Chapter 7

The declaration that “one woe is past,” v. 12, implies an interval between that and the woe following. In a corresponding manner, the crusaders from Europe, like the successive overflowing of a mighty river, restrained the Tartars from the conquest of Constantinople, which had now consented to image worship, till the sounding of:

The Sixth Trumpet.

“And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice out of the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel having the trumpet, Loose the four messengers bound near the great river Euphrates. And the four messengers were loosed, prepared for an hour, and day, and month, and year, to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: I heard the number of them. And thus I saw on the horses in the vision, and those, who sat on them, having red, blue and yellow breast-plates: and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and fire, and smoke, and brimstone issued from their mouths. By these three plagues the third part of men was killed; by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued from their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails having heads were like serpents, and they injure with them. And the rest of the men, who were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk; nor did they repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”—Rev. 9:13-21.

The great river, the Euphrates,—waters being a symbol of people, (17:15)—must symbolize those who sustain a relation to the Roman hierarchy, as its defenders and supporters; analogous to that sustained by the river Euphrates to the city of Babylon; which was situated on, and drew its wealth and support from it.

The angels bound near the Euphrates, must then be those powers, which, approaching and attacking the Roman Empire, were _restrained_ from effecting its conquest and enforcing the profession of Mohammedanism. Their being loosed, signifies the removal of those restraints. Mr. Lord suggests that they symbolize leaders of the four armies of the Tartars, which successively overran the surrounding provinces. He says:

“The first horde were the Seljukians, who invaded the Eastern empire about the middle of the eleventh century, under Togrul Beg. He suddenly overran, with myriads of cavalry, the frontier, from Taurus to Arzeroum, and spread it with blood and devastation. Alp Arslan, his successor, soon renewed the invasion, conquered Armenia and Georgia, penetrated into Cappadocia and Phrygia, and scattered detachments over the whole of lesser Asia. His troops being subsequently driven back, he renewed the war, and recovered those provinces. His descendants, and others of the race, soon after extended their conquests, and established the kingdoms in the east of Persia and Syria, and Roum, in lesser Asia, which they maintained through many generations, and made their sway a scorpion scourge to the idolatrous inhabitants. The Christians were allowed the exercise of their religion on the conditions of tribute and servitude, but were compelled to endure the scorn of the victors, to submit to the abuse of their priests and bishops, and to witness the apostasy of their brethren, the compulsory circumcision of many thousands of their children, and the subjection of many thousands to a debasing and hopeless slavery.

“The second army was that of the Moguls, who, in the thirteenth century, after the conquest of Persia, passed the Euphrates, plundered and devastated Syria, subdued Armenia, Iconium, and Anatolia, and extinguished the Seljukian dynasty. Another army advancing to the west, devastated the country on both sides of the Danube, Thrace, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, Hungary, Austria, and spread them with the ruins of their cities and churches, and the bones of their inhabitants. This horde had been prepared for this invasion by vast conquests in the East.

“The third were the Ottomans, who in the beginning of the fourteenth century conquered Bithynia, Lydia, Ionia, Thrace, Bulgaria, Servia, and in the following century Constantinople itself, and have maintained their empire to the present time. They were released from restraint on the one hand by the decay of the Mogul Khans, to whom they had been subject, and on the other by the dissensions and weakness of the Greeks.

“The last was that of the Moguls under Tamerlane, who in the beginning of the fifteenth century overran Georgia, Syria, and Anatolia, and spread them with slaughter and desolation. He also had been prepared for this incursion by his previous victories and conquests.”—_Ex. Apoc._, pp. 225, 226.

These armies, the number of which is literally “myriads of myriads,” were not all subsequent to the time when they had power to subject the Eastern Roman empire; but may be the four, from the fact that the Mohammedan power was extended by these armies, which till this time had been restrained from accomplishing the subjugation of Constantinople.

The restraints being removed, they were now to have power to kill, by compelling the third part of men to embrace the doctrines of Mohammed,—evident reference being had to the men of the eastern empire; the conquest of which was now to be effected, the dial of heaven having indicated the arrival of the predicted epoch.

In 1449 Constantine Deacoses, being entitled to the throne of Constantinople by the death of John Paleologus, did not venture to take possession till he had sent ambassadors and gained the consent of Amurath, the Turkish Sultan. From this fact, Ducas, the historian, counts Paleologus as the last Greek emperor—for he did not consider as such, a prince who did not dare to reign without permission of his enemy. Amurath died and was succeeded in the empire, in 1451, by MAHOMET II., who set his heart on Constantinople, and made preparations for besieging the city. The siege commenced on the 6th of April, 1453, and ended in the taking of the city, and death of the last of the Constantines, on the 16th of May following, when the eastern city of the Cæsars became the seat of the Ottoman empire; and its “religion was trampled in the dust by the Moslem conquerors.” Thus the two-horned beast (13:11), became merged in, and identified with the false prophet, 16:13, and 19:20.

The description of the horses, and those who sat on them (v. 17), is strikingly emblematic of the Turkish warriors who subjugated Constantinople. Says Dr. Keith: “The breast-plates of the horsemen, in reference to the more destructive implements of war, might then, for the first time, be said to be fire, and jacinth, and brimstone. The musket had recently supplied the place of the bow. _Fire_ emanated from their breasts. _Brimstone_, the flame of which is _jacinth_, was an ingredient both of the _liquid fire_ and of gunpowder.... A new mode of warfare was at that time introduced, which has changed the nature of war itself, in regard to the form of its instrument of destruction; and sounds and sights unheard of and unknown before, were the death-knell and doom of the Roman empire. Invention outrivalled force, and a new power was introduced, that of musketry as well as of artillery, in the art of war, before which the old Macedonian phalanx would not have remained unbroken, nor the Roman legions stood. That which JOHN saw ‘in the vision,’ is read in the history of the times.”

By these three, the fire, smoke, and brimstone, were the third part of men killed (v. 18), and by these was the conquest of Constantinople effected. Says Gibbon: “At the request of Mahomet II., Urban produced a piece of brass ordnance of stupendous and almost incredible magnitude. A measure of twelve palms was assigned to the bore, and the stone bullet weighed about six hundred pounds. A vacant place before the new palace was chosen for the first experiment; but to prevent the sudden and mischievous effects of astonishment and fear, a proclamation was issued that the cannon would be discharged the ensuing day. The explosion was felt or heard in a circuit of a hundred furlongs; the ball, by the force of the gunpowder, was driven about a mile, and on the spot where it fell, it buried itself a fathom deep in the ground. For the conveyance of this destructive engine, a frame or carriage of thirty wagons was linked together, and drawn along by a train of sixty oxen; two hundred men, on both sides, were stationed to poise or support the rolling weight; two hundred and fifty workmen marched before to smooth the way and repair the bridges, and near two months were employed in a laborious journey of a hundred and fifty miles.

“In the siege, the incessant volleys of lances and arrows were accompanied with the smoke, the sound, and the fire of their musketry and cannon. Their small arms discharged at the same time five or even ten balls of lead of the size of a walnut, and according to the closeness of the ranks, and the force of the powder, several breast-plates and bodies were transpierced by the same shot. But the Turkish approaches were soon sunk into trenches, or covered with ruins. Each day added to the science of the Christians, but their inadequate stock of gunpowder was wasted in the operation of each day. Their ordnance was not powerful either in size or number, and if they possessed some heavy cannon, they feared to plant them on the walls, lest the aged structure should be shaken and overthrown by the explosion. The same destructive secret had been revealed to the Moslems, by whom it was employed with the superior energy of zeal, riches, and despotism. The great cannon of MAHOMET was flanked by two fellows almost of equal magnitude: the long order of the Turkish artillery was pointed against the walls: fourteen batteries thundered at once on the most accessible places, and of one of these it is ambiguously expressed that it was mounted with one hundred and thirty guns, or that it discharged one hundred and thirty bullets.”

The conquest of Constantinople being accomplished, they were to have power to kill men during an hour, day, month, and year of prophetic time—_i.e._ three hundred and ninety-one years, fifteen days. If reckoned from the conquest of the city, this would extend to June 1844. Whether any particular act has transpired to mark the precise point of its termination, may not be important; but it is interesting to consider that within a few years the Mohammedan government has formally granted permission for the full enjoyment of the Protestant religion; and has renounced the right of punishing by death, apostates from Islamism.

In August 1843, an Armenian, who had become a Mussulman and subsequently returned to the religion of his fathers, was beheaded at Constantinople. The Christian powers of Europe immediately remonstrated, and it was hoped that the law against apostates from Mohammedanism would be permitted to become a dead letter. In a few months, however, a firman issued from the government ordering the decapitation of a young man near Brooza, who was put to death for having promised in a passion, but had afterwards refused, to become a Mohammedan. Lord Aberdeen, the British Secretary of Foreign Affairs, then demanded of the Turkish Sultan that the Porte should not insult and trample on Christianity, “by treating as a criminal any person who embraces it;” but should “renounce, absolutely and without equivocation, the barbarous practice which has called forth the remonstrance now addressed to it.” To this communication the following answer was made early in 1844: “The Sublime Porte engages to take effectual measures to prevent, henceforward, the execution and putting to death of the Christian who is an apostate.” On the 15th of November, 1847, for the first time, a firman was issued recognizing Protestant Christians as a distinct community, forbidding any molestation or interference “in their temporal or spiritual concerns,” and permitting them “to exercise the profession of their creed in security.” This coming from the Vizier, did not necessarily survive a change of ministry; but in November, 1850, a firman was issued from the Sultan himself, _establishing_ the policy of the empire in respect to Protestants, and confirming them in all needed civil and religious privileges. Thus has the Mohammedan government formally and forever renounced the power it had so long wielded, of causing spiritual death by compelling men to apostatize from Christianity.

The rest of the men not killed, must be those in portions of the Roman territory not included in the eastern third. The Roman Catholics in the western parts, were not reformed by the judgments inflicted on the east. They continued to worship the canonized dead, and to bow down to images of the saints. Under this trumpet, a mighty movement was to be there effected, which was symbolized by the descent of:

The Rainbow Angel.

“And I saw another mighty angel descending from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and the rainbow was over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; and he had in his hand a little book opened: and he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land. And shouted with a loud voice, as a lion roareth: and when he shouted, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up those things, which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel, whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land, raised his hand to heaven, and swore by him who liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things in it, and the earth, and the things in it, and the sea, and the things in it, that the time should not yet be; but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he will sound, the secret of God will be finished, as he hath announced to his servants the prophets. And the voice, which I heard from heaven, spoke with me again, and said, Go, take the little book, which is opened in the hand of the angel, who standeth on the sea and on the land. And I went away to the angel, and said to him, Give me the little book. And he said to me, Take, and eat it up; and it will make thy stomach bitter, but in thy mouth, it will be sweet as honey. And I took the little book from the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and when I had eaten it my stomach was bitter. And he said to me, Thou must prophesy again concerning many people, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”—Rev. 10:1-11.

This angel, like those in corresponding passages, must symbolize a body of men, whose importance is indicated by the might and splendor of the symbol.

His descent from heaven, the cloud, the rainbow, the sun-like face, and the fire-like feet of the Mighty Messenger, attest the heaven-inspired origin of his utterances. His “eyes as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace,” would not be given to one who came to announce other than heaven-inspired truths.

The _open book_ in the hand of the angel, fixes the chronology of the fulfilment of this vision at an epoch when the Scriptures cease to be a closed and sealed book, and the people are permitted to have free access to them.

His _position_—one foot resting on the sea, and one on the land—attests the universality of the movement which is to date from that epoch.

His lion voice, must symbolize the manner in which would be announced the great truths, at which the whole world would be startled.

The _singleness_ of his cry, is also symbolic of the simplicity of the truth, which is never symbolized by discordant multitudinous sounds.

The _responsive thunders_, unlike the single voice of the angel, are multitudinous and discordant; and consequently symbolize errors. Their _following_ so immediately on the shout of the angel, shows the proximity of their promulgation to the utterance of the truths to which they are responsive.

JOHN’S _readiness to write_ what the seven thunders uttered, shows that what they uttered was _professedly_ in harmony with the truths previously announced, and that men would be liable to be deceived, by their promulgation.

His being _forbidden_ by the cloud-robed angel, to write what they uttered—while he was commanded to “seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book” (22:10),—shows that their utterances were not heaven-inspired, and constituted no part of “the word of GOD, and of the testimony of JESUS CHRIST,” which JOHN bare record of.

The _subsequent oath_ of the angel, by Him who liveth forever, that “the time is not yet,” shows that those thunders, however erroneous in their form manner and connection with other errors, had respect to some great event foretold in Scripture; but which the thunders had _antedated_ and presented in an _unscriptural_ form.

His further announcement that it would be fulfilled under the sounding of the “seventh trumpet,” and that then the mystery of GOD should be finished in the manner foretold to his servants the prophets, shows that the great event, the time of which was “not yet,”—_i.e._, under the sixth trumpet, was the coming of the kingdom of GOD—the fifth universal empire; that at a period anterior to the time when it might rationally be expected, it would be proclaimed in a form repugnant to the teachings of the prophets; and that when thus heralded, it would be met by the party uttering the heaven-inspired truths, with the denial that the time had arrived, and by arguments to show its true nature and epoch, under the seventh trumpet.

The command to take and eat the little book, shows that its contents were such as the soul might feed on; which should be sweet to the believer’s taste, but would subject him to bitter persecution. And the announcement that they were to prophesy _again_ before many nations and peoples and tongues and kings, marks this as the commencement of an era when the Gospel should again begin to go forth into distant lands.

All of the above particulars harmonize in the time of the reformation of LUTHER in the sixteenth century, and with no other epoch. The great truths then promulgated, of which “justification by faith” was the cardinal one, electrified the whole world, as the loud roaring of a lion would startle the passer-by. These were immediately responded to by the multitudinous errors of the Anabaptists and others, who thought to set up the kingdom of GOD in _this world_, and _before the resurrection_, by putting to death the ungodly and sparing only the saints.

As in all efforts for good Satan is careful to attempt a counterfeit, or to mingle impure elements to the injury of the truth, so in the Reformation there were false reformers. THOMAS MUNZER, and others, in 1525, incited vast numbers on the borders of the Danube to make physical war on the Papal ecclesiastics. He denounced LUTHER, also, with the same violence that he did the Pope. In his mad attempt to slay the ungodly, he took possession of Muhlhausen, appointed a new city council, pillaged the houses of the rich, proclaimed a community of goods, and committed various excesses; but they were finally defeated in a pitched battle, with a loss of from five thousand to seven thousand killed. Others succeeded him, teaching that GOD spake to them in person, instructing them how to act. They professed the most extravagant doctrines, setting aside both LUTHER and the Bible. The former did not go near far enough for them; and the latter was in their view insufficient for man’s instruction, who could only be taught of God. They taught that the world was to be immediately devastated; and no priest or ungodly person be left alive; and that then the kingdom of GOD would commence, and the saints possess the earth. Those who adhered to LUTHER, united with him in bearing a faithful testimony against such extravagances, adhered to the written word, denounced new revelations, and showed from the Bible that Antichrist was to be overthrown by the personal advent of CHRIST, and not by the sword of man. The following extracts are from MR. LORD:

“The pretences of the Anabaptists to inspiration were in like manner denounced by Melancthon. ‘The Anabaptists, infatuated by the devil, have boasted a new species of sanctity, as though they had left the earth, and ascended to the skies; and given out, moreover, that they enjoy extraordinary inspiration. But as the pretence was hypocritical, and designed merely to subserve appetite and ambition, they soon plunged into debauchery, and then excited seditions, and undertook to establish a New Jerusalem, as other enthusiasts have often attempted. A like tragedy was formerly acted at Pepuza in Phrygia, which fanatical prophets denominated the new Jerusalem.’

“He also refuted by the Scriptures, the expectation of the Anabaptists of the immediate establishment of Christ’s millennial kingdom. He regarded the term Antichrist as denoting both the Mohammedan empire and the Papacy, and held that they were not to be overthrown till the time of the resurrection of the dead, and that a considerable period was to pass before that event. ‘God showed to Daniel a series of monarchies and kingdoms, which it is certain has already run to the end. Four monarchies have passed away. The cruel kingdom of the Turks, which arose out of the fourth, still remains, and as it is not to equal the Roman in power, and has certainly, therefore, already nearly reached its height, must soon decline, and then will dawn the day in which the dead shall be recalled to life.’ He then repeats the saying ascribed to Elias, that six thousand years were to pass before the advent of Christ; two thousand before the law, two under the law, and two under the gospel; and proceeds to show that four hundred and fifty-eight years were, therefore, to intervene before the advent of the Redeemer, the destruction of Antichrist, and the establishment of the kingdom of the saints. ‘It is known that Christ was born about the end of the fourth millenary,(1) and one thousand five hundred and forty-two years have since revolved. We are not, therefore [in 1542], far from the end.’

“These views corresponding so conspicuously with the symbol, continued to be repeated by a crowd of writers, till at the distance of sixty-seven years from the death of Melancthon, the celebrated Joseph Mede published his ‘Clavis Apocalyptica,’ in which he showed from the coincidence of the periods of the wild beast and the witnesses, that the advent of the Redeemer, and the destruction of the anti-Christian powers were not to be expected until twelve hundred and sixty years had passed from the rise of the ten kingdoms, and that near one hundred of them, therefore, were still to revolve. As that period expired and the knowledge of the prophecy advanced, the catastrophe of the wild beast was referred to a later time. Many recent expositors regard the twelve hundred and sixty years as having reached their end in 1792; and most refer the fall of the anti-Christian powers to the last half of the present, or the beginning of the next century.”—_Ex. of Apoc._, pp. 238-240.