Eastern Roman Empire . Throughout the Reformation era , Turkey was a continual threat at the eastern gates of European Christendom ; the writings of the Reformers are full of condemnation of the Ottoman power . Christian writers since have been concerned with the role of Turkey in future world events , and commentators on prophecy have seen Turkish power and its decline forecast in Scripture .
For the latter chapter , under the " hour , day , month , year " prophecy , as part of the sixth trumpet , Josiah Litch worked out an application of the time prophecy , terminating Turkish independence in August , 1840 . Litch ' s view can be found in full in his The Probability of the Second Coming of Christ About A . D . 1843 ( Published in June , 1838 ); An Address to the Clergy ( published in the spring of 1840 ; a second edition , with historical data in support of the accuracy of former calculations of the prophetic period extending to the fall of the Ottoman Empire , was published in 1841 ); and an article in Signs of the Times and Expositor of Prophecy , Aug . 1 , 1840 . See also article in Signs of the Times and Expositor of Prophecy , Feb . 1 , 1841 ; and J . N . Loughborough , The Great Advent Movement ( 1905 ed .), pp . 129-132 . The book by Uriah Smith , Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation , rev . ed . of 1944 , discusses the prophetic timing of this prophecy on pages 506517 .
For the earlier history of the Ottoman Empire and the decline of the Turkish power , see also William Miller , The Ottoman Empire and Its Successors , 1801-1927 ( Cambridge , England : University Press , 1936 ); George G . S . L . Eversley , The Turkish Empire from 1288 to 1914 ( London : T . Fisher Unwin , Ltd ., 2d ed ., 1923 ); Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall , Geschichte des Osmannischen Reiches ( Pesth : C . A . Hartleben , 2d ed ., 1834-36 ), 4 vols .; Herbert A . Gibbons , Foundation of the Ottoman Empire , 1300-1403 ( Oxford : University Press , 1916 ); Arnold J . Toynbee and Kenneth B . Kirkwood , Turkey ( London , 1926 ).
Page 340 . [ Return to Pages : 340 , 565 , 596 ] Withholding the Bible From the People . -- The reader will recognize that the text of this volume was written prior to Vatican Council II , with its somewhat altered policies in regard to the reading of the Scriptures .
Through the centuries , the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church toward circulation of the Holy Scriptures in vernacular versions among the laity shows up as negative . See for example G . P . Fisher , The Reformation , ch . 15 , par . 16 ( 1873 ed ., pp . 530-532 ); J . Cardinal Gibbons , The Faith of Our Fathers , ch . 8 ( 49th ed ., 1897 ), Pp . 98-117 ; John Dowling , History of Romanism , b . 7 , ch . 2 , Sec . 14 ; and b . 9 , ch . 3 , secs . 24-27 ( 1871 ed ., pp . 491-496 , 621- 625 ); L . F . Bungener , History of the Council of Trent , pp . 101110 ( 2d Edinburgh ed ., 1853 , translated by D . D . Scott ); G . H . Putnam , Books and Their Makers During the Middle Ages ,
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