Mr. King, an astonishing coincidence of circumstances; that as the whole Russian dominions lie North of the Turkish dominions; so the exertions of Russia have been not only in the North; but in a most remarkable manner in the East; where vast advantages of commerce, and of extent of dominion, have been obtained by the Russians towards China"."

And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. The glorious holy mountain between the Seas, in the opinion of bp. Newton, must signify some mountain in the Holy Land, which lieth between the seas, the Dead Sea on the East and the Mediterranean on the West.-There the Turk shall incamp with all his power, yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him, shall help him effectually, or deliver him.'

As there has been incidental mention in the present chapter of two ancient predictions, the one relating to the Arabs, and the other to Egypt; and as both of them are remarkable, and they are both at this time fulfilling, I shall transcribe them, and to endeavor to elucidate their completion by a mixture of remarks and quotations. The remarks necessary to explain them, from the nature of the subjects, and the situation of the countries, perfectly accord with, and may naturally accompany, the observations which have. occupied the preceding part of the chapter. Both these prophecies have been commented upon at considerable length by bp. Newton" and Dr. Worthington'; but they certainly have not precluded all additional remark.

It is in the xvith ch. of Genesis, that a prophetic delineation of the character of Ishmael and his posterity occurs. Now Ishmael settled in Arabia"; and his posterity have

14 Morsels of Criticism, p. 511.

15 In his iid and xiith Dissertations, p. 37-63; p. 378-398.

16 In the ixth, xith, and xiith of his Discourses, p. 346-375; 419494.

17 See Genesis, ch. xxi. 21, and xxv. 13-18, with the geographical observations of the commentators; and Josephus (Antiq. l. i. c. 13). That

never been dispossessed of that country; and it may be observed, that there is scarcely a country in the world, where so small a portion of foreign blood has been mixed with that of the natives. And the angel of the Lord said unto Hagar, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy afflictions. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren”. And in the following chapter it is said, I will make him a great nation; a declaration, which was communicated by the most High to Abraham, the founder of those two celebrated nations, the Arabs and the Jews20.

Ishmael was to be the parent of a great nation; and accordingly, though it is admitted that he was not the sole

the posterity of Ishmael lived in Arabia, is observed by all the Oriental writers, according to bishop Patrick (on Gen. xxi. 21). In the xxvth ch. of Genesis, where the twelve sons of Ishmael are enumerated, it is observed, that Nebaioth was the eldest. 'As,' saith bp. Patrick (in loc.), ' he was the first-born of Ishmael, so his postesity gave the denomination to the whole country of Arabia Petræa, which Pliny, Strabo, and Ptolemy call Nabatea; and sometimes other authors call Nabathis: as the inhabitants were called Nabatæi, who are mentioned also by Dionysius Periegetes, in his Description of the world, and by Plutarch in his life of Demetrius.'

18 Dr. Geddes translates, whose name thou shalt call Ishmael [God attendeth], because the Lord hath attended to thy affliction.

19 V. 10, 11, 12. Dr. Geddes translates, and in the face of all his brethren he will pitch his tents. That is, says this learned writer, he will bid them all defiance, conformably to what is said of him before.' My next. quotation is from Calvin (in loc.), It is in the first place to be desired that we should have peace with all men. Because this is denied to Ishmael, what is next in order is given to him, that he should not yield to his enemies, but should be brave, and powerful in repelling their attacks. But he does not speak of the person of the man, but of his whole progeny.'

20 It is observable, that the language of the Arabs is derived from the same original stock with the Hebrew, Syriac, and the Chaldæan tongues.' Gibbon's Decl. and Fall of the Rom. Emp. vol. IX. p. 239.

founder of all the Arabian tribes, there is reason to believe, that the families of his twelve sons, penetrating a country which was before unoccupied, and gaining their subsistence by hunting, were widely scattered, and that his descendants rapidly multiplied and soon constituted a numerous people. The descendants of Ishmael were,' says Dr. Priestley, a considerable nation in very early times.' At present, 'all the Northern coasts of Africa abound with Arabs; Palestine is now almost entirely occupied by them; they also still retain their ancient seats, and are as numerous there as ever"."

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Ishmael, it is predicted, will be a wild man. The Hebrew word 'here joined with man signifies,' says bp. Patrick, wild ass: and so it is well translated by Bochart, tam ferus quam onager.' 'But what,' asks bp. Newton, ' is the nature of the creature, to which Ishmael is so particularly compared? It cannot,' says the prelate, 'be described better than it is in the-book of Job (xxxix. 5, &c.), who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass. Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing. Ishmael therefore and his pos terity were to be wild, fierce, savage, ranging in the deserts, and not easily softened and tamed to society: and whoever hath read or known any thing of this people knoweth this to be their true and genuine character.' Like the wild ass they were also to be perfectly free, impatient of control, and the sole directors of their own movements. 'The slaves of domestic tyranny,' says Mr. Gibbon, may vainly exult in their national independence; but the Arab is personally free22"

21 Institutes of Nat. and Rev. Rel. vol. I. p. 405.

22 Vol. IX. p. 233. If,' says Gibbon, the Arabian princes abuse their power, they are quickly punished by the desertion of their subjects, who had been accustomed to a mild and parental jurisdiction. Their

Of Ishmael it is said, that he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer23; and the same,' says bp. Newton, 'is no less true of his descendants than of himself. He dwelt in the wilderness; and his sons still inhabit the same wilderness, and many of them neither sow nor plant according to the best accounts ancient and modern.' 'There is no such name,' says Dr. Shaw, as that of wild Arabs, peculiar to any one particular clan or body of them, they being all the same, with the like inclinations, when a proper opportunity or temptation offers itself".'

The hand of the Ishmaelite, it is predicted, will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. •And it is well known,' says Dr. Priestley, that the Arabs, and, probably, the Arabs only, of all the nations of the world, have constantly lived in a state of hostility with all mankind".' 'David,' says Dr. Worthington, bemoans the hardship of his case, that he was constrained to dwell in the tents of Kedar, a tribe of the Arabs; whither he was forced to flee for refuge from his enemies; which was but exchanging one enemy for another, as he himself complains. My soul hath long dwelt among them that are enemies to peace. I labor for peace: but when I speak unto them thereof, they make them ready for battle. In speaking of the Arabian tribes, Mr. Gibbon says, 'the caravans that traverse the desert are ransomed or pillaged; and their neighbors, since the remote times of Job and Sesostris", have been the victims of their

spirit is free, their steps are unconfined, the desert is open, and the tribes and families are held together by a mutual and voluntary compact.' In a tribe of Arabs, says Volney, nothing can be transacted without the consent of a majority; and if a chief were to kill an Arab, it would be almost impossible for him to escape punishment; the resentment of the offended party would pay no respect to his dignity.' Travels, vol. I. p. 402.

23 Gen. xxi. 20.

25 Ut supra, p. 406.

24 Shaw's Travels, pref. p. 10.

26 Ps. cxx. 5, 6, 7.

27 'Observe the first chapter of Job, and the long wall of 1500, stadia, which Sesostris built from Pelusium to Heliopolis (Diodor, Sicul. tom. I. 1 i. p, 67).' Gibbon.

"A

rapacious spirit. If a Bedoween discovers from afar a solitary traveller, he rides furiously against him, crying, with a loud voice, "Undress thyself, thy aunt (my wife) is without a garment." A ready submission entitles him to mercy; resistance will provoke the aggressor, and his own blood must expiate the blood, which he presumes to shed in legitimate defence 28.

The year 1757 afforded a remarkable instance of the plundering spirit of the wanderers of Arabia". Assembled in immense numbers, and irritated on account of not having received a tribute they had claimed of the Turks, they attacked and pillaged the caravan of Mecca, conducted by the Pacha of Damascus; and of the 60,000 pilgrims and tra vellers of which it was composed, 20,000 are said to have been destroyed by hunger, by thirst, and by the sword of the Arabs30

As the hand of the Arab was to be raised up against every man, so every man's hand was to be lifted up against him. Accordingly the most powerful neighbors of the Arabs, the Persians and the Turks, are, at this very time, accustomed to carry on frequent hostilities against them. When the Arabs, says Mr. Hanway, 'plunder caravans travelling through their territories, they consider it as reprisals on the Turks and Persians, who often make inroads into their country, and carry away their corn and their flocks31.' The Turks, says Volney, 'never cease to wage secret or open war against them. The Pachas study

28 Gibbon, vol. IX. p. 236.

29 It is a singular proof of the predatory spirit of the Arabs, that although all their independent tribes are zealous Mahomedans, yet they make no scruple of plundering the caravans of pilgrims, while engaged in performing one of the most indispensable duties of their religion.' Dr. Robertson's Hist. Disq. on India, 8vo. p. 404.

30 See Volney's Travels, vol. II. p. 103, 257, 273, 341; Gibbon's Decl. and Fall of the Roman Emp. vol. IX. p. 231; bp. Newton on the Prophecies, vol. II. p. 176; and Travels through Cyprus, Syria, &c. by the Abbé Mariti, vol. II. p. 117.

31 Hanway's Travels, 1753, 4to. vol. IV. p. 221.