Think once more of the illustration of the river, and consider what would be the effect on the overflow if the waters were to subside in the river. The inundation would gradually recede, and one field after another would be left dry, until after a time the whole country would be free. If, therefore, the interpretation of the prophecy be correct, we should expect to see the Ottoman power gradually dying out, and the various nations that were overrun by conquest one by one shaking off the yoke. And this is exactly what has been taking place ever since the year 1820. There is a remarkable prophecy in Daniel believed to refer to this same Ottoman power, and from it some of the best students of prophecy in the course of the last century named that year as the probable commencement of the decline of Turkey. Up to the spring of the year all appeared to prosper; but then the waters began rapidly to recede. That very year the Greek insurrection began. The flood receded from Greece, so that in 1827 the present kingdom was established. In that same year the inundation went back so far that Servia was left dry. In the same year Moldavia and Wallachia, and the territory north of the Danube, were set free from the Ottoman yoke; and now there seems to be every hope that Herzegovina and Bosnia will succeed in shaking off the invader. Indeed, the whole Turkish empire is in such a condition that if the statesmen of Europe could agree as to who should possess Constantinople, the whole Ottoman Power would in all probability be driven out of Europe before another year is over. As for Africa, the flood has already left it almost dry. Morocco is an independent state. Algeria has been taken by the French, while on the east, Egypt has asserted its independence, and with the one exception of an annual tribute, is entirely free from the Turkish yoke. For some years this process had been going on, till at length, in 1866, the Pasha assumed the title of ‘Khedive,’ which means king, proclaiming thereby an independent monarchy. The only possession remaining to Turkey is the little province of Tripoli, containing considerably less than 1,000,000 inhabitants. Turkey in Africa has almost ceased to exist. Turkey in Europe may last a little longer, but is going fast. As for Turkey in Asia, it has ceased to be a power to any great distance east of the Euphrates; and I fully believe that on the west of the river the drying-up process will be steadily continued till the floods recede from Palestine, and that beautiful land shall be set free from the blight of Turkish misgovernment, and handed over to be once more a land flowing with milk and honey to its rightful possessors, the seed of Abraham, the nation to which God has given it.