"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon "the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof

66 was

fought, and possibly the fifth vial has been poured out. From the ambiguous nature of the Carlovingian head of the beast, which has sometimes been attached to one kingdom and family and sometimes to another, I dare not even now positively say, that the effusion of the fifth vial has commenced; but I am strongly inclined to believe that it has commenced, and that the house of Austria now feels its baleful effects. This vial is said to be poured out on the throne or secular authority of the beast under his last head, the representative of which previous to the late campaign was the German emperor of the Romans; and it produces the effect of filling his kingdom with darkness. Let the reader turn his eyes to the present state of that unfortunate prince, and of (what anciently and indeed till very lately properly constituted his kingdom) Germany and Italy: and he will behold the power of the imperial throne subverted, and the Emperor degraded to the condition of a mere king of Austria, elbowed out of his empire, stripped even of his hereditary dominions, and trembling at the nod of an implacable enemy, who seems even now to be meditating his entire destrucion; he will behold Germany passing under the yoke of a new Charlemagne, and parcelled out according to the sovereign pleasure of a daring usurper, its ancient constitution annihilated, and itself full of political darkness and confusion; he will behold Italy equally degraded, equally dark, equally confused, And what is the consequence of these calamities? "They gnawed "their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven "because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of "their deeds." And do we find any thing like a reformation in Germany and Italy? They present only the hideous spectacle of the abominations of Popery blended with the blasphemies of Infidelity.

Though I scruple not to say, that there are strong reasons

for

was dried up, that the way of the kings from "the East might be prepared. And I saw three "unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth "of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the "beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of "the earth even of the whole habitable world*, "to gather them to the battle of that great day "of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. "Blessed

66

for believing that the fifth vial has begun to be poured out, I repeat that I am unwilling at present positively to make such an assertion. Whenever the waters of the mystic Euphrates are dried up under the sixth vial, we shall then know with certainty that the fifth vial, which precedes it, must have been poured out; we shall then consequently be able to determine. whether the fifth vial was poured out at the close of the year 1805, or whether it relates to some yet future calamity about to befall the present Carlovingian head of the beast. This last however I fear we have not much reason to expect. The fall of the Turkish monarchy will throw a wonderful light on the study of the Apocalypse; because it will definitely teach us in what part of it we are now living, and will prove that all the five first vials (let them relate to what they may) must have been previously poured out. If no events therefore, answering to those described under the fifth vial, shall take place between the present time and the downfall of the Turkish monarchy, I hesitate not to say, that that vial, which immediately succeeds the commencement of the scorching military tyranny predicted under the fourth, must have begun to be poured out in the late disastrous campaign. June 3, 1806.

* O in, the whole habitable world, was the name by which

DD 4

*

"Blessed is he, that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his "shame. And they gathered them together into a place, called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."

Under the sixth trumpet, the four Turkish sultanies, the mystic waters of the Ottoman empire, issued from the river Euphrates: under the sixth vial, the waters of the same Euphrates are to be dried up. We cannot therefore reasonably doubt that the symbolical Euphrates means in both cases the same power†. Rivers typify nations; and,

when

which the Romans, in the pride of universal dominion, were wont to designate their immense empire (See Mede's Works, Book iii, p. 705. and Parkhurst's Gr. Lex. Vox omeμern.). Such I believe to be the meaning of the phrase here. It is added as an explanation of yn, the earth.

* "The verb singular cumyaya agrees with the neuter "plural anabagla Tuala, whose office it was (ver. 14.) to collect the kings." Archdeacon Woodhouse in loc.

+ 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 Kome; 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

when a particular river is specified, the nation immediately connected with that river is obviouslyintended. Such being the case, as the issuing forth of the four sultanies, 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 is subversion.

The prelude to the pouring out of this vial we may behold with our own eyes. Let us only advert

to

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 vial 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 sume; 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 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.

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 approach-, ing 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 till 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 world to the battle of the great day of God Almighty*.

It is worthy of observation, that not only the political strength of Turkey is wasting away, but that its very population has likewise begun to

* Russia has more than once appeared to be on the very eve of swallowing up Turkey; and yet she has always been prevented from accomplishing her sufficiently evident designs. It is a singular circumstance, that the Turks themselves forebode their future overthrow at the hands of the Russian monarchy. "The lower orders," says Mr Eton in his Survey of the Turkish Empire," are at the present day persuaded, that the Russian

standard will enter Constantinople through a certain gate, "said to be pointed out by an ancient prophecy; and the great "men are so far from opposing this weakness by superior "energy, that they look to the Asiatic shore as a secure retreat from the fury of the conquerors."