, which is the same as the second apocalyptic beast and false prophet, or the spiritual empire of the Papacy; the infidel king, or Antichristian France, now identified with the last head of the Roman beast ; the kings of the earth, or the vassal sovereigns of the Latin empire; and the little horn of the hegoat, or the false religion of Mohammed*. Now

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* One great branch of Mohammedism, the Turkish empire, will be overthrown under the sixth apocalyptic vial, and therefore previous to the destruction of the Antichristian confederacy, which will take place under the seventh and, as for the religion of Mohammed itself, I cannot find any positive declaration that the professors of it will, in a national capacity, join the armies of the infidel king. Daniel speaks of it, as being, at the time of the end, broken without hand (Dan. viii. 17, 25.). This expression is ambiguous and may either mean, that it shall be (as it were) practically confuted and silenced by the manifestation of Christ, against whom Mohammed had presumed to stand up (Compare Dan. ii. 34, 35, 44, 45.); or it may mean, that it shall gradually fall away to nothing by the desertion of its votaries, and thus die a sort of natural death. The exhaustion of the mystic Euphrates will no doubt greatly weaken it and it is a remarkable circumstance, even in these eventful times, that a sect has lately made its appearance in the very country of the false Arabian prophet, which threatens no less than the destruction of his religion itself.

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among all these we find not a single power, that at all answers to the character of the great ma

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The Wahabees are said by some to be infidels; and their numbers are daily increasing. Their opinions have been propagated near sixty years; and they at length find themselves strong enough to take up arms in their defence. It is said, that they occupy the greatest part of the country which extends from Medina to the Euphrates. Their last exploit, of which we have recently received an account, shews their decided hostility to Mohammedism in a very striking point of view. Having reinforced their army from the desert, and having overwhelmed the whole adjacent country, they suddenly assaulted and took the city of Medina with infinite bloodshed and devastation. They set fire to it in various places; destroyed the mosques, after having ransacked them of their valuable shrines and treasures; and completely demolished the tomb of the prophet. Some thousands of females of the first rank were carried off by the besiegers into the desert, with a number of the principal male inhabitants. A troop of camels was also sent away with jewels and other treasure to an immense amount. See Morning

Post, Feb. 22, 1806.

The following account of the Wahabees is given in a very cu, rious work recently published by Mr. Waring. ·

"The founder of this religion, Ubdool Wuhab, was a native "of Ujunu, a town in the province of Ool Urud. Some have "been of opinion, that Moola Moohummud, the son of Ubdool

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Wuhab, was the first person who promulgated doctrines sub"versive of the Mussulman faith. However this may be, it is "certain that one or other of these persons was the founder of "the religion of the Wuhabees; and the name inclines me to "believe Ubdool Wuhab. Both these persons were great tra"vellers. They studied under the principal Mohammedan "doctors at Bussora and at Bagdad; and afterwards went to "Damascus, where Ubdool Wuhab first began to avow his re'ligious

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ritime nation of faithful worshippers: and we further find it implied, that all, who have come

out

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ligious principles. The priests were alarmed at the tendency "of his doctrines; he was obliged to fly from this city; aud, " on his arrival at Mousul, he publicly supported the purity, excellence, and orthodoxy, of his tenets. This new religion "which had sprung up in the midst of Arabia, excited the at"tention and roused the indignation of the orthodox Sheikhs, "who could not bear the notion of the Wuhabees ridiculing "with contempt the legends and tales which they so consci

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entiously believed. The Wuhabees are accused of professing "the following belief: That there is one just and wise God; that "all those persons called prophets are only to be considered as just "and virtuous men; and that there never existed an inspired work nor an inspired writer. A party of the Wuhabecs last year (1802) attacked Kurbulu, celebrated among the P'ersians as being the burial place of the sons of Ali; destroyed the "tombs; and plundered the town and pilgrims. I met several of the people who had been there at that period, and they "all agreed in complaining most bitterly of the cruelty of the "reformers. It must be recollected that the destruction of "the holy sepulchres would aloue be considered as an enormous "act of impiety and cruelty. The force of the Wuhubees is very

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considerable, probably eighty or ninety thousand; and, as "their expeditions are conducted with great celerity and se"crecy, they keep all the neighbouring countries in perpetual "apprehension.-Since finishing this, intelligence has been re"ceived of their having attacked and plundered Tyeef, 'Mecca, "and Medina. They have, in consequence, violated the sacred "law which forbids armed men approaching within a certain "distance of the temple. Thus have they destroyed the foun"dation stone of Mohammedism; and this mighty fabric, which "at one period bade defiance to all Europe, falls, on the

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