Revelation 16:12

THE SIXTH VIAL.

"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."-16:12.

The sixth vial is poured out upon the river Euphrates, and its waters were dried up that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared. If the reader will turn back to chapter vii. he will find that the sixth angel there is also connected with the river Euphrates. When his trumpet is blown the command is given to loose the four angels that are bound by the river Euphrates. We have found that these angels and the accompanying symbolism evidently describe the Turkish invasion of the eastern Roman empire.

As there were four angels, so there were four Turkish kingdoms. They were restrained (or bound) by the Euphrates, and prevented from crossing it for generations. They were an army of horsemen. They employed in their wars the smoke and fire and brimstone of gunpowder, unused before. By these and other marks the power of the Euphrates is surely identified as the Turkish empire.. have elsewhere described its capture of Constantinople. At that time it was the mightiest empire of the world. It held under its sway all of northern Africa, all of western Asia, including Judea, and all of southeastern Europe, embracing parts of Hungary, Poland and Russia. Its armies repeatedly marched into Germany; Vienna was besieged by the Turkish host, and at one time it was feared that all Europe would be subjected to its sway.

In chapter vii. it is the sixth trumpet angel that unlooses the angels bound by the river Euphrates. Here the sixth angel pours his vial upon the river Euphrates. Evidently the power affected by the sixth angel and described by the river Euphrates in both cases, is the same in chapter vii. and in the present chapter. Prophecy has described the rise of the Turkish power. It also foreshadows the fall of this mighty scourge of the nations. The cruel and sensual invader, who has desolated the Holy Land and plowed with destruction regions in which flourishing churches were founded by the apostles, is destined to fall.. vial shall be poured out upon it and it shall be dried up. But will its fall be. calamity to Rome? We may let the Papacy determine that. Rome does not love the Turks, but she loves the followers of the prophet much better than she loves Protestant or Greek schismatics. If Turkey should fall before. Protestant power, or before Russia, the head of the Greek communion, the Papacy would regard it as greatly to be deplored. In the recent war between Russia and Turkey the Papal sympathies were all in behalf of the Crescent.

I wish to ask the reader to observe the effects of pouring out the vial. The Euphrates is dried up. This symbolism does not indicate. sudden destruction but. gradual decay. Earthquakes, and falling cities and lands, or mountains swallowed up, are symbols of sudden destruction, but. drying up indicates an extinction by slow degrees. This is just what is taking place in the case of Turkey.. do not know when her end will come, whether soon, or far in the future; but her end will come, and. do know that for more than. hundred years the foundations of her power have been slowly drying up. Three hundred years ago she was the mightiest power in the world, and she has not fallen from that high position to her present weakness at. bound. We can trace the steps downward.

In 1774, one hundred and seven years ago, she received her first great reverse in. war with Russia, and was shorn of her provinces north of the Black Sea. In 1816, Servia, after. long contest for liberty, wrested self-government from the Sultan and has since only given. nominal allegiance to the Turks. In 1820 Greece revolted.

In 1823 the Turkish naval power was destroyed by England, France and Russia at the battle of Navarino, and in 1829 the independence of Greece was completely established. In 1849 Mehemet Ali revolted in Egypt, invaded Syria, marched on Constantinople, and was only restrained by the powers of Europe. Since that time Egypt has been practically independent. In 1849, Roumania also, then called Moldavia, demanded self-government and is now independent under the King of Roumania. Thus province after province has been lopped off, and the process still goes on. In 1876 Herzeovina revolted, and Montenegro raised its warlike standard. In 1877 the Russians intervened, and the war that followed resulted in the loss of the greater part of the Turkish possessions in Europe, as well as Cyprus and. part of Armenia. At this date the Turkish empire seems on the very verge of dissolution. To the human eye it appears as though the very foundations of its life and vigor were "dried up."

The apostle says that the Euphrates shall be dried up, that the way of the kings of the East may be prepared. In the infancy of the Christ, the wise men of the East, also called kings in the Psalms, came to offer homage to the kingly child. The prophecy implies that when this obstacle is removed, the way of the inhabitants shall be opened. There can be no doubt but that the fall of the Turkish power would give. mighty impetus to the evangelization of the world. All western Asia is Mahometan Turkey is the head of the Mahometan faith, and its fall would be looked upon as the doom of the religion of the Prophet. It has long been death for the disciple of Mahomet to forsake his religion, but when the Euphrates is finally dried up, the nations from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, Tigris and Indus, will seek for. new religion. The sword established the religion of the False Prophet. When it loses the dominion of the sword, its votaries will demand another faith.

The next great event in prophetic history after the drying of the Euphrates, is the battle of Armageddon. We have found that the sixth and seventh vials represent events that have occurred, or are occurring, in our day. The great calamity to the papacy, symbolized by the vial poured upon the throne of the beast, has fallen upon Rome since 1870. The drying up of the Euphrates is still going on.