dried up. We cannot therefore reasonably doubt that the symbolical Euphrates means in both cases the same power*. Rivers typify nations; and,

when

* Since this was written, I have seen a paper in the Christian Observer for January 1805, in which the Euphrates, here mentioned by the prophet, is connected with Rome; on the ground that the literal Euphrates is connected with the literal Babylon: whence it is argued, that the drying up of the Euphrates implies the impending destruction of Antichristian Rome. Had the writer attended to the uniformity and strict exactness of the apocalyptic language, he would probably not have hazarded such a conjecture. The mystic streams of the Euphrates under the sixth trumpet manifestly relate to the infancy of the Turkish_empire: the drying up therefore of those mystic streams under the sixth vial must relate to its destruction. So again: if the Euphrates of the sixth vial is to be connected with Rome, the Euphrates of the sixth trumpet must likewise be connected with Rome: for, unless we violate completely the definiteness of the whole Revelation, what the Euphrates means in one passage, it must mean in another. Consequently, if the Euphrates of the sixth rial be the papal nations of the Roman empire, or (what the writer of this paper seems to insinuate) the influence of the Papacy over those nations: then we must conclude, unless we are willing to give up all consistency of language in the Apocalypse, that the Euphrates of the sixth trumpet means the same; in which case we shall at length arrive at the absurd position, that the four Turkish sultanies issued from the papal nations of the Roman empire, or that the Turkish monarchy originated from the influence of the Papacy. The fact is, as I have already abundantly shewn, rivers typify nations; and, when a particular river is mentioned, the nation upon its banks is intended. The Euphrates therefore of the sixth trumpet is the symbol of the Turkish monarchy: whence it will follow, that the Euphrates of the sixth vial must be the same. Unless

this

when a particular river is specified, the nation immedately connected with that river is obviously intended. Such being the case, as the issuing forth of the four suitanies, those mystic waters of the Euphrates which deluged the Eastern Empire, denotes the rise of the Turkish power, so the drying up of those waters must evidently denote its subversion.

The prelude to the pouring out of this vial we may behold with our own eyes. Let us only advert to the present state of the Turkish power, and we shall be convinced, that for several years it has gradually been upon the decline. The approaching termination indeed of the Ottoman empire is so manifest, that even those, whose attention is solely directed to politics, are sufficiently aware that the time of its extinction cannot be very far distant. Of late it has been preserved rather by the jealousy of the great European powers, than by any physical strength of its own: and it doubtless will be preserved by the hand of Providence, until his own appointed season shall approach for preparing a way for the kings from the East, and for gathering together the kings of the Latin

this be allowed, St. John uses the same symbol in different senses, and consequently puts an entire end to all certainty of interpretation (See the beginning of Chap. ii. of the present work.). The writer of this paper seems to have taken his idea from some of the commentators cited by Pole. See Synop. in loc.

VOL. 11.

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world

world to the battle of the great day of God Almighty *.

1. Who

The reader will find some interesting remarks on the probable destiny of the Ottoman empire in Mr. Thornton's Present State of Turkey. p. 68-90. He observes, that "at a period "like the present, when the fate of Turkey is suspended in the "balance, when its inferiority to the nations of Europe is be"come so evident, and surrounded as it is by powerful and "ambitious neighbours, it seems to require no supernatural હેડ foresight to announce an approaching revolution." Yet he elsewhere thinks, that the conquest of Turkey may not be so easily achieved, as it has generally been imagined. "The to"prakly soldiery, being untaught and undisciplined, do not

seem to merit a higher estimation than the provincial militia "of the Christian states; and, on a review of the disposeable "force of the Ottoman empire, should scarcely be taken into

account: but to an invading army they oppose a resistance "by no means to be despised. Every motive of enthusiasm, "patriotism, and private interest, confirms the aversion of the "Turks to the dominion of foreigners. In our own time, the "inhabitants of Bosnia, Albania, and Croatia, a hardy and warlike race, have successfully defended their religion and their country against the disciplined troops of the Emperor "of Germany: and the French armies in Egypt met with more "obstinate resistance from an armed yeomanry, than they have "since experienced in traversing the most warlike countries

of Europe--The ojakli, or householders in Egypt, no less "than the feudal proprietors, fought with valour, undiminished by want of success, from the ruined walls of Alexandria to the ancient Roman frontier of Syenè. The language of the historian (Denon's Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte. Vol. i. p. 48, 223.) bears unequivocal testimony to their patriotic virtue. Alexandria was taken by storm: the besiegers “left two hundred soldiers in the breach through which they "" entered:

(1.) Who the kings from the East are, for whom a way is prepared by the subversion of the Turkish empire,

"entered but of the besieged none fled, they fell with glory "in the spot which they had failed in defending. With such an example before our eyes, we may be permitted to question "the facility of subduing a people, whose country, from its

very nature, must encourage their exertions and protect "their independence. The allied nations of Europe have only to "march, says Count Marsigli, their greatest difficulty will be to "divide the conquered country. But, though we now discover, "since the blaze of the Ottoman power has subsided, that their "former conquests were the chastisements of divine justice "for the sins of Christendom, and that the sultans never were and never will be strong in their own might: yet it perhaps still remains to be discovered, whether a people, who "would refuse to obey even their sultans if they ordered them to renounce their possessions in favour of a stranger, and "whose country, from the difficulty of forming magazines "affords no facilities to the invader; whether such a people, in spite of the acknowledged debility of the empire, would not give ambition cause to repent of its insatiable thirst of conquest." Ibid. p. 207—209.

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I have received the same information from a gentleman, who has resided in Turkey. "That part of the Turkish empire, "which adjoins to Austria, is inhabited by a warlike and hardy race of men: and, inspirited as they are by a fanatic "devotion to their religion, their chiefs, acting in unison for "that object and that object alone, have had no difficulty in preventing the Austrian armies from advancing far into a "country, where there are no roads, where provisions are very 66 scarce, and where the defiles, even without opposition, would "be almost impassable-Barbarous and grossly ignorant as "the Turks still are, there are reasons for expecting that the "bravest and best disciplined armies might fail, if they en tangled themselves in a country where it is possible that

*

empire, we cannot positively say before the event takes place. The most probable conjecture is, that the lost ten tribes of Israel are intended. It is a very reinarkable circumstance, that precisely at the present era, an era marked so strongly by the signs of the times, as to give us every reason to believe, that we are living in the predicted last days of Antichristian blasphemy, and that the 1260 years are rapidly drawing near to their termination :

66

"modern tactics might afford no resource-The Turks are in"deed, when acting separately or in small bodies, as brave and as likely to be successful as any troops whatever: and, if our hopes for Spain are chiefly to depend upon the inaccessible "nature of the country, there would, I think, as things now are, be still greater reason to expect, that for the conquest "and overthrow of Turkey more than human means would "be required."

The event alone can determine what force there may be in these conjectures: yet, if 1 be right in supposing the 1260 years to expire in the year 1866, it is not impossible that the ruin of the Ottoman empire may not take place quite immediately, whatever plans there may be in agitation against it. Oct. 1808.

+ Though I think it right to call this ouly a conjecture, yet it is a conjecture that amounts to little less than absolute certainty. St. John, Isaiah, and Zechariah, all speak of the Euphrates being dried up in the latter ages: according to the former, that a way be prepared for the kings from the East; according to the two latter, that there may be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of God's people through the deeps of the exhausted river. It seems therefore almost necessary to conclude, that the kings from the East are the remnant of God's people now returning from the eastern region of Assyria into the land of their fathers. See this point discussed in my work on the restoration of Israel. Comment. on Prophecy V. and XXXIX.