The Revelation Explained / An Exposition, Text by Text, of the Apocalypse of St. John

by F. G. Smith

CHAPTER IX.

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

2. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

3. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

6. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

7. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

8. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

9. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

10. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

11. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

The symbols of this trumpet are of a very peculiar character and peculiarly combined. They are not drawn entirely from the natural world, showing that we are not to look for their fulfilment in political events alone; neither are they drawn from human life in any such way as to indicate events in the religious history of the church. The leading characters in it, however, are living, active agents of such a destructive nature as to entitle them to the designation of a woe.

The first object presented in the vision is a "star" fallen to the earth. Our translation conveys the idea that this star was in the act of falling; but in the original it is different, being there represented as having fallen, its dejection from heaven to earth being complete. The only place that it appeared in view was on the earth, and there it is described as fallen. A star is a symbol either of a civil ruler or of a religious teacher, the symbols in connection deciding whether it is set in the political or the ecclesiastical firmament. But this was not such a star as He who walketh in the midst of the golden candle-sticks holdeth in his right hand, but it was a fallen star, indicating that it was the propagator of a false faith.

To this star was given a key. In the Gospels the same figure is employed, where the ministers of Christ are represented as possessing the keys of the kingdom of heaven, showing that they acted in his name and by his authority. How appropriate, then, is this symbol as applied to a false teacher, who possesses, not the keys of the kingdom of heaven, but, instead, "the key of the bottomless pit"! Thus, under the symbol of the star and the key, we have the teacher and his authority set forth. Armed with this authority, this false teacher "opened the bottomless pit; and there rose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." In the Scriptures Jesus is represented as the Sun of righteousness, while "the light of the glorious gospel of Christ" illuminates the world. But here we have something of the opposite character—a dense smoke eclipsing the sun and darkening the heavens. Have we not here a fit representation of a delusive faith proceeding from its true source, "the bottomless pit"? And is not a fallen star an appropriate symbol of its propagator?

In representing a system of religion by these objects from nature we depart from the general rule first laid down—that objects of nature symbolize political affairs, while the department of human and angelic life is chosen to represent religious affairs. But the reader should bear in mind one important exception to this rule—that things prominently connected with the history of the people of God in former ages are frequently employed (regardless of the department to which they belong) to represent spiritual things, their interpretation being easily seen; such as candle-sticks, altar, temple, incense, etc. When the plague of "thick darkness" covered the land of Egypt for three days, "the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." In the exodus the Lord went before them "by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light." After the erection of the tabernacle the holy place was constantly illuminated. This natural light in the Jewish age constitutes a beautiful type of the spiritual "light of the glorious gospel of Christ" that has "shined in our hearts" in the Christian dispensation. This spiritual light comes from Christ, the "Sun of righteousness," the "true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world"; and proceeds, also, from his people, who "shine as lights in the world." But it is the "light of the gospel." This light proceeds in a special sense from God's ministers, who are represented as "stars" (chap. [1:20]) and who possess "the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Mat. 16:19; 18:18. How appropriate, then, that a fallen "star," possessing "the key of the bottomless pit," should be a symbol of a religious impostor, and that the smoke which darkened the heavens, eclipsing the sun, the source of light, should represent a prominent delusive faith! I have already mentioned the fact that the symbols of this vision lead to a series of events entirely separate in their nature from the spiritual history of the church as developed under other symbols. We find its fulfilment in Mohammed and the delusive system he promulgated. In the year 606 Mahomet retired to a cave in Hera, near Mecca, and there received his pretended revelations, although it was not until six years later that he began to teach his doctrines publicly and to gain followers outside of the circle of his own family and personal friends. Gibbon, Vol. V., p. 121.

The next object in the vision is the locusts that came out of the smoke, to which was given power like scorpions, or power to inflict a deadly sting like scorpions. To what living agents, then, did the delusion of Mohammedanism give birth—agents of a destructive nature like scorpion locust? Evidently, the Saracens,[⁶] those warrior followers of Mohammed who flocked to his standard. These locusts received the express command that "they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads." The successor of Mohammed, Abubeker, gave the Saracens a command that they should "destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of grain; cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat." This command was singular, yet it doubtless is not the fulfilment of the command to the locusts; for that would be adopting a literal meaning instead of a symbolic one, and to complete the picture we should have had literal Saracens instead of locusts. We can not consistently make a part literal and the remainder symbolical. In the explanation of the first trumpet (chap. [8:6, 7]), we showed that grass and trees symbolized the inhabitants of a kingdom, grass representing the feebler and trees the stronger portions of society. The fact, then, that these locusts were not to destroy the green grass and trees show that they were not sent as a scourge upon the political empire only, as was the storm of hail and fire under the first trumpet. Had their mission been like that of natural locusts, to destroy every green thing, we should then conclude that they were sent as a scourge upon the empire alone, having nothing whatever to do with a system of religion. These locusts, however, were commanded not to do what natural locusts always do—eat green grass and trees—and were commissioned to do what locusts never do—"hurt men," but only those who have not the seal of God in their foreheads; that is, the worshipers of a false, idolatrous church, who are not known unto God as his true people. This is positive proof that the design of this vision is to set forth some awful religious imposture; for the "men" that they were to hurt are found in the department which by analogy represents religious events.

Footnote 6: [(return)]

"In earlier times the name of Saraceni was applied by Greeks and Romans to the troublesome Nomad Arabs of the Syro-Arabian desert."—Encyclopædia Britannica. In the Middle Ages, however, Europeans began to call all their Moslem enemies Saracens. It is in the limited sense that it is here applied, designating the first followers of Mohammed before the rise of the Ottoman empire.

The fact that their commission was to torment those "men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads," is a proof also of the wide-spread apostasies that had already taken place. This was the time when the pale horseman was careering over the world carrying desolation everywhere by his instruments of oppression—sword, pestilences, famine, and the wild beasts of the earth. "The churches both in the Western and Eastern empire were in the most deplorable condition, being corrupted with the grossest ignorance and idolatry; the virgin Mary, the saints, and miserable relics of every description being worshiped in the place of Jehovah, and superstition reigning with sovereign power over all minds." The Saracen warriors of Mohammed were sent as a scourge upon apostate Christendom, overrunning the very territory where the gospel was first preached, and were commissioned to "torment" the false professors of Christianity.

In regard to the kind and the extent of the injury they were to inflict, it is said that "to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them." The Saracens, as here described under the symbol of the locusts, sustained a two-fold relation, and the careful and perfect manner in which the symbols are selected to set it forth is worthy of particular notice. In the first place, the Saracens were a political body. As such, locusts would fitly represent them. But they were also a religious body, and how could that fact be symbolically combined with the other? It is done by the locusts' being forbidden to act out their own nature in eating grass and trees, and their being commanded instead to "hurt men," thus changing the field of their operations into the department of human life—the department that is chosen to symbolically set forth religious events. Thus the politico-religious system of the Saracens is accurately set forth. This, also, is nearly as clear as a demonstration that the position already taken concerning the nature and the use of symbolic language is correct.

It was given that they should "not kill" men. We have already shown that killing men when used symbolically signifies the destruction of the political or ecclesiastical organizations and institutions of society. We could not consistently interpret it as literal slaughter, but as some analagous destruction. Now, the Saracen power was, as already stated, a politico-religious system, and its warriors were an infatuated set of religious fanatics, described by historians as "carrying the sword in one hand, and the Koran in the other." Thus, they had it in their power to kill either religiously or politically—destroy either the church or the empire—but they did neither, for their mission was not to kill, but to "torment." "They made extensive conquests and gained immense numbers of converts. But they did not overthrow the Eastern empire, although they repeatedly attacked and besieged Constantinople, suffering, however, uniform defeat in the attempt. Neither did they destroy the church, corrupt and apostate as it was. To idolators and infidels they put the alternative of the Koran or death; but allowed the Christians to retain their church organization, laying them, however, under severe contributions, and treating them to the ignominious appellation of Christian dogs." Concerning the character of Mohammed, Gibbon informs us that "he seldom trampled on a prostrate enemy, and he seems to promise, that on the payment of a tribute, the least guilty of his unbelieving subjects might be indulged in their worship, or at least in their imperfect faith" (Vol. V, p. 129), and this, of course, would be the natural tendency of his followers. The Armenian and the Greek churches survived, and still exist in that portion of the world, but they have indeed been greviously tormented. "The proud Moslem, glorying in his prophet and religion, has heaped every possible insult and injury upon the Christians," yet he suffered them to live, but live only for him to torment. Surely the oppressions thus experienced are appropriately described by the words, "as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man." Under such torments the professed Christians might court death, but such is not granted; and still they survive, but only to be "tormented." The Moslem had "the Christian dog" completely under his foot.

We now turn our attention to the period of time during which these Saracen locusts were to continue their ravages. It is given as "five months," or one hundred and fifty days. As this description is entirely symbolic, we must consider the time symbolic also, for time certainly can be symbolized as well as anything else. It is very appropriate for days to symbolize years, for they are analagous periods of time; the diurnal revolution of the earth being taken to represent the earth's annual movement. Such a system of reckoning time was known centuries ago. When Jacob complained to Laban because he had been given Leah instead of Rachel, "Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the first-born. Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve me yet seven other years. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week ... seven other years." Gen. 29:26-30. In this case it will be seen that a day was used to represent a year, since seven days, or one week, represented seven years. When the law was given, Moses recognized the week of seven natural days, the last day of which was constituted a Sabbath of rest for Israel; but he also instituted a week of seven years, the last year of which was a sabbatical year of rest unto the land. This last fact will explain such expressions as "forty days, each day for a year" (Num. 14:34), and "I have appointed thee each day for a year." Ezek. 4:6.

This period, then, of "five months," or one hundred and fifty days, would represent symbolically one hundred and fifty years. As before stated, it was in the year A.D. 612 that Mohammed began to expound his doctrines publicly and to gather adherents around his standard, from which point the locusts commenced, although the smoke had been let out of the pit a little previously. For a period of one hundred and fifty years from this date, they continued their ravages, until A.D. 762. Then they "built Bagdad, which became their settled seat of empire; and henceforth they became a settled nation, making no further conquests." From that date their power began to decline. But during this one hundred and fifty years they spread over the country like swarms of devouring locusts. According to the well-known facts of history, "they overran Arabia, Palestine, Persia, Egypt, and the northern shores of Africa, from which they passed to the conquest of Portugal and Spain." These were the countries that had been the most oppressed by a priest-ridden church and where especially were to be found those "men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads." Europe was trembling and filled with apprehension at what her fate might be at the hands of these fanatic warriors who fought with savage fury, under the promise of their prophet that, if slain in battle, they should be immediately transported to Paradise. At the zenith of their power, and confident of success, they passed from Spain into France four hundred thousand strong. But here they exceeded their mission. The southern provinces of France contained many Christians who had the "seal of God" upon them, and this country became the seat of the Waldenses and Albigenses, of which interesting people we shall learn more hereafter. The invading host was met at Tours by Charles, grandfather of Charlemagne, who dealt them such a crushing blow that he was ever afterward designated by the surname Martel—the Hammer. This battle was one of the fiercest recorded in history. The Saracens who had scarcely ever experienced defeat fought with the fury of despair, until, according to the accounts of that age, three hundred and seventy-five thousand of their number lay upon the field of battle with their general. This decisive victory saved Europe from her threatened subjection to the Mohammedan faith.

The next point in the vision to claim our attention is the particular description of these locusts. Some of the points mentioned might find a literal fulfilment in the personal appearance of the Saracens—such as the crowns signifying the turbans they wore, etc., but we must adhere strictly to the symbolic mode of interpretation and look for their fulfilment in Saracen character. Their being like war-horses denotes their warlike disposition. The crowns on their heads signify their great success and triumphs. Their faces of men and hair like women doubtless signify their boldness on the one hand and their effeminateness on the other. Their teeth as the teeth of lions show their ferocity of character. Their breastplates of iron indicate their invincibility or else their insensibility to injuries inflicted upon them. The sound of their wings like horses and chariots running to battle denotes the multitude and rapidity of their conquests. Their tails like scorpions, containing stings with which to "hurt men"—operating in the religious world—symbolize their position as propagators of a false faith. Thus they are set forth in their two-fold character—as invincible warriors and as the zealous professors of a delusion, whose sting was like that of a scorpion when he strikes a man.

"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." The following fact of history will explain this: "The Saracens had their Caliphs, the successors of Mohammed, who united in themselves the supreme civil, military and ecclesiastical powers. They were the high-priests of their religion, the commanders of their armies, and the emperors of the nation." This king over them signifies a succession of rulers, and they are well described as "the angel of the bottomless pit," for that is the very place where the delusion is said to have originated. Mahomet, as a fallen star, opened the pit and let out the smoke, and his successors, who grasped his power and authority, are fitly characterized as angels from the same place, bearing the name Abaddon or Apollyon, which terms both signify Destroyer.

Is not this a wonderful combination of symbols which can be carried out with surprising accuracy? What human ingenuity could have ever contrived such a marvelous series of events, and described them under such appropriate symbols? Finally, let me ask, Where in the whole compass of universal history can be found another series of events so perfectly meeting every requirement of the symbols? In this we must acknowledge the hand of God.

12. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

This announcement, that one woe is past, meaning that the period of one hundred and fifty years during which the Saracens were to continue their conquests has ended, serves an important purpose in enabling us to fix the chronology of the events described. It proves that they succeed each other.

13. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

14. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

15. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

16. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

18. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

19. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

At the sounding of the sixth trumpet, or the second woe trumpet, a voice is heard from the four horns (all the horns) of the golden altar. This probably denotes that the very same altar where incense was offered up to God with the prayers of all saints was now crying out to him for vengeance upon an apostate church. That church had reached the summit of apostasy and iniquity, the virgin Mary, the saints, and thousands of idols in the form of miserable relics being worshiped more than God. Because of these abominable idolatries, a voice is heard crying from the golden altar for the avenging judgments of Heaven, which were the loosing of the four angels bound in the river Euphrates. The symbols of this vision are also of peculiar character and drawn from different departments. We have four angels bound in the Euphrates, an immense army of horsemen, then a large number of horses with heads as of lions, and fire, smoke, and brimstone issuing from their mouths. The horses thus particularly described are evidently intended to have a definite symbolical signification, and being objects of nature, they would indicate a political or military power. The horsemen, being objects from human life, would point us to some religious body; while the angels signify the leaders that have control of these agencies. Their being commissioned "to slay the third part of men" show that they will overthrow some of the established institutions of society. We are to look, therefore, for some politico-religious power that should invade and overthrow the empire. We are, of course, directed to the Eastern empire; for the Western division was subverted under the symbols of the first four trumpets. With these specifications before us, we shall have no difficulty in identifying the power intended—the Turkish, or Ottoman, empire. Its agreement with the symbolic representations of the vision will be manifest from a statement of the facts of history.

"The Turks were of Tartar or Scythian origin, from the northern regions of Asia, whence also the Huns hived upon Europe during the fourth and fifth centuries. The latter passed to the north of the Black sea from Russia, and swept the regions of the Danube and the Rhine. The Turks, passing to the east of the same, fell upon the empire from that quarter. They took possession of Armenia Major in the ninth century, where they increased, and in the space of two hundred years became a formidable power, being at the end of this period combined into four Sultanies, the heads of which were at Bagdad, Damascus, Aleppo, and Iconium. The first of these was erected A.D. 1055; the two next A.D. 1079, and the last A.D. 1080—all of them within twenty-five years, and the three last within two."

These four Sultanies are doubtless signified by "the four angels" that were bound in the river Euphrates. The Euphrates here is employed as a symbol, not of the Turks themselves—for the horsemen are their symbol, as we shall see—but of the binding of the angels. The use of this word as a symbol is derived from a fact of history, being the object, according to Herodotus, that kept Cyrus back from entering the city of Babylon. While the Persian monarch surrounded the walls of that ancient metropolis of the Babylonian empire, with his army, he was held in restraint by the river Euphrates; and it was not until he had diverted its waters into an artificial channel that he gained an entrance. So, also, these Sultanies, or leaders of the Turks, were held under restraint as if bound by the river Euphrates, until the time appointed for them to go forth on their mission of conquest. Different causes held them back. For a long time they were involved in fierce and almost continuous wars with the neighboring Tartar tribes on the east and the north, and at the same time the Crusaders of Europe were carrying on a determined war with the Saracens for the possession of the Holy Land. For two centuries the armies of Christendom poured into Syria and Palestine to recover from the hands of the "infidels," as they were called, the holy sepulchre and the country that gave birth to Christianity; but when Europe finally abandoned the project, then went forth the command to loose the four angels, "which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of man." To kill men symbolically, I have already shown, signifies the destruction either of an empire as a political body or of the church (that is, the so-called church) as a religious body. The locusts under the fifth trumpet were to do neither; but the symbolic characters of this vision are "to slay the third part of men," by which is set forth the fall and subjugation of the Eastern empire and church; just as, under the fifth trumpet, the fall of the Western empire was described by the darkening of a third part of the sun, moon, and stars.

Before considering the time-prophecy in this vision, we will pass on to notice a few particulars respecting the horses and their riders. The horsemen possessed breastplates of fire, jacinth, and brimstone; while out of the mouths of the horses proceeded fire, smoke, and brimstone. There is evidently a special design in distinguishing between the horses and their riders. These symbols, being drawn from different sources—the former from the natural world and the latter from human life—point out the two characteristics of the Turks as a politico-religious power. The symbolic description of the two is almost identical. The horsemen had breastplates of fire, jacinth (purplish or reddish blue), and brimstone. This describes the character of the Turks as a religious system. Out of the horses' mouths proceeded fire, smoke, and brimstone, which represents the Moslems as a political power. The only difference is that the smoke is substituted for the jacinth, but they very nearly agree in color. We are thus brought to the conclusion that the political and the religious power of the Turks is in harmony and agreement with each other—united in the closest manner possible, like a horse and its rider, and both animated by the same spirit. That spirit is perhaps their fierce, fanatical, aggressive, intolerant character.

The tails of the horses were like serpents with heads, their power being in their mouth and in their tails—the one a lion, the other a serpent. It was by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone that came from their lion-heads that the third part of men was killed, or their conquests were made; then with their serpent-like tails would they torment or "hurt" all those who would not adopt the Moslem faith, being in this respect like the scorpion locusts. Their lion-heads would denote their invincible strength and courage; and their serpent-tails, the tormenting sting inflicted upon those whom they subdued but who would not accept their religion. It is not said that the riders were the direct agents of destruction—not the Moslem faith as a religion—but it was the horses that accomplished the deadly work—the Ottomans as a political body. This was the power that extended conquests and established their empire, although it was accompanied by the religious system, working in perfect harmony.

It is said that the "rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues" repented not. This expression doubtless signifies the Western, or Latin, church. They saw these judgments of the Euphratean horsemen on the Eastern empire, and the triumph of the Moslem sword and faith (the woe fell as a judgment upon the Eastern church); still, they continued as before in their abominable idolatries, by which is probably meant their worship of the virgin Mary, saints, relics, and images. There was no reformation. Error, superstition, and ecclesiastical usurpation prevailed as before.

The Turks obtained their first victory over the Christians of the Eastern, or Greek, empire in A.D. 1281. Within ten years the Latins who inhabited Palestine were entirely overthrown (see Gibbon, Vol. VI, p. 47), and the way was now clear for Turkish aggression against the Greek empire. Before the end of the century the four Sultanies mentioned were combined into one consolidated empire under Osman (corrupted by Europeans into Ottoman) and from him took the name which it still retains—the Ottoman empire. From the time they were let loose, the Turks continued their aggressions until A.D. 1453, when Constantinople fell before their victorious arms, and the Eastern empire, with the last of the Constantines, sunk to rise no more. "The Turkish sword and the religion of the Koran were enthroned in the Christian metropolis of the Roman emperors; and the proud Moslem had the Christian dog completely under his foot." The Ottoman power, however, continued to grow and make new conquests until the year A.D. 1672, when they conducted a successful campaign against Poland, in which forty-eight towns and villages were ceded to the Sultan, with promise of an annual tribute of two hundred and twenty thousand ducats. See Encyclopædia Britannica, Art. Turkey. This was the last victory they ever gained wherein the Ottoman empire obtained any advantage. A little later they marched against Vienna, but sustained a miserable defeat. "Venice and Russia now declared war against Turkey; misfortune followed misfortune; city after city was rent away from the empire; the Austrians were in possession of almost the whole of Hungary, the Italians of almost all the Morea." Encyclopædia Britannica, Art. Turkey. So the power of the Ottomans to extend their conquests and to add to their empire, ended with the victory over the Poles in A.D. 1672. This fact is even admitted by Demetrius Cantemir, prince of Moldavia, one of their historians, in the following language: "This was the last victory by which any advantage accrued to the Othman state, or any city or province was annexed to the ancient bounds of the empire." In accordance with this statement, the same historian entitles the first part of his history up to the victory over the Poles in 1672 the History of the Growth of the Othman Empire, and the remaining portion, The Decay of the Othman Empire.

Calculating now the time during which these horsemen were prepared to extend their conquests—"an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year"—we find according to prophetic, or symbolic, time—thirty days in a month, three hundred and sixty in a year—that it signifies three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days. This is exactly the period of time that elapsed between their first victory in A.D. 1281 and their last conquest in A.D. 1672. I can not verify the fifteen days, because no history at my command states the exact days of the month on which these victories occurred.

One more point of importance must be considered before we conclude this chapter, and that is the continuance of the Ottoman power. The first, or Saracen, woe had power to torment men "five months," or one hundred and fifty years, during which time they continued their ravages. The second woe began when the command was given to loose the four angels, or the beginning of the Ottoman conquests. "An hour, and a day, and a month, and a year," or three hundred and ninety-one years, marked the time during which they were "prepared" to extend their conquests. But it is not stated that the woe itself, or the Ottoman power, would then cease; for it is not represented as ending until after the death and the resurrection of the witnesses (chap. [11:14]), immediately following which the coming of Christ and the general judgment, or the third woe, is described. Verses 15-18. The Turkish power has made no advance for centuries, but has been on the decline; yet it will endure for its allotted time. It furnishes us a way-mark by which we can determine our position along the pathway of time; for when it falls, we may rest assured that the coming of Christ is imminent.

For nearly two centuries it has been the wonder of civilized nations how that corrupt, tyrannical government, which has been described as a "despotism tempered by assassination," could exist in the increased light and onward advance of modern civilization. Concerning its position in Europe, Judson, in his recent history of Europe in the Nineteenth Century, says: "The Turkish empire has been an element of unrest in Europe. It has long been plain to all that it is not permanent. It has taken no root. The Turks are merely encamped in Europe; and it is merely a question of time when the last of them must return across the Bosphorus." Pp. 269, 270. But Turkey will continue to hold this territory of the old Greek empire until the time appointed by the Father for her overthrow. The nations of Europe have often conspired for her overthrow. This is what is known as the great Eastern Question, which has been described by one writer as "the expulsion of the Turk from Europe, and the scramble for his territory." But it has not yet been accomplished, for the very reason doubtless, that it could not take place before the resurrection of the witnesses, of which we will speak later. Judson thus continues his account of the matter: "As soon as this idea was realized [that Turkish power in Europe must fall] by the Western nations, in place of the dread of the Turk which had so long been part and parcel of European thinking, the question of the disposal to be made of the Turkish possessions became matter of live interest. And this is the Eastern Question. The Greek empire vanished forever when the last Constantine fell in 1453. The only problem is one of partition. And the heart of it all is the disposal to be made of Constantinople. That imperial city is a site that, in strong hands, means power and wealth. What shall become of it? Russia early formed designs of conquest.... The empress Catherine ... had a grand scheme for a restoration of the Greek empire under a Russian prince. Alexander I., at Tilsit, planned a partition of the Ottoman empire with Napoleon, but the latter declined to see Constantinople in Russian hands. 'Constantinople,' said he, 'is the empire of the world.' In 1844 Nicholas visited England and made guarded suggestions to the prime-minister about the Turkish lands. The Ottoman empire, said he, was a sick man, nearly at the last extremity.... England declined to plan for a share of the inheritance, and nothing was done. In 1853 Nicholas resumed the subject with the British ambassador at St. Petersburg. The sick man, he now held, was at the point of death.... But again England declined and, indeed, the next year went to war with Russia to save the sick man from a premature end at the hands of the would-be administrator of the estate. Another power doubly interested in the future of the Turkish dominions is Austria. That empire has been the traditional enemy of the Turk, and at the end of the seventeenth century was the actual bulwark of Europe against Mohammedan conquest. When the tide of war rolled the other way, Austria was ready to share in the spoils. Twice near the end of the eighteenth century, was an alliance made between Russia and Austria for the partition of Turkey," etc. Pp. 270, 271. Thus, we find that these designs of nations for the overthrow of Turkey have so far been overruled; for God will not allow that power to come to "a premature end."