II.  We may proceed then to consider WHAT WE MAY ANTICIPATE AS THE PROBABLE CONSEQUENCE OF ALL THAT HAS TAKEN PLACE.

When our Lord spoke those words referred to in St. Matthew, he was clearly speaking of the second Advent; but the events which we are now witnessing are not the same as those described in that chapter, and therefore we cannot regard them as the predicted signs of that glorious appearing.  But there is another great event foretold in prophecy, which many of us believe must take place before the Advent, and for that event I cannot but hope that these two treaties will rapidly prepare the way.  I mean the return of the Jews and the ten tribes to Palestine.

If we turn to the prophecy respecting the drying up of the Euphrates in Rev. xvi. 12, we find that it will be dried up in order that “the way of the kings of the East may be prepared.”  That expression “the kings of the East” does not mean the kings now reigning in the East, but it does mean the kings who are to come up from the East.  So that the full meaning of the text would be given if we were to render it “that the way of the kings might be prepared p. 9from the East!”  The persons referred to are kings by birthright, though they are far away in the East instead of in their own home; but when the Euphrates is dried up a way will be made for their return.  Who then are those kings?  And what nation is it that God has chosen to royalty?  Turn to Exod. xix. 6, and there you read of Israel, “Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests;” the meaning of which expression is explained by St. Peter’s quotation of it, in which he substitutes the words “A royal priesthood.”  Surely then it is not altogether unreasonable to believe that the priests of that royal priesthood may be the kings referred to, and that a way will be prepared for their return by the drying up of the Euphrates, or the wasting of the Turkish power.

The same conclusion may be drawn from the words of our blessed Saviour in Luke xxi. 24, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”  Those words most clearly teach us that Jerusalem is to be trodden down for a time, but they no less clearly imply that it will be for a time only, and that it will be restored when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.  By whom then is Jerusalem now trodden down?  Who is it that is at the present day treading down the captive city?  There can be no doubt as to the answer.  It is the Turk that is the treader down of Jerusalem.  It is the Ottoman power that holds it under foot.  It is the Euphratean flood that has overwhelmed it; and if so, is it not an obvious conclusion that the fall of Turkey is likely to be the rise of Jerusalem, and that Turkish decay is the harbinger of the Jew’s prosperity?  p. 10When therefore we see the waste of Turkey, and witness the receding of the waters, we see in that waste the budding of the fig tree; and, as believers in God’s word, we are taught by the prophetic Scriptures to look out for the outburst of the summer in all its glory on Palestine.

But now turn to the treaty with Turkey, and see how it bears on the prospects of Israel.  Look at it well, and consider whether it may not be regarded as the budding of the Jewish fig tree.

According to that treaty Turkey in Asia is placed under what approaches to an English protectorate, and one of the principal covenants is that England shall in future have a voice in its government.  Now think for a moment of the vast importance of that part of Turkey in Asia now called Syria, and consider whether there is any plot of land on the face of the globe that is of more importance to the commerce of the world.  On the S.W. it reaches down to the isthmus of Suez, through which the traffic between the Eastern and Western hemispheres is now passing like the sand through the narrow neck of an hour glass.  The result is that any powerful nation holding Syria would have the power of interrupting the greater part of the trade of the world.  Then on the East and North East it is bounded by the valley of the Euphrates, which is almost certain before long to become the line of Railroad from Europe to India.  That country therefore, though not much above 400 miles from North to South, commands the two great highways between the Eastern and Western hemispheres.  Any powerful nation holding Syria will command both those p. 11communications between Europe and the East.  Can we then believe it possible that England, now having the right of interference, will leave that most important country to the miserable maladministration of six Turkish Pashas?  Can we doubt for a moment that the first object of this Country will be to secure for Syria a Government so firm, so just, and so trustworthy, that it may give security to life and property?  Is it not next to certain that those who have made this treaty will do their utmost to secure through its means an efficient administration for a district of such vast importance?  But if they succeed, what will be the effect of such a government?  Will it not immediately attract thither both capital and enterprise?  As things are now, nothing can prosper, because there is no security.  If people grow a crop they cannot be confident that they will ever enjoy the fruit.  If it is not plundered by the Bedouin, it is too often seized by the Pasha.  So that one of our Missionaries writes—“The inhabitants of Palestine are becoming poorer every year.  This is especially the case with the cultivators of the soil, who mostly suffer the burden of a cruel and grasping system of taxation, now doubled on account of the Russian war.”  But if there were a good government all would be changed.  Then he that planted the vineyard might eat the fruit thereof, and he that tilled the soil might calculate on the produce of his labour.  And this is the change that we may expect to see very quickly brought about by England.  This I trust before many months are passed will be the blessed result of our country’s use of her new treaty rights.

p. 12But we have not yet done with Syria, for there is this peculiar interest attache............