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Ottoman Empire in Prophecy, May 24
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.
Revelation 9:14, 15
.
The history of nations that one after another have occupied their allotted
time and place, unconsciously witnessing to the truth of which they them-
selves knew not the meaning, speaks to us. To every nation and to every
individual of today God has assigned a place in His great plan. Today men
and nations are being measured by the plummet in the hand of Him who
makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and
God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes....
All that prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time,
has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all
which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order.
In the year 1840, another remarkable fulfilment of prophecy excited
widespread interest. Two years before, Josiah Litch, one of the leading min-
isters preaching the second advent, published an exposition of
Revelation 9
,
predicting the fall of the Ottoman empire. According to his calculations,
this power was to be overthrown “in A.D. 1840, sometime in the month
of August;” and only a few days previous to its accomplishment he wrote:
“Allowing the first period, 150 years, to have been exactly fulfilled before
Deacozes ascended the throne by permission of the Turks, and that the 391
years, fifteen days, commenced at the close of the first period, it will end
on the 11th of August, 1840, when the Ottoman power in Constantinople
may be expected to be broken. And this, I believe, will be found to be the
case.”—Josiah Litch, in
Signs of the Times, and Expositor of Prophecy,
August 1, 1840
.
At the very time specified, Turkey, through her ambassadors, accepted
the protection of the allied powers of Europe, and thus placed herself under
the control of Christian nations. The event exactly fulfilled the prediction....
A wonderful impetus was given to the advent movement.
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