subvert. The pontiff, at the head of the citizens and allies, paid his grateful devotion at the shrines of the apostles; and among the spoils of this naval victory, thirteen Arabian bows, of pure and massy silver, were suspended round the altar of the fishermen of Galilee. The reign of Leo IV. was employed in the defence and ornament of the Roman state. The churches were renewed and embellished; near four thousand pounds of silver were consecrated to repair the losses of St. Peter; and his sanctuary was decorated with a plate of gold, the weight of two hundred and sixteen pounds, embossed with the portraits of the pope and emperor, and encircled with a string of pearls." The king of the south pushed at the pontiff, who honoured tutelar saints with gold and silver, and precious stones, and pleasant things. The califs fixed their royal residence at Bagdad, conquered many provinces of the Roman empire, assaulted Rome, and for three hundred years were a woe to Christendom-which retained the name after the worship of God was corrupted, and the spirit of a holy faith was lost. The empire of the Saracens was undermined by luxury. Often did it push from without, against the territories of Rome. But at last it fell—and a new enemy, (a second and more lasting woe,) arose,—and another king,-like the king of Egypt and the king of Syria, the papal monarch, and the king of the Saracens, the first of a long race, who occupied his place, and exercised his power, and were identified by his name,-appeared upon the scene, who finally subverted the throne of the Cæsars, and for ever dispossessed the pope of half the church, over which he had assumed an universal sovereignty. And the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. Ver. 40. Fallen as it is, the rise of the Ottoman empire now * Gibbon's Hist. vol. x. pp. 61–65. c. 52, sounds like the announcement of an ancient tale. And Europe has forgotten the dread with which it once was inspired. A brief recapitulation, in the words of history, of their rise and progress, will serve to show how this prophecy preserves its precision to the last. The decline of the Saracens and the rise of the Turks, together with the distinct declaration of their relative local position, is stated in a single sentence by Gibbon. "When the Arabian conquerors had spread themselves over the east, and were mingled with the servile crowds of Persia, Syria, and Egypt, they insensibly lost the free-born and martial virtues of the desert. The courage OF THE SOUTH is the artificial fruit of discipline and prejudice; the active power of enthusiasm had decayed, and the mercenary forces of the caliphs were recruited in those climates of THE NORTH, of which valour is the hardy and spontaneous production. Of the Turks who dwelt beyond the Oxus and Jaxartes, the robust youths, either taken in war or purchased in trade, were educated in the exercises of the field, and the profession of the Mahometan faith."* The woes of Christendom there met and merged into each other, and the one appeared in its embryo form as the other declined and decayed,-the first, in its old age, fostering the second in its youth. "The thrones of Asia were occupied by slaves and soldiers of Turkish extraction. A swarm of these northern shepherds overspread the kingdoms of Persia; their princes, of the race of Seljuk, erected a splendid and solid empire, from Samarcand to the confines of Greece and Egypt; and the Turks have maintained their dominion in Asia Minor, till the victorious crescent has been planted on the dome of St. Sophia."+ "In the decline of the caliphs, and the weakness of their lieutenants, the barrier of the Jaxartes was often violated. In each invasion, after the victory or retreat of their countrymen, some wandering tribe, embracing the Mahometan * Gibbon, vol. x. p. 72, c. 52, A. D. 832-870. faith, obtained a free encampment in the spacious plains and pleasant climate of Transoxiana and Carizme. The Turkish slaves who aspired to the throne, encouraged their emigrations, which recruited their armies, awed these subjects and rivals, and protected the frontier against the wilder natives of Turkestan; and this policy was abused by Mahmud the Gaznevide, beyond the example of former times. He was admonished of his error by a chief of the race of Seljuk, who dwelt in the territory of Bochara. The sultan had inquired what supply of men he could furnish for military service. 'If you send,' replied Ishmael, 'one of these arrows into our camp, fifty thousand of your servants will mount on horseback. And if that number,' continued Mahmud, 'should not be sufficient?' Send this second arrow to the horde of Balik, and you will find fifty thousand more.' 'But,' said the Gaznevide, dissembling his anxiety, 'if I should stand in need of the whole force of your kindred tribes ?' • Despatch my bow,' was the last reply of Ishmael, and as it is circulated around, the summons will be obeyed by two hundred thousand horse. The shepherds were converted into robbers; the bands of robbers were collected into an army of conquerors; as far as Ispahan and the Tigris, Persia was afflicted by their predatory inroads; and the Turkmans were not ashamed or afraid to measure their courage and numbers with the proudest sovereigns of Asia.-The memorable day (or battle,) of Zendecan founded in Persia the dynasty of the shepherd kings. The victorious Turkmans immediately proceeded to the election of A KING.”* "The whole Turkish nation embraced with fervour and sincerity the religion of Mahomet."† "The Roman emperors were SUDDENLY ASSAULTED by an unknown race of barbarians, who united the Scythian valour with the fanaticism of new proselytes, and the art and riches of a powerful monarchy. The myriads of Turkish horse overspread a frontier of six hundred miles, from Taurus to Arzeroum ; and the blood of one hundred and thirty thousand Christians was a grateful sacrifice to the Arabian prophet. Alp Arsan passed the Euphrates at the head of the Turkish cavalry, and entered Cæsaria, the metropolis of Cappadocia, to which he had been attracted by the fame and wealth of the temple of St. Basil. The solid structure resisted the destroyer; but he carried away the doors of the shrine, encrusted with gold and pearls, and profaned the relics of the tutelar Gibbon, pp. 342, 343, 344. + Ibid. p. 347. saint."* In one "fatal day the Asiatic provinces of Rome were irretrievably sacrificed."+ "The fairest part of Asia was subject to his laws: twelve hundred princes, or the sons of princes, stood before his throne; and two hundred thousand soldiers marched under his banners." "Since the decline of the empire, the peninsula of Asia Minor had been exposed to the transient, though destructive, inroads of the Persians and Saracens; but the fruits of a lasting conquest were reserved for the Turkish sultan. Constantinople was deprived of the obedience and revenue of the provinces beyond the Bosphorus and Hellespont; and the regular progress of the Turks, who fortified the passes of the rivers and mountains, left not a hope of their retreat or expulsion. Since the first conquests of the caliphs, the establishment of the Turks in Anatolia, or Asia Minor, was the most deplorable loss which the church and empire had sustained. By the propagation of the Moslem faith, Soliman deserved the name of Gazi, a holy champion; and his new kingdom of the Romans, or of Roum, was added to the tables of oriental geography. It is described as extending from the Euphrates to Constantinople, from the Black Sea to the confines of Syria."§ "After the loss of Asia, Antioch still maintained her primitive alliance to Christ and Cæsar. The ambitious sultan mounted on horseback, and in twelve nights (for he reposed in the day) performed a march of six hundred miles. Antioch was oppressed by the speed and secresy of his enterprise; and the dependent cities, as far as Laodicea and the confines of Aleppo, obeyed the example of the metropolis. From Laodicea to the Thracian Bosphorus, cr arm of St. George, the conquests and reign of of Soliman extended thirty days' journey in length, and in breadth about ten or fifteen, between the rocks of Lycia and the Black Sea. The Turkish ignorance of navigation protected, for a while, the inglorious safety of the emperor; but no sooner had a fleet of two hundred ships been constructed by the hands of the captive Greeks, than Alexius trembled behind the walls of his capital. His plaintive epistles were dispersed over Europe, to excite the compassion of the Latins, and to paint the danger, the weakness, and the riches of the city of Constantinople."|| But it was another voice than that of the emperor that alone could rouse into action the slumbering en * Gibbon, p. 352. Ibid. pp. 371, 372. + Ibid. p. 358. Ibid. p. 360. ergies of Europe; and it was another conquest than that of Asia Minor, and, with a solitary exception, all the Asiatic domain of the Roman empire besides, that could raise all the nations of Europe as one man, to stay the progress of the Turks; and, more than all others, to wrest again one country from their oppressive and polluting hands. The king of the North came at first like a whirlwind an unknown race of barbarians, headed by their king, suddenly assaulted the Roman empire. A lasting conquest was achieved at once. The fate of the Asiatic provinces of Rome was irretrievably decided in a day. He came with chariots and horsemen and many ships: he did enter into the countries, and did overflow and pass over. He swept over them like a torrent, a tempest, or a whirlwind. Infantry, which forms in general the strength of armies, were not suited to the rapidity of his movements, and of them he had none. The Janissaries, or new soldiers, were not, till a far later date, a portion of a Turkish army. Stretched, at a distance, directly along the NORTH of Palestinetheir line of march was a frontier of six hundred miles, covered with myriads of Turkish horse. The incongruous union between an army of cavalry, and many ships, was realized in fact; and the captives supplied in abundance the wants of the conqueror. He entered countries only to overflow and pass through. Antioch, with its province, yielded not at first; but at the rapid approach of the king of the north, it fell unresistingly, as by the blast of a whirlwind. The Turkish monarch was without a rival and without a foe, from the shores of the Bosphorus and the mountains of Armenia, to the border of Palestine. Till then he had entered only to pass through. But the glorious land—the theme of many prophecies, is not indiscriminately classed with other conquests; nor was the entering of the king of the north into it, im |