ower being
in their mouth and in their tails--the one a lion, the other a serpent.
It was by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone that came from their
lion-heads that the third part of men was killed, or their conquests
were made; then with their serpent-like tails would they torment or
"hurt" all those who would not adopt the Moslem faith, being in this
respect like the scorpion locusts. Their lion-heads would denote their
invincible strength and courage; and their serpent-tails, the tormenting
sting inflicted upon those whom they subdued but who would not accept
their religion. It is not said that the riders were the direct agents of
destruction--not the Moslem faith as a religion--but it was the horses
that accomplished the deadly work--the Ottomans as a political body.
This was the power that extended conquests and established their empire,
although it was accompanied by the religious system, working in perfect
harmony.

It is said that the "rest of the men which were not killed by these
plagues" repented not. This expression doubtless signifies the Western,
or Latin, church. They saw these judgments of the Euphratean horsemen on
the Eastern empire, and the triumph of the Moslem sword and faith (the
woe fell as a judgment upon the Eastern church); still, they continued
as before in their abominable idolatries, by which is probably meant
their worship of the virgin Mary, saints, relics, and images. There was
no reformation. Error, superstition, and ecclesiastical usurpation
prevailed as before.

The Turks obtained their first victory over the Christians of the
Eastern, or Greek, empire in A.D. 1281. Within ten years the Latins who
inhabited Palestine were entirely overthrown (see Gibbon, Vol. VI, p.
47), and the way was now clear for Turkish aggression against the Greek
empire. Before the end of the century the four Sultanies mentioned were
combined into one consolidated empire under Osman (corrupted by
Europeans into Ottoman) and from him took the name which it still
retains--the Ottoman empire. From the time they were let loose, the
Turks continued their aggressions until A.D. 1453, when Constantinople
fell before their victorious arms, and the Eastern empire, with the last
of the Constantines, sunk to rise no more. "The Turkish sword and the
religion of the Koran were enthroned in the Christian metropolis of the
Roman emperors; and the proud Moslem had the Christian dog completely
under his foot." The Ottoman