Rome, Turkey, and Jerusalem

by Edward Hoare

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 in this passage of the symbol of an overflow, but as that figure is elsewhere employed in Holy Scripture to represent invasion, we may regard 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 Isa. 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 greater part of the 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 greater part 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 very nearly 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.

III. So much for the overflow. Let us now turn to the drying up, as predicted in the prophecy.

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.

Such are a few of the leading events with reference to the decline of the Ottoman empire; and there is only one further remark that I would make respecting it. The decline has not been the result of external conquest, but of internal decay. The Turks have not been brought down by any great defeats, but by their own want of life. The powers of Europe have not attacked them, but, on the contrary, have done their best to uphold them, as, e.g., in the Crimean war; but, notwithstanding all that France and England could do, the Turkish power is falling to pieces of itself. The Sick Man is dying, and the physicians cannot keep him alive. Their energy seems gone, their exchequer is exhausted, and their population is so much diminished, that there are now only 2,000,000 Turks, or Ottomans, left in Europe. In other words, the Euphrates is drying up, and the inundation cannot long remain upon the land.