neither went I up to Jerusalem, but I went into ARABIA." Gal. i. 17. Christianity flourished very extensively in Arabia, during the first centuries. History informs us, that “the disciples of Christ had filled its provinces with the Churches of God;*" and frequent mention is made, in the early monuments, of the Bishops of Arabia. This early influence of the Gospel in that region might be expected; for Arabia adjoins Palestine; and the climate of the country, and the manners and customs of the people, are nearly the same.‡ There are some circumstances which remarkably distinguish Arabia; are collection of which, in connexion with others, ought now to draw our attention to it. Arabia was inhabited by the first generations of men. There it pleased the Creator first to reveal himself to his creatures; * Θεου γαρ Εκκλησιων οι Χριστου μαθηται τας χώρας ταύτας ngwa. Procopious Gaz. Es. XI. 14. † See them enumerated in Beveridge's Canones Conciliorum. The Bishop of Busorah was present at the Council of Antioch in A. D. 269. * Ομόρους δε οντας τοις Ιουδαίοις εικός και πρώτους το κήρυγμα δεξασθαι. Being neighbours to the Jews, it was likely that they should first receive the Gospel. Proc. ubi supra. and in its vicinity the Son of God assumed the human nature. In Arabia, the faculties of the human mind attain to as high a degree of strength and vigour, even at this day,* as in any other country in the world; and the symmetry and beauty of the human person in Arabia are not surpassed by any other portion of the human race.t Arabia is also remarkable on another account. It was the theatre of the grand defection from Christianity, by the Mahomedan delusion, which "At * See Letter from the Rev. Henry Martyn, concerning Sabat, quoted in "The Star in the East," p. 218, intervals I read Persian Poetry with Mirza, and the Koran with Sabat. These Orientals, with whom I translate the Scriptures, require me to point out the connexion between every two sentences, which is often more than I can do. It is curious how accurately they observe all the rules of writing. Sabat, though a real Christian, has not lost a jot of his Arabian notions of superiority. He looks upon Europeans as mushrooms; and seems to regard my pretensions to any learning, as we should regard those of a savage or an ape.”—N. B. Mr. Martyn was Senior Wrangler, or first Mathematician of his year, at Cambridge, in 1801; and he had now been two years in society with Sabat. + An intelligent Arabian, who had seen the English in India, observed to the Author, that he thought the minds of the English far superior to their persons. It seemed to him, that there was nothing striking or noble in the English countenance, compared with the dignity and beauty of the Arabians; that of men." This was to extend to a third part of men." predicted apostacy was to be effected, not by returning to Paganism, but by a corruption of Christianity; that is, by admitting some part of the former revelation of God, and pretending to a new revelation. The delusion itself is aptly compared in the prophecy concerning it, to "smoke issuing from the bottomless pit ;" and its great extent is expressed by its "darkening the "sun and the air."* And since this defection was to be produced by a corruption of revealed Truth, it was necessary that the Scriptures should be first corrupted; for where the genuine Scriptures are in the hands of men, there is little danger of general infidelity. Accordingly, this preparative for the great Imposture took place in the fifth and sixth centuries. During that period, corrupt and apocryphal gospels prevailed so generally in Arabia, and in the neighbouring the faces were in general flat and torpid, and the eyes without fire. The Author informed him, that the English were composed of different nations, and most of these from cold and northern climates; that hence there was a great diversity in their appearance, some being of very ordinary aspect, and others of a dignity and beauty which even an Arabian would admire He smiled at this, and observed that it was not likely that the Deity would select so remote, and cold a region of his globe, for the perfection of man. * Rev. ix. 2. regions, that it is even doubtful whether Mahomed himself ever saw a genuine copy of the New Testament. It has been argued by learned men, from the internal evidence of his composition, that he did not. But now even the apocryphal gospels have vanished from view, by the long prevalence of the Koran. But the duration of this delusion was to have a limit. "The smoke was to darken the sun and "the air" only for a definite period; namely, 1260 years. This period is expressed in prophetic Scripture in a three-fold form of words to evince its certainty. 1. "The Holy City shall they tread under "foot forty and two months."* Rev. xi. 2.This marks the period of the Mahomedan power. The same expression is applied afterwards to the duration of the Papal power. The depression of the true Faith was of course to last the same as expressed in the two following time; sentences. 2. "The Witnesses (for the true Faith) shall "prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore "days, clothed in sackcloth,t" Rev. xi. 3. 3. "The Woman or (Church of Christ) fled "into the wilderness, and was nourished for a time, times and half a time.*” Rev. xii. 14. This last expression, "a time, times and half "a time," is also used by the prophet Daniel, who foretels the same events, to mark the period when God shall "have accomplished to scatter "the powers of the holy people," and shall terminate his indignation against Israel. Dan. xii. 7. It is very well known in the East at what time Mahomed appeared. Let the Mahomedan, then be informed, that he is to count 1260 years from the Hejira, and then expect the fulfilment of a remarkable Prophecy, made by Christ, whom the Koran acknowledges to be "a true Prophet." Let him be informed explicitly, that the reign. of Mahomedanism will then have an end. And if he be unwilling to believe this, ask him if he does not already perceive the decline of Mahomedanism. If he be ignorant of this fact, inform him of the history of events. Instruct him, that the corruption of Christianity in the West by the Pope, was coeval with the corruption of Chris forty->=1260 years. * A time, times, and half a time—a year, |