VI. If but the veil' removed might be And raised the veil from Judah's heart Then would it be as though a Day-star rose Then by fulfilment of prophetic strain To all the world its LORD would speak again VII. A further cause ye Pioneers may tell As though he to a KING his homage bore.. VIII. Thirdly, the Church, which asks no further sign A vision scarce reveal'd to man 4 See Isa. xxv. 9; 2 Cor. iii. 16, 17. 5 See Ezek. xlv. and xlvi. IX. That riven Church seeking mankind to win, In happy bowers of ease, we wis; But-on the verge of man's abyss Through loss of Faith's first chief premiss, Her prayer which cannot err is this, "Lord, make Jerusalem the earth's chief fane, X. Therefore, ye Pioneers, in fervid strain Ask that the mystic Lion stir and reign! Feb. 14, 1877. I. G. R. A REVERIE ON THE LATE CONFERENCE. WHENEVER anything momentous was, or is, about taking place in the diplomatic or political world, THE LAND AND PEOPLE OF ISRAEL come into extraordinary prominence. Never was this extraordinary feature so palpable as at present. The facilities of locomotion have covered the Land promised to Israel-" from the River of Egypt unto the great river, the River Euphrates." The lightning-speed communications tell us every hour what is going on in the council-chambers of the great powers who are concerned in the EASTERN QUESTION. The tide of worldly interest is manifestly rolling back upon the shores of the Land of Israel. The dominions of Pagan Rome are obliterated from this earth's chart; the conquest of the Khosroes are never mentioned; the Kaliphs and Crusaders, when mentioned, sound like legendary myths; the Romish pontiff's chair is on its last legs; the throne • Gen. xv. 18. of the Ottoman Empire totters to the ground. But the LAND AND PEOPLE OF ISRAEL remain great and stubborn facts, staring in the face of, whilst scaring and startling, the great potentates and diplomatists of the civilized world. The most subtle statesmen and diplomatists begin to admit that a conjunction between the LAND and PEOPLE OF ISRAEL will, sooner or later, have to be planned as a political necessity, in order to keep up the balance of power in the civilized world. The EASTERN QUESTION, which is so perplexing a problem to the great powers, and which has just baffled the conference of their representatives, and has almost driven them to the verge of despair! What is it? Who is to settle it? Mundane diplomatists will never adjust the EASTERN QUESTION! Because that Question concerns a LAND and a PEOPLE both of which are under celestial care. As long as the rightful claimants to the promised land remain banished from their inheritance, so long will the Eastern Question prove an obstinate puzzler to secular statesmen and politicians. We have nothing to do with the quibbles and the tangled webs which have, since 1848, bewildered and enmeshed the cabinets of Europe. Our fitful musings on the subject are more the results of diligent study and serious thoughts on the history of the world, ancient and modern, than of subtle diplomatic acumen. The Eastern Question is, historically, indissolubly connected with the woe and weal of the LAND and PEOPLE of ISRAEL. What is the state of things now with those powers who have for a long time thrown a withering blight over that LAND and PEOPLE, such as Spain, Turkey, Egypt, and many others which present themselves to our thoughts in this our musing? We cannot help contemplating the formation of the PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND and the SYRIAN AND PALESTINE EXPLORATION SOCIETY as the precursors of the momentous events predicted to take place at the winding-up of this dispensation. What extraordinary changes are taking place everywhere! Rome an arena of triumphant Protestantism, notwithstanding the violent spurning of the papacy in her death-struggles. The Gospel of the kingdom has wellnigh been preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.' Whilst infidelity, in its countless phases, is being propagated amongst the offspring of nations once renowned as earnest 7 Matt. xxiv. 14. champions of the true faith! Surely the end of this dispensation cannot be far off. We close this our reverie with a solemn meditation on the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mathew, being our LORD'S own declaration respecting the winding-up of this dispensation. THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THIS CENTURY. THE following statements, which reached us through OUR SYRIAN AND PALESTINE POST-BAG, deserve sober and serious thought on the part of impartial and conscientious students of sacred and secular history. "Minute on Land Tenure in Turkey and Eastern Turkey, including Syria, from the Reports of Consul L. MOORE, Constantinople, and Consul PALGRAVE, Trebizond. (See Part II. Reports of Land Tenure in the several countries of Europe, 1869-70.) "Since 1808, disintegration appears to have been going on in the Turkish Empire, by the acts of Sultans Mahmood II. and Abd el Mejeed, affecting land tenure, as follows :— "1. The property grants of their predecessors were cancelled, and hereditary entails absolutely done away, together with all rights and privileges. "2. By the action of the first, all property was brought under the Turkish law of inheritance (from which certain grants had hitherto been exempt), by which all landed estates, on demise of the owner, are divided in equal allotments among the heirs of the first degree in the ascending or descending line, male and female alike; failing these, among the heirs in collateral line; failing these, among the remoter kindred; all failing, the land reverts to the State." (Palgrave, p. 282.) 8 This was a remarkable year in the annals of the present century. In that year Junot entered into Lisbon, Miolis into Rome, Murat into Madrid. The apparent great arbiter of the world's destinies was then Napoleon Bonaparte, who permitted his Jewish subjects to organize a Franco-Judæo Sanhedrin, and he even schemed, for purposes of his own, to restore the people of Israel to their own Land. Some of the Jewish people began to hail him as the promised Messiah. He answered, to a considerable extent, to the y≈ (Dan. ix. 27; Matt. xxiv. 15), the abominable one, desolator; but he was not the one who was to "stand in the holy place." Compare Matt. xxiv. 15 with 2 Thess. ii. 3-12. LAND PROPRIETORSHIP. "In Eastern Turkey land is either 1. Mirié, or Meeré-Crown property. "2. Mevkoufe, or Wakf-endowment,' i.e. for the maintenance of mosques, schools, hospitals, and the like. "3. Memlouké, or Mulk-freehold property of individuals. "4. Metrouké-commons and pasture-land for the free use of towns and villages. "5. Mevat-waste lands, which on being reclaimed become Mirié (1), or the property of the State. "No. 1, i.e. State lands, may be purchased by individuals, and thus become No. 3, or Mulk, i.e. the freehold of individuals: of course to be divided among their heirs at death, or to revert to the State if they have none. "It might be purchased for 'endowment,' and thus be converted into Wakf,' but this requires special Imperial rescript (p. 292, see Revised Land Property Code, April, 1858, Article 121). "No. 2, or Wakf, i.e. lands of endowment, may be leased, almost amounting to freehold, by paying a nominal annual rent in addition to the purchase-money. But this is subject also to the law of inheritance, and, failing heirs, the land reverts to the 'Wakf,' i.e. goes back to the trustees of the mosque or charity. As regards the law of inheritance, however, division is not allowed if it be ascertained by the trustees that diminution in value would result." LAND "TENANCY" (pp. 279, 280) IS OF THREE KINDS. "1. Muraba, or produce partnership. 1. Muraba,' the proprietor divides the produce equally with his tenant or partner, adjusting any advances that may have been made by either. Tithes, Government dues, and losses are shared equally. "The agreement cannot legally extend beyond one year. "The landlord can evict his tenant within the year, but must give due compensation for anticipated produce, any advances, and for any building, or improvements that may have been made |