III.
THE EUPHRATES.
The condition of the Turkish Empire is one of the greatest interests of
the day, and is engaging more than any other public subject the grave
thoughts of thinking men. The capitalists of England are deploring the
loss of many millions of money through its bankruptcy. Those who rejoice
in religious liberty are watching with the deepest interest the noble
struggles of the men of Herzegovina to free themselves from the fearful
yoke of Mohammedan oppression. And the politicians of all the great
states of Europe are at their wits’ end to know what is to become of
Turkey. Nor is this a state of things that has come on suddenly. It is
not the transitory effect of any sudden calamity, but the result of a
steady decay that has been going forward with irresistible power for
certainly not less than fifty years. France and England combined in the
Crimean war to endeavour to maintain the Turkish power, but it was all in
vain. That power has been steadily on the wane ever since, till now the
crisis of bankruptcy has arrived, and ‘the Sick Man,’ as the Turkish
empire has been called, appears on the very point of his dissolution.
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Now I am quite aware of the difficulty of preaching on such subjects, and
I have no doubt that in your mind as well as my own there is a preference
for those portions of the Word of God which bear directly on our
spiritual experience; but still ‘all Scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness’; and, moreover, there is a special blessing
on the congregational study of this Revelation of St. John, for it is
said, chap. i. 3, ‘Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the
words of this prophecy.’ I propose, therefore, to consider three
questions: (1.) Has the present state of Turkey been foretold in
prophecy? (2.) Does it teach us any lessons respecting our spiritual
position? (3.) Does it throw any light on our hope of the coming of our
Lord? I pray God that He may fulfil to us the promise attached to this
wonderful book, and that both they that hear and he that readeth may
alike enjoy His blessing.
With reference to the first question—Has the present state of Turkey been
foretold in prophecy? I have not the least hesitation in expressing my
own conviction that it has been foretold in a most remarkable manner, and
that the present state of things is nothing more than the fulfilment of
what God predicted little less than 1800 years ago.
It is impossible in a short lecture to give all the reasons for this
opinion. I can only attempt the barest outline. But we may gain some
idea of the subject if we consider what is meant by the Euphrates; what
by its overflow; and what by its drying up, as described in Rev. xvi. 12:
‘And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates,
and the waters thereof were dried up.’
I. The Euphrates. By this we must not understand the literal river, for
the whole book is symbolical. The river, therefore, stands as the symbol
for something else. It is this that makes the subject so difficult, for
the symbols are like hieroglyphics, and therefore, though full of
meaning, peculiarly liable to be misunderstood. The question then is,
What is the power of which the Euphrates in this verse stands as a symbol
or hieroglyphic? Of course, in the answer to such a question we must
distrust ourselves, and I dare not speak on it with the certainty with
which we ought to speak of the plainly revealed facts of Scripture. All
I can do is to express my own very confident conviction that by the
Euphrates is symbolized the Ottoman, or, as it is frequently called, the
Turkish Empire.