The three lectures on Turkey are published at the request of several of my parishioners; I have added two others respecting Rome, which were written in 1873, because I consider that they strengthen the conclusion derived from the present position of the Ottoman Empire. I regard Rome and Turkey as two great political witnesses to the near approach of the glorious end. If this be the case, it is clearly right that their two testimonies should appear together and confirm each other.
Oh, dear brethren, may it never be so with you!
May you be amongst those who can peacefully look for His appearing, because you are clothed in His righteousness!
May you be kept walking in the light, and cleansed from all sin through His most precious blood!
Then you will have nothing to fear, but everything to hope for, in the thought of His coming.
Then He will never come as a thief to you, for you will be ready at any time to open the door and welcome Him.
As the bride delights in the bridegroom, so will you delight in Him.
Your trial will consist, not in the dread of His coming, but in the difficulty of patiently waiting for His return; and when He comes you will find no language to bless and praise His holy name, for His boundless and unmerited love in having redeemed you by His atoning blood; in having called you by His sovereign grace; in having forgiven you through His finished atonement; in having sanctified you by the Holy Ghost; and in having preserved you in His own unchanging faithfulness, till He shall have finally presented you spotless and faultless before the throne of His everlasting glory.
