And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the East might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he, that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place, called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."

Under the sixth trumpet, the four Turkish sultanies, the mystic waters of the Ottoman empire, issued from the river Euphrates: under the sixth vial, the waters of the same Euphrates are to be completely dried up. We cannot therefore reasonably doubt, that the symbolical Euphrates means in both cases the same power.* Riv

ed under the fifth vial, shall take place between the present time and the downfall of the Turkish monarchy, I hesitate not to say, that that vial, which immediate. ly succeeds the commencement of the scorching military tyranny predicted under the fourth, must have begun to be poured out in the late disastrous campaign. June 3, 1806.

* Since this was written, I have seen a paper in the Christian Observer for January 1805, in which the Euphrates, here mentioned by the prophet, is connected with Rome; on the ground that the literal Euphrates is connected with the literal Babylon: whence it is argued, that the drying up of the Euphrates im-. plies the impending destruction of Antichristian Rome. Had the writer attended to the uniformity and strict exactness of the apocalyptic language, he would propably not have hazarded such a conjecture. The mystic streams of the Eu phrates under the sixth trumpet manifestly relate to the infaney of the Turkish empire: the drying up therefore of those mystic streams under the sixth vial must relate to its destruction. So again if the Euphrates of the sixth vial is to be connected with Rome, the Euphrates of the sixth trumpet must likewise be connected with Rome; for, unless we violate completely the definiteness of the whole Revelation, what the Euphrates means in one passage, it must mean in another. Consequently,if the Euphrates of the sixth vial be the papal nations of the Roman empire, or (what the writer of this paper seems to insinuate) the influence of the Papacy over those nations; then we must conclude, unless we are willing to give up all consistency of language in the Apocalypse, that the Euphrates of the sixth trumpet means the same; in which case we shall at length arrive at the absurd position, that the four Turkish sultanies issued from the Papal na tions of the Roman empire, or that the Turkish monarchy originated from the influence of the Papacy. The fact is, as I have already abundantly shewn, rivers typify nations; and, when a particular river is mentioned, the nation upon its banks is intended. The Euphrates therefore of the sixth trumpet is the symbol of the Turkish monarchy: whence it will follow, that the Euphrates of the sixth VOL. IP

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́ers typify nations; and, when a particular river is specified, the nation immediately connected with that river is obviously intended. Such being the case, as the issuing forth of the four sultanies, those mystic waters of the Euphrates which deluged the Eastern Empire, denotes the rise of the Turkish power, so the drying up of those waters must evidently denote its subversion. Now, since the drying up or evaporation of water is a slow process, we may naturally conclude, that the expression points out, not merely the subversion of the Turkish power in the general, but the particular mode of that subversion by the slow consumption of its political strength, and by the gradual wasting away of its people. When the sixth angel however poured out his vial upon the figurative Euphrates, we read that its waters were completely dried up, insomuch that a way was prepared for the kings from the East. Hence it is manifest, when we consider the slow process of evaporating natural water, that we may ex-. pect the waters of the Ottoman empire to begin to be dried up many years previous to their final exhaustion under the sixth vial.*

The prelude to the pouring out of this vial we may behold with our own eyes. Let us only advert to the present state of the Turkish power, and we shall be convinced, that for some years the symbolical Euphratèan waters have been gradually drying up. The approaching termination indeed of the Ottoman empire is so manifest, that even those, whose attention is solely directed to politics, are sufficiently aware that the time of its extinction cannot be very far distant. Of late it has been preserved rather by the jealousy of the great European powers, than by any physical strength of its own: and it doubtless will be preserved by the hand of Providence till his own appointed season shall approach for preparing a way for the kings from the East, and for gathering to

vial must be the same. Unless this be allowed, St. John uses the same symbol in different senses, and consequently puts an entire end to all certainty of interpretation. (See the beginning of Chap. ii. of the present work.) The writer of this paper seems to have taken his idea from some of the commentators cited by Pole. See Synop. in loc.

*See Whitaker's Comment. p. 489, et infra

*......

gether the kings of the Latin world to the battle of the great day of God Almighty *

Not only however has the political strength of Turkey begun to be dried up, but, as it were designed that nothing should be wanting to the exact completion of the prophecy, even its population has likewise begun to diminish. This singular circumstance is noticed by Mr. Eton. After some enquiry into the causes of it, he adds, It is therefore reasonable to conclude, that depopulation could not formerly have made so rapid a progress as at present: and that, in a century more, things remaining in their present situation, the Turkish empire will be nearly extinct. It is worthy of remark, that the Curds in the mountains, and other independent tribes who do not mix with the Turks, are exempt from the mortality occasioned by all the calamities, which afflict the countries more im mediately subject to the Porte."t

Nor yet does the empire of the Euphratèan waters submit without a struggle to its fate. " Many attempts have been made within the last century, principally by French officers, to renew the ancient military spirit of the Turks, and to instruct them in European tractics. Gazi Hassan, the celebrated Pasha, tried with unlimited power, for nineteen years, to inspire his own spirit into the troops; but he found all his efforts ineffectual."+

Who the kings from the East are, for whom a way is

* Russia has more than once appeared to be on the very eve of swallowing up Turkey; and yet she has always been prevented from accomplishing her sufficiently evident designs. It is a singular circumstance, that the Turks themselves forebode their future overthrow at the hands of the Russian monarchy. "The lower orders," says Mr. Eton, in his survey of the Turkish empire, are at the present day persuaded, that the Russian standard will enter Constantinople through a certain gate,said to be pointed out by an ancient prophecy; and the great men are so far from opposing this weakness by superior energy, that they look to the Asiatic shore as a secure retreat from the fury of the conquerors."

Whenever the waters of the mystic Euphrates are dried up, we shall then be able to decide with certainty what is intended by the pouring out of the fifth vial upon the seat of the beast, inasmuch as the pouring out of that vial precedes the downfall of the Turkish empire under the sixth.

It may not be improper to observe, that the vial is not said to be poured out for the purpose of drying up the waters of the Euphrates, but only to mark the period when they were dried up, that a way might be prepared for the kings from the East. Hence we are not to imagine, that the vial is already poured out, because the waters have already begun to be dried up: but we must consider this exhaustion of them only as a prelude to the pouring of it out.

† Eton's Survey of the Turkish Empire, p. 270. #Ibid. Chap. 3.

prepared by the annihilation of the Turkish empire, it is impossible to say before the event takes place. The most probable conjecture is, that the lost ten tribes of Israel are intended. It is a very remarkable circumstance, that precisely at the present era, an era marked so strongly by the signs of the times, as to give us every reason to believe, that we are living in the predicted last days of Antichristian blasphemy, and that the 1260 years are rapidly drawing near to their termination: it is, I say, a remarkable circumstance, that, at this very era, a people should begin to attract our notice in the East Indies, which appear to be a fragment either of the lost ten tribes, or of the Jews that never returned from the Babylonian captivity. The late Mr. Vansittart was the first, I believe, who brought forward to public notice the traditions of the Afghans or Rohillas. Having met with a Persian abridgment of the Asrarul Afaghinah, or the secrets of the Afghans, he was induced to translate it, and to transmit it to Sir William Jones, then president of the Asiatic society; who subjoined the following note to it. "This account of the Afghans may lead to a very interesting discovery. We learn from Esdras, that the ten tribes, after a wan dering journey, came to a country called Arsareth; where we may suppose they settled.* Now the Afghans are said, by the best Persian historians, to be descended from the Jews; they have traditions among themselves of such a descent; and it is even asserted, that their families are distinguished by the names of Jewish tribes, although, since their conversion to the Islam, they studiously conceal their origin. The Pushto language, of which I have seen a dictionary, has a manifest resemblance to the Chaldaic; and a considerable district under their dominion is called Hazareh or Hazaret, which might easily have been changed into the word used by Esdras. I strongly recommend an enquiry into the literature and history of the Afghans."t

From this interesting note of that great linguist we learn four very curious particulars relative to the Afghans : 1. that they have a tradition among themselves, that they are of Jewish origin, although not very forward to ac

2 Esdras xiij. 40-47. † Asiatic Researches, Vol. ii. Numb. 4.

knowledge their descent; 2. that this is not a mere vague tradition, known only to themselves, and ridiculed by their neighbours, but that the best Persian historians, with whose empire they have always been connected, assert the very same; 3. that a considerable district under their dominion is to this day called Hazaret, a word nearly resembling Arsareth, which (according to the apocryphal Esdras, whoever he might be, and at whatever period he might live) was the name of the country into which the ten tribes retired: 4. and that their language has a manifest resemblance to the Chaldaic.

Before I entirely quit this part of my subject, I shall notice a coincidence, which is at least curious, if it deserve no better name. Mr. Mede conjectures, that the kings, for whom the exhaustion of the mystic Euphrates is to prepare a way, are the Jews. Had he said Israelites throughout, as he does at first, he would perhaps have expressed himself with greater accuracy: for, if the passage do at all allude to the restoration of the house of Jacob, it relates more probably to the ten tribes than to Judah. But why should either the Israelites or the Jews be styled kings? Such a title accords very ill with the present condition of the Jews, and still worse with that of the Israelites, if they be so entirely lost and swallowed up, as some have imagined. Mr. Mede does not attempt to solve this difficulty. If however it should eventually prove that the Afghans are really the remains of the ten tribes, and if St. John speak of the restoration of those ten tribes under the name of kings from the east, we shall immediately perceive the singularly exact propriety with which he styles them kings. The whole race of the Afghans denominate themselves even to the present day, in their Chaldaic dialect, Melic, or, with their plural termination, Melchim, in English, kings. They consider themselves as a royal nation; and, according to their own tradition, claim their proud title of Melic from a grant of Mohammed, whose religion they profess. If then they be of Hebrew extraction, the drying up of the mystic Euphra es, or the subversion of the Ottoman empire, would undoubtedly prepare a way for them both literally and morally. A power would be removed, whose dominions