(1.) It is the one great empire existing in the world that originated on the banks of the river Euphrates. It was in the district to the east of that river that the Turk, who originally came from Turkistan, became a formidable power, and from thence that the Turkish hosts were let loose against Roman Christendom. For we must remember that the Turks, or Ottomans, do not belong to the soil of Turkey. The French are the natives of France, and the Italians of Italy, but the Turks are not the natives of Turkey, but invaders from Asia. They hold the country by conquest. The head-quarters of the empire are now in Turkey, on the shores of the Bosphorus; but its birthplace was on the Eastern bank of the Euphrates. (2.) There are two series of prophecies in the book of Revelation, the one given under the figure of seven trumpets, the other of seven vials, and they appear to be linked together by a very remarkable connexion as to the subject of the prophecies. You will see the correspondence clearly if you compare the account of the trumpets in chapters viii. and ix. with that of the vials in chapter xvi. When the first trumpet sounded the judgment was on the earth, viii. 7; and so the first vial was poured on the earth, xvi. 2. When the second trumpet sounded, the judgment was on the sea, chap. viii. 8. So the second vial was poured on the sea, xvi. 3. When the third trumpet sounded, the judgment was on the rivers and fountains of waters, viii. 10. So the third angel poured out his vial on the rivers and fountains of waters, xvi. 4. When the fourth trumpet sounded, the judgment was on the sun, viii. 12. So the fourth angel poured out his vial on the sun, xvi. 8. When the fifth trumpet sounded, the judgment was on those men who had not the seal of God on their foreheads, ix. 4. So the fifth vial was on the seat of the beast, xvi. 10. The correspondence is not at first sight so apparent in this as in the other vials; but if we bear in mind the prophecy that all shall worship the beast whose names are not written in the book of life, we shall see the same reality in the coincidence. And, lastly, when the sixth trumpet sounded, there was a mighty host loosed from the Euphrates, ix. 14; and when the sixth vial was poured out it fell on the Euphrates, and the Euphrates was dried up, xvi. 12. Surely, then, we may come to the conclusion that this prophecy in chapter xvi. relates to the same great power as that referred to in chapter ix.; and as I believe that it has been proved that the trumpet prophecy predicts the invasion of Christendom by the Ottoman empire, so I am persuaded in my own mind that that under the vial foretells its exhaustion and decay. The Ottoman empire I believe to be the subject of both the prophecies.