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. { 45} 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. { 47}