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2) Note Gibbon's expression -- "the...destructive growth of the monster." Here he clearly distin-
guishes the very characteristic of "destroyer" -- which is predicted of it in the Bible.

3) Gibbon emphasizes "the singular accuracy of the date." In the original documents from which
he drew his material, he found this date so specifically mentioned that he was forced to remark on
its "singular accuracy." To those who recognize YEHOVAH's dealings with the nations and king-
doms of this world, and who consider that from the time when these had a king over them, a period
of 150 years is given in which to do a certain work, it is not at all surprising that the date should be
indicated with such singular accuracy.

The work of destruction, then, which was to subvert the last of the Roman Empire, began
July 27, 1299, and was to continue 150 years -- which would reach to July 27, A.D. 1449. "During
that whole period the [Islamic] Turks were engaged in an almost perpetual war with the Greek
Empire, but yet without conquering it. They seized upon and held several of the Greek provinces,
but still Greek independence was maintained in Constantinople. But in 1449, the termination of the
one hundred and fifty years, a change came" (Josiah Litch, Prophetic Expositions, Vol. II, p. 181).
The history of this is to be found under the sixth trumpet.

Verse 12: "The first woe has passed, but there are still two woes to come."

This verse puts a definite end to the spread of this plague; and the first woe covers the time
from the rise of Islam until the end of the five months. Then the first woe was to end, and the sec-
ond begin. This verse also recalls to our minds the three-times repeated "Woe" of Revelation 8:13
-- reminding us of the specially calamitous nature of the scourges that are symbolized under the last
three trumpets.

Islam Triumphs Where Apostasy Prevails

Author H. Grattan Guinness remarks that "Mohammedanism is one of those great move-
ments which have impressed a new and lasting character upon a vast number of the nations of the
world. No power known to history has ever wielded the sceptre over a wider sphere than this has
done." And the historian Edward Gibbon (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) makes
the following remarks concerning the successors of Muhammad --

They reigned by right of conquest over the nations of the East, to whom the name of lib-
erty was unknown, and who were accustomed to applaud in their tyrants the acts of vio-
lence and severity that were performed at their own expense. Under the last of the Ommi-
ades the Arabian empire extended two hundred days' journey from east to west, from the
confines of Tartary and India, to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

Here is something we should remember: It is not because of the amazing spread of Islam in
so short a time -- or because of the absolute and tyrannical nature of its rule -- that mention is made
of it in these visions of YEHOVAH. Rather -- it is because by it the judgment of YEHOVAH was
executed upon those parts of the earth which had received the gospel in the early days, but which
had turned that light of YEHOVAH into a darkness worse than that of paganism. The words of Ye-
shua the Messiah in Matthew 6:23 pertain to this time: "How great is that darkness!" In the words

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