"Page 335. Fall of the Ottoman Empire.—The impact of Moslem Turkey upon Europe after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 was as severe as had been the catastrophic conquests of the Moslem Saracens, during the century and a half after the death of Mohammed, upon the 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. GC 691.1"
"And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men."
The EGW passage directly references the interpretation of Revelation 9:15 regarding the decline of the Ottoman Empire. It's more than a thematic parallel; it's a specific application of the prophecy.
"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, August 1, 1840. See also article in The Signs of the Times and Expositor of Prophecy, February 1, 1841; and J. N. Loughborough, The Great Second Advent Movement (1905 ed.), pp. 129-132. The book by Uriah Smith, Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, rev. ed. off 1944, discusses the prophetic timing of this prophecy on pages 506-517. GC 691.2"
"And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men."
This EGW passage explicitly discusses Josiah Litch's interpretation of Revelation 9:15 and its connection to the fall of the Ottoman Empire. It's a direct reference and application of the verse.
"Page 340. 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. GC 691.4"
"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
The EGW passage discusses the withholding of the Bible from the people before Vatican II, which aligns thematically with Matthew 23:13, where Jesus condemns the Pharisees for hindering access to the kingdom of heaven. The core idea of obstructing access to spiritual truth connects the two.
"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. 101-110 (2d Edinburgh ed., 1853, translated by D. D. Scott); G. H. Putnam, Books and Their Makers During the Middle Ages, vol. 1, pt. 2, ch. 2, pars. 49, 54-56. See also Index of Prohibited Books (Vatican Polyglot Press, 1930), pp. IX, X; Timothy Hurley, A Commentary on the Present Index Legislation (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1908), p. 71; Translation of the Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1903), p. 413. GC 691.5"
"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
The EGW passage discusses the Roman Catholic Church's historical opposition to the laity reading the Bible. Matthew 23:13 speaks of the scribes and Pharisees hindering people from entering the kingdom of heaven. The parallel lies in the act of obstructing access to spiritual truth, whether through scripture or the kingdom of heaven. The confidence is increased due to the directness of the parallel.