The events of the Protestant period naturally divide it into shorter
epochs of about a century each in length. The historian D'Aubigne, who
wrote about 1835, noticed this distinction and referred to it in his
famous History of the Reformation. These are his words: "It has been
said that the three last centuries, the sixteenth, the seventeenth,
and the eighteenth may be conceived as an immense battle of _three
days_' duration. We willingly adopt this beautiful comparison ... the
first day was the battle of God, the second the battle of the priest,
the third the battle of Reason. What will be the fourth? In our
opinion the confused strife, the deadly contest of all these powers
together TO END IN THE VICTORY OF HIM TO WHOM TRIUMPH BELONGS."--Book
XI, Chap. 9.

"Three days and a half," or three hundred and fifty years, after the
formation of the first Protestant creed, in 1530, God began to reveal
special light and truth on his Word and to cause a great awakening,
which is gradually resulting in the rejection of human ecclesiastical
rule, the recognition of the primitive government of God, and the
restoration of all the pure truths of the Word of God.

Another point in the prophecy under consideration assists us in fixing
the chronology of the reformation predicted. The "great earthquake"
stands closely associated with the time of the resurrection and
exaltation of the witnesses. The principles of interpreting symbols
would lead us to identify this earthquake as a mighty political
convulsion destructive in its nature, and yet one that would be
overruled for the furtherance of Christ's kingdom--a convulsion that
would also terminate the destructive reign of the "second woe." I can
not here digress to give proofs, but there is no doubt that the
second woe of Revelation (see chap. 9:13-20) signifies the political
dominancy of the Ottoman Empire. This power, constituting the
political backbone of Mohammedanism, has indeed been a most serious
woe upon the inhabitants of the earth and an obstacle in the path of
true missionary progress. With these facts before us, we can clearly
see that the earthquake was the great European War and that we are now
living in the time when a special reformation is due.

[Sidenote: Another important series]

Another parallel series of prophecies covering the same ground and
terminating at the same point will bring the subject of the Last
Reformation to a grand climax. I have shown that the re