in the neighbourhood of the Tigris and Euphrates, and now threatened the Syrian territories from another quarter. In seven months the cholera had extended its ravages from Caramania to Judea," &c.*

The ravages of the plague have succeeded along the Euphrates, in the Turkish dominions, to those of the cholera. And the accounts, while more minute, are not less appalling. And in lieu of other or historical evidence, we may quote from that which the newspaper press presents openly to our view, and also from the testimony of an eye-witness of the dire and frightful desolation.

"In the short space of eight weeks, nearly 50,000 of the inhabitants of Bagdad have perished by the plague. The commission of the destroying angel has been awfully severe. To the horrors of disease were added the desolation of a flood, and the consequent impossibility of escape. Silently and in darkness did the pestilence walk through this deserted city, undisturbed in the work of death, daily dismissing thousands to their last account, and leaving the wretched survivors mourning over the loss of those with whose life their enjoyments and their hopes of happiness were enwrapped. The streets were no longer the scene of busy traffic, and were only disturbed by the passing funeral, or by the piteous cries of infants, or of children who were left destitute without home, parents, or friends.†”

"Bagdad. Dreadful depopulation. Mr. Kitto, who was for some time at Malta under the Church Missionary Society, but accompanied Mr. Groves to Bagdad, has sent home most affecting details of the ravages to which that devoted city has been subjected. The PLAGUE prevailing to a fearful extent among the inhabitants, part of them attempted to escape into the country, but were arrested by a sudden INUNDATION of the Tigris, by which numbers perished, and the rest were driven back into the city. Thousands were falling under the deadly influence of the pestilence, when the water made a breach in the walls, and swept away many of the habitations. The wretched inhabitants were crowded together, and compelled to take refuge even in houses left deso

*

Quarterly Review, No. 91, pp. 178, 179, 196. + Caledonian Mercury, 13th October 1831.

late by the plague. When, at length, it pleased God to stay the hand of the destroying angel, it was found that out of 80,000 human beings, not more than 25,000 survived! But the SWORD followed quickly in the rear of these desolating judgments. The plague had scarcely ceased, and the waters subsided, when troops arrived in the name of the sultan, to depose the pacha fierce and bloody contests succeeded before a temporary calm was restored."*

The testimony of another witness bears the same melancholy record.

"Bagdad, April 22, 1831. Surely every principle of dissolution is operating in the midst of the Ottoman and Persian empires-plagues, earthquakes, and civil wars. The pa cha's palace is left open without a soul to take care of any thing: his stud of beautiful Arab horses are running about the streets. May 5-Inquire what you will, the answer is, The city is desolate. The son of one Mollah told me today, that in the quarter where he lives no one is left; they are all dead. At Hillah, the modern Babylon, (population 10,000), there is, Seyd Ibrahim told me to-day, scarcely a soul left; and the dogs and wild beasts alone are there feeding on dead bodies."t

"After the ravages of the plague had ceased, Bagdad was entered sword in hand, and carried by storm by the sultan's troops."

The chief seats or reputed holy cities of Mahometanism, did not escape. The Bombay Gazette (10th August, 1831) has the following paragraph, "We have heard with the utmost dismay and sorrow, that Mecca, Medina, and Jidda have been completely depopulated by a dreadful disease, the nature of which is not yet known. Fifty thousand persons have been carried off by it, among whom we may mention the governor of Mecca. It broke out at the beginning of May, when all the pilgrims had collected at Mecca, in consequence, it is supposed, of the want of

* Missionary Register, London, November 1831, p. 512. + Ibid. January 1832, pp. 55, 56.

The Courier, 28th November 1831.

water.

The government here have most prudently, while such an uncertainty exists as to the nature of the disease, ordered all vessels from those parts to be placed in quarantine."

Asia Minor and Egypt have also been visited by a depopulating pestilence. In Alexandria, Cairo, and Smyrna, hundreds died of the cholera every day. And although the accounts vary in detail, all denote a terrible mortality. Earthquakes, floods, pestilences, have been added to wars and internal commotions, such as might shake the stability of the firmest government-if any were verily stable in these days of general pestilence and peril: but least of all does the empire of Turkey seem competent or fated to withstand such shocks, and to survive much longer such accumulated calamities. Yet the question now. is, whether there be facts enough indicative of decay, disorganization, and death, which shew that since the boding calm that preceded the year 1820, while the last plagues are coming on the earth and in the course of fulfilment, the vial of wrath has already left tokens that it has began to be poured upon the great river Euphrates. There is, we apprehend, many a sign to shew, and many a sign to be still seen. And having been brought to this point by the whole course of antecedent events, as historically recorded, we would now draw the conclusion, as we have endeavoured to establish the premises, in other and better words than our own.

"The gradual wasting of the strength of the Ottoman empire is strikingly foretold in Scripture, under the emblem of the drying up of the great river Euphrates, that the way of the kings of the east may be prepared. No prophecy could be in a course of more striking fulfilment ; and as, simultaneously with the accomplishment of this prediction, the marks' of the last days are becoming daily more strongly im

pressed on the men, and opinions and events of the present generation, it peculiarly becomes the church to be standing on her watch-tower, looking with interest, sobriety, faith and hope, on the things which the Lord is bringing on the earth.”*

It has been the single object of the writer throughout the preceding pages to trace the accordance be

*The Record.

In the short period since the publication of the first edition of this freatise, the repeated defeats and discomfiture of the Turkish army in Syria by Ibraham Pacha, and the surrender to the Egyptian forces of Acre, Damascus, Aleppo, Alexandrette, Antioch, and Andana, the last of which lies on the western side of the famous pass of Issus, give renewed tokens of the downfall of the Turkish empire, and serve still farther to show how the waters of the Euphrates continue to be dried up. Every succeeding account brings tidings of new disasters to the Ottoman power; and the daily press, in recording the news from Constantinople, has not failed to give some semblance of confirmation to the opinion that the year 1820 may be marked as the date of the commencement of those uninterrupted calamities which threaten to terminate in the downfall and destruction of the Turkish empire.-(2 edit.) "Constantinople, July 16, 1832.

"The Porte is in great consternation; the accounts from Syria are very unfavourable. The Egyptians have made great progress since the fall of Acre, and Damascus is already in their hands. As many troops as possible are collected and sent to Asia, to proceed by forced marches to the theatre of war; warlike stores are embarked in transports for the army. We are really in a lamentable condition; for these TWELVE YEARS We have had no tranquillity, and the efforts that the country must. make are immense. Few countries in Europe could make the sacrifices that we have done in the above period; but now we are quite exhausted, and the moment seems to be come when the will of the government will be defeated by the impossibility of going on."-Caledonian Mercury, August 18, 1832.

"Accounts from Constantinople to the 26th August, have been received by the Turkey mail. Official intelligence had reached the Turkish capital that the sultan's great army, of about 70,000, in Syria, had been completely annihilated by the Pacha of Egypt's troops, and that the great favourite of the sultan, Hussein Pacha, had escaped from the wreck of his army with a guard of 500 to 1000 men,” &c.—Edinburgh Advertiser, Sept. 28, 1832.

tween history and prophecy through past ages to the present day, that, in this respect, the signs of these times may be seen. It is not his purpose here to point to "other marks of the last days," or to look to the signs of other times, beyond those which history has brought already into view. But that such "marks are daily impressed upon the events of the present generation, the renewed signs may perhaps be already rising into view. We have seen the river Euphrates flowing from its sources, in the mountains, and overflowing many countries, till at last it has begun to be dried up. The drying of its waters is preparatory for the way of the kings of the east. They have not yet passed over its channel, which is still drying up; but if by the kings of the east the Jews or Israelites be designed, some sign may be seen that the preparation of their way is begun.

The angel, in revealing the last vision of Daniel, thus announced its purpose. "I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days." And comparing things spiritual with spiritual, we read in reference to the fall of the empire of the grand seignior, of which Judea forms part,-And tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him and he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces (or the tents of his camp, or pavilion) between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the CHILDREN OF THY PEOPLE; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that time THY PEOPLE SHALL BE DELIVERED, every one that shall be found written in the book.

The event cannot yet be determined; nor is the