And not only so, but we may reverently hope that it will not be long before we behold His triumph. When the disciples were on the lake the night was dark, and the winds were contrary, but He came to them in His own good time, and all was rest. So we may meet with rough weather, but there will be a great calm when He comes, and I cannot but hope He will soon be here. We have long since known of Him on the mountain-top, but now we can almost see Him walking on the waves. It is high time, therefore, that we act on His own words: ‘When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.’ He does not say, ‘Wait till they have all come to pass,’ but ‘look up as soon as they begin.’ Now they most undoubtedly have begun, and for a long time have been in progress. It is high time, therefore, that we begin to look up in faith and hope, waiting for Christ, looking for Christ, longing for Christ, and meanwhile trusting in Christ; so that when He comes we may be found pardoned through His blood, accepted in His covenant, clothed in His righteousness, and with loving hearts waiting for His appearing. TURKEY. 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 not less than 50,000,000_l._ 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 Mahommedan 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.