rds to this effect from many Turks, as well
in Asia as in Europe."--_"Kismet; or the Doom of Turkey"
(London, 1853), p. 409._

A later Turkish traveler, Mr. Wilfred Scawen Blunt, says:

"Ancient prophecy and modern superstition alike point to the
return of the Crescent into Asia as an event at hand, and to
the doom of the Turks.... A well-known prediction to this
effect, which has for ages exercised its influence on the
vulgar and even on the learned Mohammedan mind,... places the
scene of the last struggle in northern Syria, at Homs, on the
Orontes. Islam is then finally to retire from the north, and
the Turkish rule to cease. Such prophecies often work their own
fulfilment."--_"Future of Islam," p. 95._

Thus native tradition and human forebodings have contemplated the
break-up of the Turkish power, as the course of the years has witnessed
the shrinkage of its territory and the ever-increasing difficulty of its
position.

Now and then there has been a renewal of Turkey's vigor and prestige;
then again its situation has been rendered yet more precarious. It has
been a buffer between the clashing interests of the great powers.
Speaking of Turkey's difficult position in this respect, the London
_Fortnightly Review_, May, 1915, expressed a common view thus:

"When once the nations of Europe set foot in Asia Minor, the
pace of Turkey's further downfall will be set not so much by
Turkey's strength or weakness as by the mutual jealousies of
the occupying powers."

The storm clouds hang ever low over the Near East; while above all the
din of wars and rumors of wars, the voice of divine prophecy declares
that when this power comes to its end, the closing events in human
history will quickly follow.

[Illustration: CONSTANTINOPLE THE KEY CITY OF THE WORLD

The cross on which the peace of the world has been crucified.]

The solemn truth rings in our ears like a trumpet peal; the age-long
Eastern Question is hastening on to its final solution, and its solution
brings the end of the world.

In the light of the "sure word of prophecy" the developments of our day
in the East become more than matters of grave political concern to
statesmen and observers of affairs generally; they are matters of
deepest personal, eternal interest to every soul. In watching the trend
of international affairs, we are watching the doing of the last things
among the na