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ignorant of the change, accidentally returned to the capital, asserted with becoming zeal
the interest of his absent brother. An ambassador, the historian Phranza, was immediately
dispatched to the court of Adrianople. Amurath received him with honour and dismissed
him with gifts; but the gracious approbation of the Turkish sultan announced his suprem-
acy, and the approaching downfall of the Eastern empire. By the hands of two illustrious
deputies, the Imperial crown was placed at Sparta on the head of Constantine (The De-
cline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. VI, chapter 67, p. 365).

Notes Josiah Litch --

Let this historical fact be carefully examined in connection with the prediction [given]
above. This was not a violent assault made on the Greeks, by which their empire was
overthrown and their independence taken away, but simply a voluntary surrender of that
independence into the hands of the Turks, by saying, "I cannot reign unless you permit"
(Prophetic Expositions, Vol. II, pps. 182-183).

Verse 15: "And they were released. These four angels had been kept ready for this moment,
for this day and month and year, to kill a third of mankind."

We learn from verse 15 that the destroying angels had been in preparation for a certain
period of time, but were held in restraint. This is typical of the way YEHOVAH works. His judg-
ment upon the Amorites was delayed for four generations because their iniquity was "not yet full"
(Genesis 15:16). Regarding the specified period of preparation, "for this moment, for this day and
month and year," Bossuet remarks that "The time being so exactly marked by the prophet, lets us
see how exactly God determines the periods."

The four angels were loosed "for this moment [hour], for this day and month and year, to
kill a third of mankind." This period, during which Ottoman supremacy was to exist, amounts to
391 years and 15 days, as the following computation shows: A prophetic year is 360 prophetic
days; a prophetic month, 30 prophetic days; one prophetic day is the same -- 1 prophet day; and an
hour, or the 24th part of a prophetic day. Taking the Biblical principle of a day for a year, we get a
total of 391 years plus a 24th part of a year -- or 15 prophetic days. The whole amounts to 391
years and 15 days.

Continues Josiah Litch --

But although the four angels were thus loosed by the voluntary submission of the Greeks,
yet another doom awaited the seat of empire. Amurath, the sultan to whom the submis-
sion of Deacozes was made, and by whose permission he reigned in Constantinople, soon
after died, and was succeeded in the empire, in 1451, by Mahomet II, who set his heart on
Constantinople, and determined to make it a prey.

He accordingly made preparations for besieging and taking the city. The siege com-
menced 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 day of May following. And the eastern city of the Cae-
sars became the seat of the Ottoman Empire (ibid., p. 183)

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