CONTENTS. PAGE II. THE OVERTHROW OF ANTICHRIST-THE DESTRUCTION OF THE EIGHT HEADS OF THE BEAST, ON PROPHECY. I. THE FALL OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE-THE DRYING UP OF THE EUPHRATES. "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up."-REV. xvi. 12. It is admitted on all hands, by interpreters of prophecy, that the sixth vial predicts the wasting and destroying of the Turkish Empire. This sixth vial, it will be observed, comes on at a far advanced stage in the symbolical history of the Church and of the world. furnished in Scripture. The seven seals have been all opened; the seven trumpets have been all blown ; and the sixth vial is the last but one of all the vials of judgment which were to be poured out on the earth. The prophecy, then, respecting the drying up of the Euphrates, or the exhaustion of the Turkish dominion, belongs to a very late period in the progress of God's dispensations. Can we give any reason why the Turkish power A should be identified with the river Euphrates? The reason seems simply to be, because the Turkish or Mohammedan power has always had its chief seat in the East, among those countries through which the Euphrates flows. Again, it may be asked, why should this system of superstition and military despotism combined, belonging almost entirely to the Eastern portion of the world, have such a prominent place in the Word of God, and in its predictions of the future, while the planting of the Christian Church, and her maintenance through eighteen centuries and over, have mainly, almost entirely, to do in prophecy with the European or Western nations? Various reasons may be assigned for this. (a) The immense multitudes of the human family who have become Mohammedans render their rise and progress in the world a matter of the greatest consequence. When we consider that the number of Mohammedans, chiefly in Asia, is at the present day no fewer than one hundred and sixty millions, or about one-eighth of the world's population, we may see at once the propriety and the reasonableness of the Spirit of God giving this system of falsehood a prominent place in Scripture prophecy. (b) Considering that this mighty system of barbarous dominion and degrading error should extend its conquests to the West, and exercise for centuries a most potent influence over countries professing Christianity, we can also understand that a strong reason exists for the RISE OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 3 important position it occupies in the map of prophetic truth. (c) The prophecies of Daniel had very special reference to Eastern as well as Western empiresBabylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman-over all of whose territories the Mohammedan power was to extend its victorious arms. Hence it was necessary to give Mohammedanism, in its various phases, even a large space in the scheme of prophetic inspiration. (d) And seeing that the false prophet should extend his conquests far over the European kingdoms, the history of Mohammedan rule is intimately interwoven with the history of Christendom in the Western world. Christianity, belonging chiefly to the West, forms, in consequence of its superior importance, the great subject of prophecy in the New Testament Scriptures. For all these reasons, and others which might be stated, Mohammedan power occupies a very prominent place in inspired predictions. With a view to the better understanding of the prophecy regarding the destruction of the Mohammedan dominion, let us give our attention, in a few words, to its rise and character. The founder of this political and religious system was Mohammed, commonly called "The False Prophet." This notable man was born in Mecca, in Arabia, in the year 570 of the Christian era. He began to preach in 609, and in 612 prepared the book of his professed inspiration. His teaching was at first vigocelebrated tribe, to which he rously opposed by the belonged, of Arabs called Koreishites. These assailed |