CHAPTER IX. THE SIXTH TRUMPET—THE SECOND WOE

“AND the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 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. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 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. 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. 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. 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: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.” Revelation 9:13-21.GNT 72.1

The four angels here mentioned, that were bound in the great river Euphrates and that were at this time to be loosed, refer to the four great sultanies—Bagdad, Damascus, Iconium, and Aleppo—of which at that time the Mohammedan power was composed. The command to loose these signifies, in short, the letting loose of all the elements of Mohammedanism for the final sweeping away of the last element of the Empire of Rome.GNT 72.2

The breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and of brimstone; and the fire, smoke, and brimstone as issuing out of the horses’ mouths; are explained by the fact of the large use of powder in the firearms employed, which was at that time only a late discovery in the West. “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 either 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 breastplates and bodies were transpierced with the same shot.”—“Decline and Fall,” Chap. LXVIII, par.11.GNT 73.1

With ranks of men firing with gunpowder, and from horseback, their arms would be aimed directly in line with the horses’ mouths; and so in the vision the appearance would be exactly as though the breastplates of the warriors were of fire, jacinth, and brimstone, and as though out of the mouths of the horses there issued fire, smoke, and brimstone.GNT 73.2

Thus was it in the use of small arms; but “his artillery surpassed whatever had yet appeared in the world. The founder of a cannon, a Dane or Hungarian who had been almost starved in the Greek service, deserted to the Moslems, and was liberally entertained by the Turkish Sultan. Mahomet was satisfied with the answer to his first question, which he eagerly pressed upon the artist. ‘Am I able to cast a cannon capable of throwing a ball or stone of sufficient size to batter the walls of Constantinople? I am not ignorant of their strength, but were they more solid than those of Babylon, I could oppose an engine of superior power: the position and management of that engine must be left to your engineers.’GNT 73.3

“On this assurance, a foundry was established at Adrianople: the metal was prepared; and at the end of three months, Urban produced a piece of brass ordnance of stupendous, and almost incredible, magnitude; a measure of twelve palms is 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 an hundred furlongs: the ball, by the force of gunpowder, was driven above a mile; and on the spot where it fell it buried itself a fathom deep in the ground .... That enormous engine was flanked by two fellows almost of equal magnitude: the long order of the Turkish artillery was pointed against the wall; 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.”—Id.,pars. 6, 11.GNT 74.1

These items are sufficient to designate the point of the true application of the prophecy.GNT 75.1

In the year 1449, at the death of the emperor of the Eastern Empire of Rome, that empire had dwindled almost to the very walls of the capital itself. And so certain did it seem that the capital itself must shortly fall, that the successor to the throne would not accept the place without the knowledge and permission of Amurath, the sultan of the Turks. And thus that empire at that time really passed under the control of the Turkish power; and all that remained to complete the blotting out of the empire in every respect, was the actual taking of the capital, which was accomplished by Mahomet II, May 29, 1453.GNT 75.2

The time of the Sixth Trumpet began immediately upon the expiration of the Fifth, July 27, 1449; and was to continue “an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year.” Counting 30 days to the month, according to the Scriptural mode of computing time, a year is 360 days; and taking “each day for a year” (Ezekiel 4:4-6), we have 360 years. A month—30 days—is 30 years. A day is 1 year. These, added together, give 391 years. From July 27, 1449, the 391 years reach to July 27, 1840. But there is “an hour” more. An hour is the twenty-fourth part of a day; and (a day for a year) this would be the twenty-fourth part of a year, or fifteen days. Fifteen days from July 27, extend to August 11. Therefore Aug. 11, 1840, this period of an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, would expire. For this length of time, and to this date, the power of the Ottoman Empire was to continue.GNT 75.3

And as that power, in the place of Eastern Rome, was made complete in its sovereignty by the voluntary surrender to it of the authority of Eastern Rome; so, when the end of the time had come which was marked for its continuance, that power itself, as an independency, should be expected to cease—and in the same way. And on that very day the actual power of the Turkish government passed into the hands of the great Powers of Europe; and from that day to this, the very existence of the Ottoman Empire has been solely dependent on the support of these great Powers.GNT 76.1

Before the expiration of that time, the light of this prophecy was seen; and in 1838, two years before the time, it was announced to the world that Aug. 11, 1840, the independence of the Turkish power would cease. For several years there had been discontent on the part of Egypt and her pasha, which were subject to the Turkish power. In 1839 actual hostilities were begun, and the forces of the pasha of Egypt were victorious, the sultan’s army was destroyed, and his fleet was captured and taken into Egypt.GNT 76.2

According to all regular order of human events, this matter should have ended in the breaking away of Egypt from the Turkish power, and the establishment of her independence of that power. But instead of this, the four Powers—Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia—entered upon the scene, interposed their united authority, and determined, themselves, to settle the controversy. And the way in which it was settled was that the pasha of Egypt must again yield himself in subjection to the defeated sultan, whose standing and authority these Powers assured, and for which they became responsible. And this arrangement, by which the authority of the Turkish Empire passed into the hands of the Powers of Europe, was completed Aug. 11, 1840, the very day to which the time marked in the prophecy continued; and the very day which, in the light of that prophecy, had, two years before, been named for this very result.GNT 77.1

The following extract from an official document, which appeared in the Moniteur Ottoman, Aug. 22, 1840, will give an idea of the course of affairs at this juncture. The conference spoken of was composed of the four Powers above named, and was held in London, July 15, 1840:—GNT 77.2

“Subsequent to the occurrence of the disputes alluded to, and after the reverses experienced, as known at all the world, the ambassadors of the great Powers at Constantinople, in a collective official note, declared that their governments were unanimously agreed upon taking measures to arrange the said differences. The Sublime Porte with a view of putting a stop to the effusion of Mussulman blood, and to the various evils which would arise from a renewal of hostilities, accepted the intervention of the great Powers.”GNT 77.3

Here was certainly a voluntary surrender of the question into the hands of the great Powers. But this document further says:—GNT 78.1

“His Excellency, Sheik Effendi, the Bey Likgis, was therefore dispatched as plenipotentiary to represent the Sublime Porte at the conference which took place in London, for the purpose in question. It having been felt that all the zealous labors of the conferences of London in the settlement of the pasha’s pretensions were useless; and that the only public way was to have recourse to coercive measures to reduce him to obedience in case he persisted in not listening to pacific overtures; the Powers have, together with the Ottoman plenipotentiary, drawn up and signed a treaty, whereby the sultan offers the pasha the hereditary government of Egypt, and all that part of Syria extending from the Gulf of Suez to the lake of Tiberias, together with the province of Acre, for life; the pasha, on his part, evacuating all other parts of the sultan’s dominions now occupied by him, and returning the Ottoman fleet. A certain space of time has been granted him to accede to these terms; and, as the proposals of the sultan and his allies, the four Powers, do not admit of any change or qualifications: if the pasha refuses to accede to them, it is evident that the evil consequences to fall upon him will be attributable solely to his own fault.GNT 78.2

“His Excellency, Rifat Bey, Musleshar for foreign affairs, has been dispatched in a government steamer to Alexandria, to communicate the ultimatum to the pasha.”GNT 78.3

1. That the sultan, conscious of his own weakness, did voluntarily accept the intervention of the great Powers of Europe to settle his difficulties, which he could not settle himself.GNT 79.1

2. That they (the great Powers) were agreed on taking measures to settle the difficulties.GNT 79.2

3. That the ultimatum of the London conference left it with the sultan to arrange the affair with Mehemet, if he could. The sultan was to offer to him the terms of settlement. So that, if Mehemet accepted the terms, there would still be no actual intervention of the Powers between the sultan and pasha.GNT 79.3

4. That if Mehemet rejected the sultan’s offer, the ultimatum admitted of “no change or qualification;” the great Powers stood pledge to coerce him into submission. So long, therefore, as the sultan held the ultimatum in his own hands, he still maintained the independence of his throne. But that document once submitted to Mehemet, it would be forever beyond his reach to control the question. It would be for Mehemet to say whether the Powers should interpose or not.GNT 79.4

5. The sultan did dispatch Rifat Bey in a government steamer (which left Constantinople August 5) to Alexandria, to communicate to Mehemet the ultimatum.GNT 79.5

This was a voluntary act on the part of the sultan.GNT 79.6

A proper question then is: When was that document put officially under the control of Mehemet Ali?GNT 79.7

The following extract from a letter of a correspondent of the London Morning Chronicle of Sept. 18, 1840, dated Constantinople, Aug. 27, 1840, will answer the question:—GNT 80.1

“By the French steamer of the 24th, we have advices from Egypt to the 16th. They show no alteration in the resolution of the pasha. Confiding in the valor of his Arab army, and in the strength of the fortifications which defend his capital, he seems determined to abide by the last alternative; and as recourse to this, therefore, is now inevitable, all hope may be considered as at an end, of a termination of the affair without blood-shed. Immediately on the arrival of the Cyclops steamer with the news of the convention of the four Powers, Mehemet Ali, it is stated, had quitted Alexandria, to make a short tour through Lower Egypt; the object of absenting himself at such a moment being partly to avoid conferences with the European consuls, but principally to endeavor, by his own presence, to arouse the fanaticism of the Bedouin tribes, and facilitate the raising of his new levies. During the interval of his absence, the Turkish government steamer, which had reached Alexandria on the 11th, with the envoy Rifat Bey on board, had been by his orders placed in quarantine, and she was not released from it till the 16th. Previous, however, to the pasha’s leaving, and on the very day on which he had been admitted to pratique, the above-named functionary had had an audience of the pasha, and had communicated to him the command of the sultan, with respect to the evacuation of the Syrian provinces, appointing another audience for the next day, when, in the presence of the consuls of the European Powers, he would receive from him his definite answer, and inform him of the alternative of his refusing to obey; giving him the ten days which had been allotted him by the convention to decide on the course he should think fit to adopt.”GNT 80.2

According to this statement, the ultimatum was officially put into the hands of Mehemet Ali on the ELEVENTH DAY OF AUGUST, 1840.GNT 81.1

But there is further evidence, besides the fact of the arrival of Rifat Bey at Alexandria with the ultimatum on the 11th of August, that Ottoman supremacy died, or was dead, that day.GNT 81.2

Read the following letter from the same writer, dated Constantinople, Aug. 12, 1840:—GNT 81.3

“I can add but little to my last letter, on the subject of the plans of the four Powers; and I believe the details I then gave you comprise everything that is yet decided on. The portion of the pasha, as I then stated, is not to extend beyond the line of Acre, and does not include either Arabia or Candia. Egypt alone is to be hereditary in his family, and the province of Acre to be considered as a pashalic, to be governed by his son during his lifetime, but afterward to depend on the will of the Porte; and even this latter is only to be granted him on the condition of his accepting these terms, and delivering up the Ottoman fleet within ten days. In the event of his not doing so, his pashalic is to be cut off. Egypt is then to be offered him, with another ten days to deliberate on it, before actual force is employed against him.GNT 81.4

“The manner, however, of applying the force, should he refuse to comply with these terms—whether a simple blockade is to be established on the coast, or whether his capital is to be bombarded, and his armies attacked in the Syrian provinces—is the point which still remains to be learned; nor does a note delivered YESTERDAY by the four ambassadors, in answer to a question put to them by the Porte, as to the plan to be adopted in such an event, throw the least light on this subject. It simply states that provision has been made, and there is no necessity for the Divan alarming itself about any contingency that might afterward arise.”GNT 81.5

Let us now analyze this testimony.GNT 82.1

1. The letter is dated “Constantinople, August 12.”GNT 82.2

2. “Yesterday.” the 11th of August, the sultan applied in his own capital to the ambassadors of the four Powers, to know the measures which were to be taken in reference to a circumstance vitally affecting his empire; and was only told that “provision had been made,” but he could not know what it was; and that he need give himself no alarm “about any contingency that might afterward arise!” From that time, then, they, not he, would manage that.GNT 82.3

Where, then, was Turkish supremacy Aug. 11, 1840?—It was gone. Who now held the power?—The four great Powers of Europe. Therefore, according to the calculation made and published in 1838, on the basis of the times given in the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets—that on Aug. 11, 1840, the Turkish supremacy would cease—on that very day the Turkish supremacy did cease. Exactly as that supremacy of the East had passed from the last remnant of the Roman Empire into the hands of the Turkish sultan, Amurath II, it now passed from the Turkish sultan, Abdul-Medjid, into the hands of the four great Powers of Europe, where it has remained unto this hour.GNT 82.4

Several times since 1840 the Turkish government would have ceased to be, had it not been upheld by these Powers. In a little pamphlet on the Turkish-Armenian question, published in 1895 by the Armenian society in London, concerning England’s connection with this matter, it is said: “We [Britain] are responsible for Turkey. We saved the Turk twice at least from the doom which he richly merited. The Duke of Wellington sixty years ago lamented that the Russians had not entered Constantinople in 1825 and brought the Ottoman Empire to an end. We have much more reason to lament that it was not destroyed in 1853, and again in 1878. On both these occasions we interfered to save it. But for us there would be no sultan on the Bosporus.”GNT 82.5

On the same page is a quotation from an article by the Duke of Argyle, in the Times, in which the duke says: “It is not too much to say that England has twice saved Turkey from complete subjection since 1853. It is largely—mainly—due to our action that she now exists at all as an independent Power. On both these occasions we dragged the Powers of Europe along with us in maintaining the Ottoman government.”GNT 83.1

We do not reproduce these statements for the purpose of attaching blame to England, or to any other Power, for so maintaining the Ottoman government; but solely for the purpose of making clear the fact that the Ottoman Empire, since 1840, has not existed by its own power, but wholly by the action of other Powers. In accordance with this fact, the pamphlet truly says: “It is impossible to talk of the Ottoman Empire as if it were a nation, like the United States, or like Holland. It is an artificial ... creation of treaties, that is kept in existence by the Powers for their own convenience.”GNT 83.2

And those Powers which in 1840 took upon themselves the responsibility for Turkey, are among the great nations of to-day; and from that eleventh day of August unto the present hour these great nations of to-day have been perpetually burdened, and entangled, and perplexed, with The Eastern Question.GNT 84.1

Aug. 11, 1840, the time set by the Scripture for the existence and work of the Ottoman Empire as such, expired: on that day the Sixth Trumpet ceased to sound, and the second woe ended; and of the Seventh Trumpet—the Third Woe—we read: “The Second Woe is past; and, behold, the Third Woe cometh quickly.”GNT 84.2