Somewhat; and i' aur may, after all, as well be tranflated with him, as against him; as appears manifeftly from fome obfervations made by the learned Vigerus*, on another occafion, when they are duly confidered.

And, taking all thefe circumftances fully into confideration, and guiding our tranflation by them, we shall find, that this verfe flings aftonishing light on the hiftory of the latter ages of the world; and does, in a most concise and comprehensive manner, describe that great Mahometan Power, the dominion of the Saracens and Turks at last united, which was to take place in the Eaft, and has now long been feated there.

For, confidering the verfe as we ought to do, as beginning a new prediction concerning the latter times, and as unconnected with 508. what went before, the plain meaning and fubftance of it is this:

In the latter time, a king or power from the North, (from whence we know the Turks actually came, having made their first entrance into the East, from Scythia, about the end of the 9th century, and beginning immediately

* See Vigerus de Idiotifmis Græcæ Dictionis, p. 607. Sec. XIX.

to ravage it ;) a king or power from the North shall mutually contend with, and have conflict with, the king or power of the South; that is, with that Saracenical power, which, in the South, fucceeded, in the end, to the dominions of the Ptolemies and fucceffors of Alexander.

And, confiftently with this, we know that for a long season the Turks (having first obtained a fettlement in Armenia, or Turkomania, under their leader or king Tangrolopix) contended fiercely and continually with the Saracen Caliphs and Sultans, and very foon overthrew the Sultan of Perfia. And their mutual contefts were moft violent indeed, till at laft the Saracen and Turkish power were firmly united, and became ONE great empire, under Mahomet the Second, in 1450.

The Prophecy therefore goes on, and fays: A king of the North (that is, as we may now understand it, THE TURKISH POWER) fhall have great conflict with the king of the South, the SARACENICAL POWER; and at last shall be ingrafted together with that Power, and united with it; and their efforts, both before their union, (in their mutual contefts,) and afterwards, with the joint power of both people, fhall be with chariots, and with horsemen,

and

and with many fhips; all which we may
now perceive has come exactly to pass, with
regard to the Saracens and Turks, whofe nu-
merous fhips appeared both on the Cafpian
and on the Black feas, and in the Mediterra-
nean; and especially when they attacked
Constantinople; and when they attacked also
Rhodes, and Crete, and Cyprus.

The Prophecy adds-And being fo united, 509.
fball enter into the land, and shall grind and
Shake it, and fhall pass over. And nothing

can be more clear, than that the Turks
when the Saracenical empire was united to
theirs, and one with their dominion, did first
poffefs all THE LAND, the celebrated land of
Judea and Palestine, and bitterly oppreffed
the people; and did then, under Amurath,
literally pass over; that is, paffed over from
the Eaft, from Afia, into Europe, and took
Hadrianople in 1364; and at laft established
their dominion, as an European dominion-and
empire, at Conftantinople, in 1453.

We find, therefore, that, translated plainly
as above, nothing can be clearer than the be-
ginning of this remarkable part of Holy Pro-
phecy is; and we fhall difcover the remain-
ing part to be fully as clear.

For if, in verfe 41, the land 7 Zabadμ or Σαβαείν, according to its right derivation from the Hebrew, means the land of delight, or the land well ornamented, (as may be very fairly concluded from the information given us concerning the original root of the word,) then it most clearly points out, to every intelligent reader, Greece and Afia Minor; where improvements of architecture, elegance, and fcience, were carried (previous to the invafion of the Mahometans) to the highest pitch of grandeur and beauty. And as theirs was indeed a well adorned land, fo most surely no people on earth were ever more effectually weakened, and debilitated, (confiftently with what is next said in the Prophecy,) than the poor Greeks have been, by Turkish oppres fion.

The contents of this 41ft verfe do therefore moft plainly inform us, that the power defcribed, (that is the Mahometan power, confifting of the Saracens and Turks at laft united,) fhould enter into the country of Greece, fo celebrated for all the refinements and adornments of life, and fo abounding 510. with beautiful productions of the finest arts, and especially of architecture: and that, in

confe

confequence of this, many (that is, the whole Greek people,) should be debilitated and oppreffed, and lofe all their energy and powers of excelling: but that, at the fame time, in the midst of all this prevalence of Mahometan dominion, fome countries fhould in a remarkable manner be preferved out of the hands of these oppreffors, namely, Edom and Moab, and the chief or head of the Children of Ammon. And it is most remarkable, that thofe Arabs, who conftitute the remains of these people, have preferved their independency, and have fo efcaped, even to this very

hour.

The next verses, the 42d and 43d, of this wonderful Prophecy, as we find them in the Septuagint, are as full and clear in their description: for, here, we are given to understand, that this Saracenical and Turkish Mahometan power should lord it over Egypt; which we well know it has now done for many years and that it fhould have dominion over the hidden treasures of Egypt, and over all its defirable things. And as it feems not a little remarkable, that the expreffion is not should poffefs them, but should have dominion over them; fo the Turks have really had the com