Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1839-06-13
M s G NJ Y.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
THE JEWS-THE pR0PHECIES-PALESTlhI

lHt tWS-l HE FnUFHCCllo- fhLCofiNE'
No little interest appears to have been
excited throughout the religious and learn
ed world, in relation to the great move
ments of the European powers towards
the East, the missionary labors in that
region of the globe, the increased atten-
ton ofthe Christian world to the Holy
Land, and the desire of removal and ac-
tual removal of numbers of Jews 10 Jeru-
salem. These events are, we believe,
by divines ofevery denomination ofChris-
tians, as well as by the Jews themselves,
considered as tending to the rapid and
coming fulflment of prophecy. And
here, we may remark, which we do with
out adding any comment OF our own
that eminent clergymen in this city have
recently declared their belief that the Sc
cond coming Of the Messiah is not far
distant. Indeed, a friend assures US that
only a few Sundays since, n divine stated
in his sermon that, judging from the wri-
tings o. the most eminent commentators
on the prophecies, from the belief OF the
Christian clergy generally, and more than
all, from an attentive perusal of the Holy
Scriptures, that somewhere about the year
lS47, or 1867, or near those periods,
was thought to be the important time for
the veriication Of the great prediction
The clergyman alluded to. also empbati.
calIy noticed the progress ofevents, which
he considered 10 be ola character that
portended the approach ofsome mighty
change. Our attention has been called
10 the subject more particularly just now,
in consequence ofseeing an able and deep
ly interesting article in a late number of
the London Quarterly Review, and ano-
Their from the pen Of Major Noah, in the
New York Evening Star, upon the same
topic. Thus, the matter is not only agi.
tated in the pulpit and in religious wri-
tings, but also in literary and even pollti-
cal publications. The very minds ofmen
seem to be called towards the Jews, their
movemen,s-their conversion, and the
Holy Land. The introduction of steam
has done wonders towards opening to
that part of the world, a rapid commune
cation with Christian countries and al
fording great facilities to Christian ira
~vellers. The evident influence of Chris
tian powers over the policy of the Sultan
of Turkey and the Pacha Of Egypt, also
tend to create a beliefthat some great po-
litlcal change is about to affect the East,
ard Mahommedan countries in particu-
lar and it will be remembered that Pal.
estine has been in the possession OF the
followers of Mahomet, ever since the last
of the Crusades.
The article in the Quarterly is both ell
oouent and argumentative. The writer
e~mphatically observes "that since the
battle Of the FIVE Kings against four, re-
corded in the I4.h chapter OF Genesis,
5000 wears before the time ofour saviour,
until the wars of Napoleon, 1870 years
after it, this narrow but wonderful region
has never ceased to be the stage oil re-
markable events. Healso observes "that
a very recent English traveller has en-
countered many Jews on the road 10 Je'
rusalem who invariably replied to his IN
q%uiries, that they were gong thinner 10
die in the land of their fathers" The
belief of the ultimate gathering together
of the nation upon that cherished spot, is
very general among the Jews of every
section of the world. "Though they
have seen the temple twice, and the city
six times destroyed, their confidence is
not abated, nor their faith gone. For
1900 years, their belief has sustained
them, without a King, a prophet or a priest
through insult, poverty, torture and DEATH
and now, in the 18th century, in the
midst of the march OF intellect, and what
is far better, in the great diffusion Of the