LECTURE XXVII.

REVELATION XVI.

Vial VI.

Ver. 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

The first five vials have been given, and shown to have been poured upon the papal beast. The sixth vial, it is believed, is designed to subvert the power of the Turks, the last and great supporter of Mohammedism. The rise of their power, it has been shown, fulfilled the sixth trumpet: and its overthrow, it is believed, will be the great result of the sixth vial. This antichristian power must be taken out of the way, to prepare the way for the restoration of the Jews. And the sixth vial will thus prove a counterpart to the sixth trumpet, bringing down the power to which that trumpet gave birth.

A river, in prophetic language, is a nation, or empire; as Isa. xviii. 2; "Whose land the rivers (nations) have spoiled. The rivers affected by the fourth vial, it has been shown, were nations. And the drying up of such rivers, is the overthrow of such nations. Ezek. xxx. 12; "I will make her rivers dry:" or, I will subvert Egypt, and its neighboring nations, by Nebuchadnezzar. Psalm liv. 15; "Thou driedst up mighty rivers: " or, didst destroy mighty nations. The drying up of the Euphrates then, must have its chief effect in the ruin of the empire of the Porte;--whatever synchronical events of magnitude in other nations may attend its operation. Should other dynasties, under the period of the sixth vial, likewise fail; it would but give an emphasis to the language of the sixth vial. The figure in the text, "the water thereof was dried up,' has suggested to some the query whether this failing of the dynasty of the Porte is not to be effected in a gradual succession of calamitous events? Reply: This figure, as found in the Bible, has generally, at least, been fulfilled by invading armies. See Jer. lx. 36, 37; and Isa. liv. 27, 28; where the destruction of ancient Babylon was predicted

under this figure; and was fulfilled by the invading army of Cyrus. It is true, in Dan. viii. 25, the Mohammedan horn of the Macedonian beast (it is said) "shall be broken without hands:" which seems to favor the idea of the failing of the Turks,-the last supporter of Mohammedism, by wilting away in a gradual course of calamities. This may prove true of Mohammedism, that it will fall into contempt, and die a kind of natural death, after its great supporter, the Turkish empire,-shall be overturned by violent means. As that scheme of delusion has lived only by fire and sword; so when these means fail, it will naturally die. But whether its last supporter, the Turks, will come down without violent means, is the question.* Το make this vial analogous with the other vials of wrath, it would seem the subversion of the Turks must be by violent means. God has ever been able and ready to provide means adequate to his designs of vengeance. But however the end of the Turkish dynasty may be with a flood of violent means in divine judgment; the way has for a time been preparing for the overthrow of that power by a variety of progressive calamities. A few shall be hinted. Constantinople, their capital, was eighteen times on fire in the last century, which consumed 120,000 buildings, and destroyed very many lives. Add to this, that in 1810, in one fire, 8,000 buildings were destroyed;-and 80,000 people driven from their homes. The subsequent ravages of fire in Pera were vast and terrible. In 1780, Constantinople was ravaged with a plague; and in the year following, it was partly destroyed by an earthquake. Adrianople, their second city, was, in 1752, more than half destroyed by an earthquake. Two years after, Grand Cairo was, by an earthquake, two-thirds shaken down, and 40,000 of its inhabitants buried in the earth. In 1755, the city of Fez was by the like judgment half destroyed, and 12,000 of its people buried alive. Plagues and earthquakes have, of late, ravaged various sections of the Turkish empire. The accounts of the cholera, in Constantinople, in Bagdat (the two capitals), and in other

*This was written many years ago. It is nearly thirty years, since I formed and published my belief that the sixth vial would bring down the Turks by violent means. For many years I deferred giving this key to the public, not only to reexamine the work generally; but till this mark of its correctness should be ascertained, by the fall of the Turks, in the connexion I had assigned it in the vials; or the want of it. And this test is now given in the affirmative.

cities, have been of the most awful kind, as may be well remembered. A sect arose in Arabia about the time of the formation of the Voltaire system of infidelity, threatening to the Turks, as was Illuminism to the papal see. Abdul Wahab appeared, denying the Mohammedan religion; and collecting a powerful army. In 1804, he had 100,000 men in arms, who ravaged Mecca, Medina, and other capital places, with great slaughter; seizing upon the treasures of the tomb of Mohammed; and, in short, forming a revolution in the government of Arabia, and causing the Porte himself to purchase their friendship. It is said that Constantinople has diminished her population. 300,000 since 1812; and various parts of the empire have wilted away. See Hartley's Researches; in which we learn that many noted cities in these regions are now no more. Ephesus, Laodicea, Colosse, Antioch in Pisidia, Lystra, Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and Perga, are gone with the years beyond the flood.* There has been indeed a gradual, or (I may say) rapid drying up of the Euphratean empire. The way has been wonderfully preparing for its utter downfall. But the sixth vial was probably to have its characteristic effect in violent attacks from the arms of hostile nations. This opinion I was led deliberately to form many years since, from the language of prophecy relative to drying up rivers, and the analogy of things. Soon after the battle of Waterloo, I expressed my belief that the sixth vial might next be looked for, to open upon the Turks by attacks of hostile nations. When the insurrection of the Greeks appeared, I ventured to express my belief that this was the entering wedge of the great event; as it has proved to be indeed. The wars and

* In 1822, an earthquake laid a great part of Aleppo, capital of Syria, in ruins; and 14,000 perished. In the same year, a fire destroyed 6,000 buildings in Constantinople, in the best part of the city. In 1829, 50,000 persons died in eight weeks with a plague, in Bagdat, their capital in Asia. In Hillah, near Bagdat, 10,000 died with the plague; and almost none were left. The Bombay Gazette of Aug. 10, 1831, says, "We heard with the utmost dismay, that Mecca, Medina, and Jidda have been completely depopulated by a dreadful disease, its nature not known. The governor of Mecca, and 50,000 people fell by it. Asia Minor and Egypt have been visited with pestilence. In Alexandria, Cairo, and Smyrna, hundreds died daily, with the cholera. An American wrote from Bassorah, Aug. 24, 1831;-"Almost every country in these regions has had a dreadful visitation of Providence. The city of ancient Ecbatana is infested with a species of fiery serpents, the bite of which is followed by immediate madness, which soon terminates life. The streets are choked with dead bodies."

successes of the Greeks; the subsequent war of the emperor of the north; and the still later successful attacks of the Pacha of Egypt; and the present state of the empire of the Porte, are now well known, as before the eye of the world. And we have here the manifest fulfilment of our text; the drying of the river Euphrates! We have an event in Isa. xi. 15, nearly connected with the restoration of the Jews, and hence about this time. "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in its seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." The tongue of the Egyptian sea was that fork of the red sea, parted for Israel. Another drying up of waters, to aid the restoration of the Jews, is here predicted; the story of which is told in the sixth vial. The Euphrates shall be dried in its "seven streams; or in its power ever so perfect in its magnificence, provinces, and pride.

The object of this vial is said to be, "that the way of the kings of the east may be prepared." This is of difficult solution. Mede, Moor, and others have supposed this vial will soon be followed by the restoration of the Jews to Palestine; which could not have taken place while the Turks were in possession of it. Granting this; who are the kings of the east? The Jews were formerly called a kingdom of priests. And they may yet be preëminent in Christ's gracious kingdom of "kings and priests unto God." But does this entitle them to the appellation of kings of the east? Can it mean that the way for the conversion of the eastern nations may be prepared? But the gathering in of those of mankind who shall be left after the battle of the great day, is to be an event after the seventh and not the sixth vial.

Some have conceived that the phrase, "the kings of the east," in this vial, alludes to the kingdoms of the east which composed the army of Cyrus, when he destroyed ancient Babylon; and that those kings of the east were a type of the kings in the text, who, on this account are so denominated. The event will decide whether this will prove correct. If it should, then the sense must be;the Turks must be put down, that the way may be prepared

(by the restoration of the Jews, and whatever else shall occur) for that collection of the nations, long predicted in the prophets, which shall open the event of the destruction of Antichrist (typified by ancient Babylon); even as the kings of the east destroyed Babylon of old. The kings of the east in the text, according to this, must mean the armies of the beast from the bottomless pit, collected against Christ, Rev. xix. 19; the Gog and his bands, Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix.;—the last effort of the horrid system of infidelity. Such an event as this is in fact to take place, at the battle of the great day. The event of the sixth vial opens the way for the combination of the three unclean spirits, like frogs, to go forth and collect all the wicked world against Christ, for the battle of the great day; as we find following our text. And should many who will be found thus active in collecting and being collected upon that awful occasion, be known as kings, and grand kings; and as great admirers of light in the east (as the ancient kings of the east were worshippers of light); this may aid future expositors of our text. But of particulars of the events of this mystical phrase, time will lead to the best solution.

Relative to the time of the subversion of the Turks;it might be expected soon after the close of the fifth vial. If the year, for which the Turks are said, in the sixth trumpet to have been prepared, is a prophetic year, to be reckoned from the time of their empire being established in Europe, in 1453; then the three hundred and sixty years added to this, brings it to the year 1818, for the commencement of that fall. In Dan. viii. 14, we have the time stated for the cleansing of the sanctuary, which is the same event. This time is said to be two thousand three hundred years. Reckoning this from the commencement of the Macedonian empire; which is said to be four hundred and eighty-one years before Christ; this brings to 1819, for the fall (or the commencement of the fall) of the Turks: within one year of the other reckoning; and we may say, at the very time the oppressed Greeks were commencing their attack upon the Turks; which either has issued, or will issue in the fall of the latter. The signs of the times then, from the state of the Turks, are of the deepest interest. They testify not only that the Bible is indeed the sure word of prophecy; and that all its predictions will be fulfilled; but that we have every encouragement to study the prophecies in view of the signs of the times.