The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1879-08-13
TR UTH THE MEASURE OF
VITALITY.

However it be as to the survival Of the
fttest in the animal kingdom, the survi-
val of the truest in human society and in
human philosophy is a sound maxim, We
must believe that God is not false, and
that the Judge of all the earth will do
right. All rightly-constituted minds have
at least that much faith in the order of
the universe. Hence the common saying,
Truth is mighty, and It will prevail.
None but the incurably vicious believe
that the Devil will triumph, and even
they do not believe it; they are only un-
willing to concede victory to Righteous
ness and Holiness because they feel that
they have thrown in their lot with the
fortunes of the Prince of the Power of the
Air. These thoughts were suggested by
observing a paragraph in a newspaper
about Turkey letter describing the
fearful disorganizaton which exists in that
country After the capture Of CONSTANT
nople in 1853 by Mahmoud H., the
Turks, not content with the possession of
the capital of the Greek Empire, under
Seim, the grandson of Mahmoud, added
Syria and Egypt to their dominions; and
yet later Solyman the Magnificent, the
most accomplished of all the Ottoman
princes, conquered the greater part of
Hungary, and extended his sway in Asia
to the Euphrates This was about tn,
middle of the 10Th century, and99 at ,thi
period the Turkish Empire was unques-
tionably the most powerful in the world
IF you consider says the historian
Knolles who wrote about two centuries
since, its beginning, its progress, and
uninterrupted success, there is nothing in
the world more admirable and strange;
if the greatness and lustre thereof, moth
ing more magnificent and glorious; if the
power and strength thereof, nothing more
dreadful and dangerous, which wondering
at nothing but the beauty of itself, and
drunk with the pleasant wine Of perpet-
ual felicity, holdeth all the rest of the
world in scorn." They were the terror
of Europe, and in 1858 had pushed their
arms to the walls of Vienna, where they
were defeated by John Sobieski, from
which time their power began to decline.
Charles V. was the contemporary Of
SOlyman the Magnificent The power Of
the Italian Church was at its acme, and
the bugles of the Reformation had just
been sounded. Raphael, Michael Angelo
and Titan were adjoining the churches Of
Rome, Florence, and Venice, with their
paintings. John de Medicis, Pope Leo
X, made Italy the centre of literature
and the arts. 1t was in 1919 that the
building of St. Peters was commenced
carried on subsequently by Michael An
gelo, who, speaking of the grand dome
which he had conceived in his mind, re-
marked that che would suspend the
Pantheon in the air.
Where are Constantinople and Spain
and the Church of Rome now? "How
art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer,
son of the morning" Thy pomp is
brought down to the grave, and the noise
of thy viols; the worm is spread under
thee, and the worms cover thee Judg-
ment appears about to be visited on the
Beast and the False Prophet alike
Mohammedanism has had a wonderful
career in the world 1t penetrated into
Europe; it took possession of North AT
RIGA; it spread itself into India, Persia
Tartary, and among the islands Of the
Malay Archipelago. 1t has lived as a
powerful system through 1900 years. 1t
could not have lived so long except on
the principle Of the survival of the fttest
it was truer than anything else with
which it came in contact. There are some
fine features about the religion Of Islam
its unrelenting monotheism and its intense
earnestness. The Turk may be very
wrong in his religious ideas, but he at
least believes them; there is no scepti-
cism in Islamism-no indiferentism. 1t