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."