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.
II. The overflow. There is no actual mention of the symbol of an overflow, but as that figure is employed in Holy Scripture to represent invasion, we may use it in this instance as descriptive of the invasion by the Ottomans, as predicted under the seventh trumpet. If you turn to Jer. xlvi. 7, 8, you find an invasion by Egypt described by an exactly similar figure. The invasion by Egypt is there compared to an overflow of the Nile. ‘Egypt cometh up like a flood, and his waters are moved as the rivers.’ So in Isaiah, viii. 7, 8, the invasion of Palestine by the Assyrians is foretold under the figure of an inundation: ‘He shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: and he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow, and go over.’ And so here the invasion by the Ottoman or Euphratian horsemen appears to be represented by an overflow of the Euphrates.
Now consider the result of the recent floods in our own country. When the Trent rose above its banks, what happened? The waters spread far and wide on both sides the river, till, instead of fields and homesteads, you saw a vast inland lake. As you passed by in the train you might have seen the whole country under water. Just so it was when, according to the symbol, the Euphrates overflowed its banks; or, according to history, the Ottomans invaded Europe. The invading waters rushed on in every direction. On the east they reached the borders of China; on the west they soon reached Palestine, and all the heroic efforts of the Crusaders failed to check them. They then spread out in two branches. On the south they crossed into Africa, and spread over the whole northern portion of that vast continent. In the north they spread rapidly over Asia Minor, crossed the Bosphorus, conquered Greece, and spread over Europe till they reached the shores of the Adriatic, and even Venice. Thus when they had reached the height of their power, the whole of south-east Europe, the whole of north Africa, and the whole of west Asia, were flooded by the vast inundation. Their dominion extended from the shores of the Adriatic on the west to the borders of China on the east; while in Africa it reached from the Atlantic to Suez. Accordingly we have been taught from our childhood of Turkey in Europe, Turkey in Asia, and Turkey in Africa. But I am not sure that we are all aware that the Turks, or Ottomans, are Asiatic invaders who obtained their dominions by conquest.