The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

the only one that succeeded the Saracens that in any respect fulfilled the symbolisms of
this sixth trumpet; and in this power all the conditions required by the symbols are met.
Unbinding the four angels
The symbolism requires the release of four divisions of invading armies. (Verses 14-16.)
These conditions were met in the Mohammedan Tartar tribes of Asia who ravaged the
Eastern Roman Empire from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries, and one of the
divisions, the Ottoman Turks, has continued up to the present time, as is well known.
They came from outside the Roman Empire as the symbol requires (bound at the great
river Euphrates), and consisted of four different tribes or divisions. They and their
successors constituted an innumerable host of warriors, and their manner of warfare was
of the most dreadful and destructive character. They constituted a cavalry host. (Verse 16.)
Before invading the Roman territory they each acquired great power in Eastern countries
and thus became ambitious to conquer the world; thus they were released. A detailed
account of the rise and conquest of these four tribes and their merging into empires is
found in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapters 57, 64, and 65.
The first of these tribes was that of the Turkmans, or, as frequently called, the Seljukians.
Their first leader was Togrul Beg, who overturned the Saracenic Empire of the Caliphs and
founded a kingdom at Baghdad about 1055 AD. His being "loosed" is represented in his
conquest of Persia and Media. He and his followers were most zealous Mohammedans,
and Togrul Beg was a vigorous promoter of the faith he professed. As a reward for his
success he was declared to be the temporal lieutenant of the vicar of the Prophet. By this
exaltation to the position of the defender of the Mohammedan faith he and his successors
were incited to make conquests of Armenia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, and lesser Asia, and to
become like a scourge to the idolatrous Christian inhabitants. Besides compelling many of
them to pay tribute, and to witness the humiliation of their priests and bishops, they
slaughtered many. Under Alp Arslan, their chief leader after Togrul Beg, Asia Minor,
which had previously been invaded by the Saracens, was brought completely under the
dominion of these Seljukian Turks.
The second tribe or division was that of the Moguls or Tartars, their principal leader being
Genghis Khan, about 1200 AD, who, having conquered Persia, passed the Euphrates,
devastated Syria, subdued Armenia and Iconium, and finally conquered the Seljukian
dynasty. Gibbon says: "Since the invasion of the Arabs (Saracens) in the eighth century,
Europe had never been exposed to a similar calamity as by this Mogul host."
He also mentions the fact of the destruction of the idolatrous Christian communities of
Asia Minor by them. Another historian writes concerning this power and its evil effects
upon mankind:
"While the power of the Seljukian Turks was declining in Western Asia, the Moguls, a
fierce and utterly untamed tribe that first issued from the easternmost part of Chinese
Tartary, were building up a new dynasty among the various tribes of the central portion of
the continent. In the year 1156 was born their greatest chieftain, Timujin, afterwards