(1.) It is the one great empire existing in the world that originated on
the banks of the river Euphrates. It was in the district to the east of
that river that the Turk, who originally came from Turkistan, became a
formidable power, and from thence that the Turkish hosts were let loose
against Roman Christendom. For we must remember that the Turks, or
Ottomans, do not belong to the soil of Turkey. The French are the
natives of France, and the Italians of Italy, but the Turks are not the
natives of Turkey, but invaders from Asia. They hold the country by
conquest. The head-quarters of the empire are now in Turkey, on the
shores of the Bosphorus; but its birthplace was on the Eastern bank of
the Euphrates.
(2.) There are two series of prophecies in the book of Revelation, the
one given under the figure of seven trumpets, the other of seven vials,
and they appear to be linked together by a very remarkable connexion as
to the subject of the prophecies. You will see the correspondence
clearly if you compare the account of the trumpets in chapters viii. and
ix. with that of the vials in chapter xvi.
When the first trumpet sounded the judgment was on the earth, viii. 7;
and so the first vial was poured on the earth, xvi. 2.
When the second trumpet sounded, the judgment was on the sea, chap. viii.
8. So the second vial was poured on the sea, xvi. 3.
When the third trumpet sounded, the judgment was on the rivers and
fountains of waters, viii. 10. So the third angel poured out his vial on
the rivers and fountains of waters, xvi. 4.
When the fourth trumpet sounded, the judgment was on the sun, viii. 12.
So the fourth angel poured out his vial on the sun, xvi. 8.
When the fifth trumpet sounded, the judgment was on those men who had not
the seal of God on their foreheads, ix. 4. So the fifth vial was on the
seat of the beast, xvi. 10.
The correspondence is not at first sight so apparent in this as in the
other vials; but if we bear in mind the prophecy that all shall worship
the beast whose names are not written in the book of life, we shall see
the same reality in the coincidence.
And, lastly, when the sixth trumpet sounded, there was a mighty host
loosed from the Euphrates, ix. 14; and when the sixth vial was poured out
it fell on the Euphrates, and the Euphrates was dried up, xvi. 12.
Surely, then, we may come to the conclusion that this prophecy in chapter
xvi. relates to the same great power as that referred to in chapter ix.;
and as I believe that it has been proved that the trumpet prophecy
predicts the invasion of Christendom by the Ottoman empire, so I am
persuaded in my own mind that that under the vial foretells its
exhaustion and decay. The Ottoman empire I believe to be the subject of
both the prophecies.
II. The overflow. There is no actual mention in this passage of the
symbol of an overflow, but as that figure is elsewhere employed in Holy
Scripture to represent invasion, we may regard it in this instance as
descriptive of the invasion by the Ottomans as predicted under the sixth
trumpet. If you turn to Jer. xlvi. 7, 8, you find an invasion by Egypt
described by an exactly similar figure. The invasion by Egypt is there
compared to an overflow of the Nile. ‘Egypt cometh up like a flood, and
his waters are moved as the rivers.’ So in Isa. viii. 7, 8, the invasion
of Palestine by the Assyrians is foretold under the figure of an
inundation: ‘He shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his
banks: and he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over.’
And so here the invasion by the Ottoman or Euphratian horsemen appears to
be represented by an overflow of the Euphrates.
Now consider the result of the recent floods in our own country. When
the Trent rose above its banks, what happened? The waters spread far and
wide on both sides the river, till, instead of fields and homesteads, you
saw a vast inland lake. As you passed by in the train you might have
seen the whole country under water. Just so it was when, according to
the symbol, the Euphrates overflowed its banks; or, according to history,
the Ottomans invaded Europe. The invading waters rushed on in every
direction. On the east they reached the borders of China; on the west
they soon reached Palestine, and all the heroic efforts of the Crusaders
failed to check them. They then spread out in two branches. On the
south they crossed into Africa, and spread over the greater part of the
northern portion of that vast continent. In the north they spread
rapidly over Asia Minor, crossed the Bosphorus, conquered Greece, and
spread over Europe till they reached the shores of the Adriatic, and even
Venice. {45} Thus when they had reached the height of their power, the
whole of south-east Europe, the greater part of north Africa, and the
whole of west Asia, were flooded by the vast inundation. Their dominion
extended from the shores of the Adriatic on the west to the borders of
China on the east; while in Africa it reached very nearly from the
Atlantic to Suez. Accordingly we have been taught from our childhood of
Turkey in Europe, Turkey in Asia, and Turkey in Africa. But I am not
sure that we are all aware that the Turks, or Ottomans, are Asiatic
invaders who obtained their dominions by conquest.
III. So much for the overflow. Let us now turn to the drying up, as
predicted in the prophecy.
Think once more of the illustration of the river, and consider what would
be the effect on the overflow if the waters were to subside in the river.
The inundation would gradually recede, and one field after another would
be left dry, until after a time the whole country would be free. If,
therefore, the interpretation of the prophecy be correct, we should
expect to see the Ottoman power gradually dying out, and the various
nations that were overrun by conquest one by one shaking off the yoke.
And this is exactly what has been taking place ever since the year 1820.
There is a remarkable prophecy in Daniel believed to refer to this same
Ottoman power, and from it some of the best students of prophecy in the
course of the last century named that year as the probable commencement
of the decline of Turkey. Up to the spring of the year all appeared to
prosper; but then the waters began rapidly to recede. That very year the
Greek insurrection began. The flood receded from Greece, so that in 1827
the present kingdom was established. In that same year the inundation
went back so far that Servia was left dry. In the same year Moldavia and
Wallachia, and the territory north of the Danube, were set free from the
Ottoman yoke; and now there seems to be every hope that Herzegovina and
Bosnia will succeed in shaking off the invader. Indeed, the whole
Turkish empire is in such a condition that if the statesmen of Europe
could agree as to who should possess Constantinople, the whole Ottoman
Power would in all probability be driven out of Europe before another
year is over. {47}
As for Africa, the flood has already left it almost dry. Morocco is an
independent state. Algeria has been taken by the French, while on the
east, Egypt has asserted its independence, and with the one exception of
an annual tribute, is entirely free from the Turkish yoke. For some
years this process had been going on, till at length, in 1866, the Pasha
assumed the title of ‘Khedive,’ which means king, proclaiming thereby an
independent monarchy. The only possession remaining to Turkey is the
little province of Tripoli, containing considerably less than 1,000,000
inhabitants. Turkey in Africa has almost ceased to exist. {48} Turkey
in Europe may last a little longer, but is going fast. As for Turkey in
Asia, it has ceased to be a power to any great distance east of the
Euphrates; and I fully believe that on the west of the river the
drying-up process will be steadily continued till the floods recede from
Palestine, and that beautiful land shall be set free from the blight of
Turkish misgovernment, and handed over to be once more a land flowing
with milk and honey to its rightful possessors, the seed of Abraham, the
nation to which God has given it.
Such are a few of the leading events with reference to the decline of the
Ottoman empire; and there is only one further remark that I would make
respecting it. The decline has not been the result of external conquest,
but of internal decay. The Turks have not been brought down by any great
defeats, but by their own want of life. The powers of Europe have not
attacked them, but, on the contrary, have done their best to uphold them,
as, _e.g._, in the Crimean war; but, notwithstanding all that France and
England could do, the Turkish power is falling to pieces of itself. The
Sick Man is dying, and the physicians cannot keep him alive. Their
energy seems gone, their exchequer is exhausted, and their population is
so much diminished, that there are now only 2,000,000 Turks, or Ottomans,
left in Europe. {50} In other words, the Euphrates is drying up, and the
inundation cannot long remain upon the land.
Now I can quite understand the feeling of those who have experienced a
certain amount of disappointment in hearing this morning about the
Turkish empire, instead of something bearing more directly on their own
personal salvation, and I should myself have preferred to have preached
on some such subject. But I have taken this subject on principle.
1. Because, as I have already said, ‘all Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness.’ No portion, therefore, of
God’s word, whether it be prophetic or historical, ought to be set aside
by those who really desire to know God’s truth. If we wish to know the
whole mind of God we must be prepared to study the whole of the Holy
Scriptures which God has given us.
2. But, besides that, we must remember that our whole faith depends on
Holy Scripture. All that we know of the Lord Jesus Christ, of His great
high-priesthood, of His atoning blood, of His free salvation, of the gift
of the Holy Ghost, of the new birth, and of the coming Advent, all our
hope for the future, and all our rest for the present, depend simply and
entirely on the Word of God. In it we find all; without it we have
nothing. When, therefore, we see a great prophecy of Holy Scripture
fulfilled in our own day, within reach of our own observation, traceable
on our own maps, and included within the range of our own memory, we
ought not to pass it by, but should accept it with thankfulness in these
days of rebuke and infidelity, as a most blessed confirmation of our
faith. Let any one who has the slightest doubt as to the inspiration of
Scripture look at the facts. Two thousand four hundred years ago there
was a prophet, the prophet Daniel, by the river of Ulai, and he foresaw
in a vision the rise and progress of a mighty power, telling us at the
same time how long it was likely to continue. Six hundred years after
him there arose another prophet, who described what appears to be the
same power, and gave a graphic picture both of its progress and decay.
Students of Holy Scripture have since been diligently occupied in the
study of these two prophecies; and by comparing Scripture with Scripture
were long since brought to the conclusion that in the course of this
century the decline of the Ottoman Empire would take place. And now we
see it going on. Just when the students thought it would begin, then it
began, and just as the prophet described its decay, so it is decaying.
The prophets themselves could have known nothing about it when they
prophesied, for the empire did not arise till many centuries after they
had foretold its fall. But God knew all, and a thousand years were to
Him as one day. These prophecies, therefore, did not arise from any
private interpretation or human calculation of probabilities, but ‘holy
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’
Now what should be the result on our minds? What effect should such
facts have on ourselves? Should they not strengthen faith and confirm us
in a simple, childlike, unquestioning trust in the inspired word of the
living God? Who but God Himself could have foretold either to Daniel or
John the rise and decay of the Ottoman Empire? It is God’s own word,
then, with which we are dealing when we study Holy Scripture. There may
be things in it completely beyond all power of human calculation, as the
history of the Ottoman Empire was utterly beyond the human calculation of
either Daniel or John. But God’s truth does not depend on our power of
calculation. It is beyond us altogether, infinite, eternal, divine; and
our part is, whether we can fit it together or not, to receive the whole
as God has given it, and as weak, ignorant, short-lived, and
short-sighted creatures, to receive His will as He has revealed it, into
our hands, and hearts, and say, ‘I believe God, that it shall be as it
was said unto me.’
IV.
THE FROGS.
In opening our subject in the last lecture, I said that there were three
questions to be considered: 1. Has the present state of Turkey been
foretold in prophecy? 2. Does it teach us any lessons respecting our
spiritual position? and 3. Does it throw any light on the blessed hope
of our Lord’s return? The first of these questions we examined in the
last lecture, and surely it was proved that in the symbol of the drying
up of the Euphrates we have a most remarkable symbolic prophecy of the
exhaustion of the Ottoman power. To-day we are to pass on to the second
question: Is our own spiritual position affected by the exhaustion of
Turkish power? Now I can quite understand the thought that has no doubt
occurred to many of you, that the two things can have no possible
connexion with each other, for there seems to our mind to be no possible
connexion of even the most remote character between the Turkish Empire
and our own spiritual life. We may well say, ‘What have we to do with
the Turks, or the Turks with us in our own daily, private walk with God?’
It may surprise some of you when I say that, although no man can explain
the reason of the connexion, I believe it to be very intimate, and that
the religious life of modern Christendom is in a most remarkable manner
bound up with the decline of the Turkish Empire.
To understand this we must remember that the great prophecy in the book
of Revelation is arranged in periods. Each seal, each trumpet, and each
vial, represents a period. So there is one particular period of history
foretold under the figure of the sixth vial, and all the events predicted
under that vial we should expect to appear at about the same time in
history. Whether we can trace any connexion or not, the events of each
vial are linked together in respect of time; so that if there are two
events under any one vial, when we see the one we ought to look out for
the other, and when one takes place we have every reason to believe that
the other is at hand. Now there are two events, apparently quite
distinct in themselves, which are thus connected with each other under
the sixth vial—the drying up of the Euphrates, and the appearance of
certain most dangerous and seductive spirits, going forth to gather men
together for the battle of Almighty God. If, therefore, it be a fact, as
I firmly believe it to be a fact, that the Euphrates is now being dried
up, then it follows as a sure and certain consequence that the unclean
spirits are soon, if not already, going forth to do their deadly work.
The two things go on according to the prophecy within the same prophetic
period, and therefore if we see the one, as believers in the word of God,
we ought to be on the lookout for the other. We are thus brought to the
conclusion, that whenever the Euphrates shall be drying up, there will be
a time of great spiritual seduction; or in other words that the
exhaustion of the Turkish Empire will be accompanied, or quickly
followed, by a remarkable development of mischievous spiritual power.
This, then, must be our subject in this lecture, and we will study (if
God permit) first the danger, and then the caution. May God grant that
the result may be that we may be like those few men of Sardis who had not
defiled their garments, and who will walk with the Lord Jesus in white,
for they are worthy!