Now I am quite aware of the difficulty of preaching on such subjects, and I have no doubt that in your mind as well as my own there is a preference for those portions of the Word of God which bear directly on our spiritual experience; but still ‘all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;’ and, moreover, there is a special blessing on the congregational study of this Revelation of St. John, for it is said, chap. i. 3, ‘Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy.’ I propose, therefore, to consider three questions: (1.) Has the present state of Turkey been foretold in prophecy? (2.) Does it teach us any lessons respecting our spiritual position? (3.) Does it throw any light on our hope of the coming of our Lord? I pray God that He may fulfil to us the promise attached to this wonderful book, and that both they that hear and he that readeth may alike enjoy His blessing. With reference to the first question,—Has the present state of Turkey been foretold in prophecy? I have not the least hesitation in expressing my own conviction that it has been foretold in a most remarkable manner, and that the present state of things is nothing more than the fulfilment of what God predicted little less than 1800 years ago. It is impossible in a short lecture to give all the reasons for this opinion. I can only attempt the barest outline. But we may gain some idea of the subject if we consider what is meant by the Euphrates; what by its overflow; and what by its drying up, as described in Rev. xvi. 12: ‘And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the waters thereof were dried up.’ I. The Euphrates. By this we must not understand the literal river, for the whole book is symbolical. The river, therefore, stands as the symbol for something else. It is this that makes the subject so difficult, for the symbols are like hieroglyphics, and therefore, though full of meaning, peculiarly liable to be misunderstood. The question then is, What is the power of which the Euphrates in this verse stands as a symbol, or hieroglyphic? Of course, in the answer to such a question we must distrust ourselves, and I dare not speak on it with the certainty with which we ought to speak of the plainly revealed facts of Scripture. All I can do is to express my own very confident conviction that by the Euphrates is symbolized the Ottoman, or, as it is frequently called, the Turkish Empire. For this I give two reasons:—