is very pointed.
“Philosophists was a name given to several persons in France, who entered into a combination to overthrow the religion of Jesus, and eradicate from the human heart every religious sentiment. The man more particularly to whom this idea first occurred, was Voltaire, who being weary (as he said himself) of hearing it repeated that twelve men were sufficient to establish Christianity, resolved to prove that one might be sufficient to overturn it. Full of this project, he swore, before the year 1730, to devote his life to its accomplishment, and for some time he flattered himself that he should enjoy alone the glory of destroying the Christian religion. He found, however, that associates would be necessary; and from the numerous tribe of his admirers and disciples, he chose D’Alembert and Diderot, as the most proper persons to co-operate with him in his designs. He contrived also to enlist Frederick II., king of Prussia, who became one of his most zealous coadjutors, until he found that Voltaire was waging war with the throne as well as the altar. This, indeed, was not originally Voltaire’s intention. He was vain; from natural disposition an aristocrat, and an admirer of royalty. But when he found that almost every sovereign but Frederick disapproved of his ambitious designs, as soon as he perceived their issue, he determined to oppose all the governments on earth rather than forfeit the glory with which he flattered himself, of vanquishing Christ and his apostles in the field of controversy.
“He now set himself, with his associates, D’Alembert and Diderot, to excite universal discontent with the established order of things. For this purpose, they formed secret societies, assumed new names, and employed an enigmatical language. In their secret meetings they professed to celebrate the mysteries of _Mythra_; and their great object, as they professed to one another, was to confound the wretch, meaning Jesus Christ. Hence their secret watchword was ‘Crush the wretch.’ The following are some of their doctrines, as found in their books expressly designed for general circulation. Sometimes standing out in their naked horror, at other times enveloped in sophistry and disguise. The Universal Cause, that God of the philosophers, of the Jews, and of the Christians, is but a chimera and a phantom–The phenomena of nature only prove the existence of God to a few prepossessed men–It is more reasonable to admit, with Manes, of a two-fold God, than of the God of Christianity–We can not know whether a God really exists, or whether there is any difference between good and evil, or vice and virtue–Nothing can be more absurd than to believe the soul a spiritual being–The immortality of the soul, so far from stimulating men to the practise of virtue, is nothing but a barbarous, desperate, fatal tenet, and contrary to all legislation–All ideas of justice and injustice, of virtue and vice, of glory and infamy, are purely arbitrary, and dependent on custom–Conscience and remorse are nothing but the foresight of those physical penalties to which crimes expose us–The man who is above the law, can commit, without remorse, the dishonest act that may serve his purpose–The fear of God, so far from being the beginning of wisdom, should be the beginning of folly–The command to love one’s parents is more the work of education than of nature–Modesty is only an invention of refined voluptuousness–The law which condemns married people to live together, becomes barbarous and cruel on the day they cease to love one another.
“Such were the atrocious sentiments, though sometimes artfully veiled, which were disseminated in their books, and which, spreading all over Europe, imperceptibly took possession of the public mind, and prepared the way for the subversion of religion, morals, and government. As soon as the sale of the works was sufficient to pay expenses, inferior editions were printed and given away, or sold at a very low price; circulating libraries of them were formed, and reading societies instituted. While they constantly denied these productions to the world, they contrived to give them a false celebrity through their confidential agents and correspondents, who were not themselves always trusted with the entire secret.
“By degrees they got possession nearly of all the reviews and periodical publications; established a general intercourse, by means of hawkers and pedlars, with the distant provinces; and instituted an office to supply all schools with teachers; and thus did they acquire unprecedented dominion over every species of literature, over the minds of all ranks of people, and the education of the youth, without giving any alarm to the world. The lovers of wit and polite literature were caught by Voltaire; the men of science were perverted, and children corrupted in the first rudiments of learning, by D’Alembert and Diderot; stronger appetites were fed by the secret club of Baron Holbach; the imaginations of the higher orders were set dangerously afloat by Montesquieu; and the multitude of all ranks was surprised, confounded, and hurried away by Rousseau. Thus was the public mind in France completely corrupted, and the way prepared for the dreadful scenes that followed.”
But there is also another chapter to the dark history of this “noisome and grievous sore.” The same author says again:
“After Voltaire had broached his system of infidel philosophy, and brought it unto perfection, it was taken up by the celebrated Dr. Adam Weishaupt, professor of canon law in the University of Ingolstadt, and by him perfected as a system of light or illuminism. On the 1st of May, 1776, he founded, among the students of the above-named University, a secret society under the name of the _Illuminati_, whose avowed object was to diffuse the light of science, these secret societies being so many radiating centers of light. But the science taught was the most atrocious infidelity, and its object the overturning of all government and religion. Free masonry, being in high repute all over Europe when Weishaupt first formed the plan of his society, he availed himself of its secrecy to introduce his new order, which rapidly spread, by the efforts of its founders and disciples, through all those countries, and found its way even to the United States. It would not be possible here to give even an outline of the nature and constitution of this extraordinary society–of its secrets and mysteries–of the deep dissimulation, consummate hypocrisy, and shocking impiety of its founder and his associates–of their Jesuitical arts in concealing their real objects, and their incredible industry and astonishing exertions in making converts–of the absolute despotism and complete system of _espionage_ established throughout the order–of the blind obedience exacted of the _novices_, and the absolute power of life and death assumed by the order and conceded by the novices–of the pretended morality, real blasphemies, and absolute atheism of the founder and his tried friends. Reference can only be made to these things as well-established facts.
“It is important here to bear in mind one or two facts, in order to realize what an engine of corruption this secret organization of the _Illuminati_ was. One fact is, the high popularity which these secret societies at that period enjoyed. It was unbounded. There is something which commends such secret organizations most powerfully to the depraved human nature. Men love them because they are secret, and because they can wield such tremendous power. The other fact to be considered, is the absence, to a such vast extent, of the controlling elements of true religion in the European mind, and its predisposition to skepticism. The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century had broken the shackles of priestly Papal superstition over the human mind; and [true] evangelical doctrine not being introduced to supply the vacuum, the mass swung readily over from the regions of dark superstition to blank atheism. Thus were the elements ready prepared to hand for such spirits as Voltaire, D’Alembert, Diderot, Weishaupt, and others, to work upon, and by reason of their secret powerful agencies, to mould to their own liking.
“It was now this damning system of infidelity, under the specious name of philosophy, light, and science, spread with such untiring industry over the European mind, that unhinged the whole framework of society, and prepared it, like a vast magazine, for an awful explosion. All the principles that held society together in the fear of God and future retribution–regard for human law–respect for magistrates, parents, and the marriage-tie–yea, in the very distinctions of virtue and vice, had been unsettled or taken away. They had been reasoned down and laughed out of the world; and when these only restraints, which God has imposed upon human selfishness and passion were removed, what was then to hold back those fierce passions and that deep selfishness from the most unbounded excesses? God was no more feared–government was no more sacred–religion was a delusion–immorality was a lie–virtue was a name–the marriage-tie was a farce–modesty was refined voluptuousness: and when men were persuaded of these things, society began to roll and heave under the long swells of that portentous storm of wrath which was soon to break, in all its desolating fury, over the earth.”
In the facts here presented it may be seen how far we are justified in applying to them this first vial of wrath. The vial was poured out “upon the earth”–on the inhabitants of the ten kingdoms when in a state of tranquility. This was their condition, unsuspicious of danger, when the dread infection was spread through society. According to the testimony of Pres. Dwight, within ten years from the first establishment of the Illuminati, in 1776, “they were established in great numbers through Germany, Sweden, Prussia, Poland, Austria, Holland, France, Switzerland, Italy, England, Scotland, and America. They spread with a rapidity which nothing but fact could have induced any sober mind to believe.”
This system of infidelity is well symbolized by a noisome, grevious ulcer, which is loathsome to the sight, offensive to the smell, corrupting to the body, and productive of awful pain. That it appeared so to others besides the author of the Revelation is shown by the following epithets which Burke, the celebrated English orator, applied to the spirit of the French Revolution, which was only the discharged virus of these ulcers. He styled it “the fever of Jacobinism;” “the epidemic of atheistical fanaticism;” “an evil lying deep in the corruptions of human nature;” “such a plague, that the precaution of the most severe quarantine ought to be established against it.” The result, he says, was “the corruption of all morals,” “the decomposition of all society.” What greater plague could fall upon Romanism and Protestantism than this fearful scourge of infidelity?
I have dwelt for a considerable length of time upon this subject, because of its deep interest, and also because I desired to verify the application of the symbol as much as possible, on account of its close connection with the pouring out of the vials which follow.
3. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
This vial was poured out upon the “sea.” The sea is a large body of water within the earth, subject to violent storms and agitations. As a symbol it would denote some central power or kingdom within the symbolic earth in a state of revolution. The effects produced by this vial were two-fold–the waters were changed into blood as of a dead man, and all the living creatures in the sea died. The waters of the sea represent the inhabitants of this kingdom (see a similar explanation of _water_ in chap. 17:15) as the earth does the inhabitants of the empire, or the ten kingdoms. The living creatures in the sea, therefore, could signify the rulers and princes of the kingdom, as they bear an analagous relation to the people that fishes do to the waters. The statement that the waters of the sea became “as the blood of a dead man” is doubtless intended to signify a much more dreadful state of things than if they had simply been changed to blood. They were converted into black and poisonous, or corrupt, blood. This denotes the vast slaughter and massacre of the inhabitants of this kingdom; while the death of the living creatures denotes the extinction of those in power.
It may appear at first that making the conversion of water into blood a symbol of bloodshed is adopting the literal method of interpretation; but not so, and for the following reason: The symbol is taken from nature, the waters of the sea representing the inhabitants of the kingdom. The waters are changed into an unnatural state or element, that of blood, and this change denotes an analagous one passing upon the inhabitants. Their continuing in life would be their remaining as waters: their massacre and destruction would be the waters changed to blood–a horrible and unnatural element. Likewise, the death of the living things in the sea is a similar destruction overtaking the kings, rulers, and princes.
With our understanding of the nature of the first vial, which prepared the way for the pouring out of this one, we shall have no difficulty whatever in identifying this symbol with the terrible convulsions of the French Revolution. It followed as a necessary consequence of the first. Voltaire and his coadjutors had insulted and trampled in the dust everything held sacred in human eyes, and this fully prepared the way for the scenes of terror that followed.
In studying these vials the reader should bear in mind constantly the reason _why_ they were sent as judgments upon the nations of Europe–because of their former oppression of God’s people. From the days when the Popes received their first temporal authority at the hands of the Carlovingian king, Pepin and Charlemagne, France[11] constituted the real backbone of the Papacy, the very center of her power and authority, as all history will show. In the fourteenth century the Papal seat was removed from Rome to Avignon, in France, where it remained for about seventy years. During this period all the Popes were French, and “all their policies were shaped and controlled by the French kings.” To write a history of the Papacy during the Dark Ages is to outline the history of France, so closely are their affairs interwoven. Hence it is only natural that she should be symbolized as the “sea” in this part of the Apocalypse, with the other nations as tributaries. Ver. 4-6. That the French Revolution was in its effects a terrible blow to the thrones of despotism throughout Europe is shown by the following quotation from the Encyclopaedia Britannica: “We are coming to the verge of the French Revolution, which _surpasses all other revolutions the world has seen_ in its completeness, the largeness of its theatre, the long preparation for it … its _influence on the modern history of Europe_.” Art. France.
[Footnote 11: Pepin and Charlemagne were, properly speaking, simply German princes reigning in Gaul. The kingdom of France is usually dated from the accession of the first of the Capetian kings, late in the tenth century, 987. However, the Frankish nation, of whom the Carlovingian kings were leaders, laid the foundation of the French kingdom and gave a new name to Gaul–France.]
This revolution commenced on the fifth of May, 1789, in the Convocation of the States General, for the redress of grievances and the extrication of the government and nation from the difficulties under which they were laboring. A conflict had been going on between despotism and popular rights, the throne and nobility contending for absolute power, and the people, for freedom. But when in this encounter the popular party triumphed, there was no fear of God before the eyes of those who seized the reins of government. The infidelity of Voltaire and his associates had removed the last restraint upon human passion, and the scenes of terror that followed are without a parallel in history. The king was condemned to death and executed. The barbarous execution of the queen, Marie Antoinette, followed in about six months, and this was immediately succeeded by the decree of the National Convention, of the most infamous character, that of the violation of the tombs of St. Dennis and the profanation of the sepulchres of the kings of France. I will quote from Sir A. Alison’s noted History of Europe:
“By a decree of the Convention, these venerable asylums of departed greatness were ordered to be destroyed…. A furious multitude precipitated itself out of Paris; the tombs of Henry IV., of Francis I., and of Louis XII., were ransacked, and their bones scattered in the air. Even the glorious name of Turenne could not protect his grave from spoilation. His remains were almost undecayed, as when he received the fatal wound on the banks of the Lech. The bones of Charles V., the savior of his country, were dispersed. At his feet was found the coffin of the faithful Du Gueselin, and the French hands profaned the skeleton before which English invasion had rolled back. Most of these tombs were found to be strongly secured. Much time, and no small exertion of skill and labor, were required to burst their barriers. They would have resisted forever the decay of time or the violence of enemies; they yielded to the fury of domestic dissension. This was followed immediately by a general attack upon the monuments and remains of antiquity throughout all France. The sepulchres of the great of past ages, of the barons and generals of the feudal ages, of the paladins, and of the crusaders, were involved in one undistinguished ruin. It seemed as if the glories of antiquity were forgotten, or sought to be buried in oblivion. The tomb of Du Gueselin shared the same fate as that of Louis XIV. The skulls of monarchs and heroes were tossed about like foot balls by the profane multitude; like the grave-diggers in Hamlet, they made a jest of the lips before which the nations had trembled.”
Having begun by waging this profane warfare upon their own glorious dead, another scene of the fatal drama immediately succeeded. The same author continues: “Having massacred the great of the present and insulted the illustrious of former ages, nothing remained to the revolutionists but to direct their vengeance against heaven itself. Pache, Hebert, and Chaumette, the leaders of the municipality publicly expressed their determination ‘to dethrone the God of heaven, as well as the monarchs of earth.’ To accomplish this design, they prevailed on Gobet, the apostate constitutional bishop of Paris, to appear at the bar of the Assembly, accompanied by some of the clergy of his diocese, and there abjure the Christian faith. He declared ‘that no other national religion was now required but that of Liberty, equality, and morality.’ Many of the constitutional bishops and clergy in the Convention joined in the proposition. Crowds of drunken artisans and shameless prostitutes crowded to the bar, and trampled under their feet the sacred vases, consecrated for ages to the holiest purposes of religion. The churches were stripped of all their ornaments; their plate and valuable contents brought in heaps to the municipality and the Convention, from whence they were sent to the mint to be melted down. Trampling under foot the images of our Savior and the Virgin, they elevated, amid shouts of applause, the busts of Marat and Lepelletier, and danced around them, singing parodies on the Halleluiah, and dancing the Carmagnole.
“Shortly after a still more indecent exhibition took place before the assembly…. Hebert and Chaumette, and their associates, appeared at the bar and declared ‘that God did not exist, and that the worship of Reason was to be substituted in his stead.’ A veiled female, arrayed in blue drapery, was brought into the Assembly; and Chaumette, taking her by the hand, ‘Mortals,’ said he, ‘cease to tremble before the powerless thunders of a God whom your fears have created. Henceforth acknowledge no divinity but Reason. I offer you its noblest and purest image; if you must have idols, sacrifice only to this.’ When, letting fall the veil, he exclaimed, ‘Fall before the august Senate of Freedom, O Veil of Reason!’ At the same time, the goddess appeared personified by a celebrated beauty, the wife of Momoro, a printer, known in more than one character to most of the Convention. The goddess after being embraced by the president, was mounted on a magnificent car, and conducted, amid an immense crowd, to the cathedral of Notre Dame, to take the place of the Deity. There she was elevated on a high altar, and received the adoration of all present, while the young women, her attendants, whose alluring looks already sufficiently indicated their profession, retired into the chapels around the choir, where every species of licentiousness and obscenity was indulged in without control, with hardly any veil from the public gaze. To such a length was this carried, that Robespierre afterward declared that Chaumette deserved death for the abominations he had permitted on that occasion. Thenceforward that ancient edifice was called the _Temple of Reason_.”
Such horrible events are sickening to relate; but as I started out to describe the condition of this “sea” when it became as the blood of a dead man, I must be faithful to the task. God was now dethroned; the services of religion abandoned; every tenth day set apart for the hellish orgies of atheism and Reason; Marat was deified; the instrument of death sanctified by the name “the holy Guillotine”; on the public cemeteries was inscribed, “Death is an Eternal Sleep”; marriage was a civil contract, binding only during the pleasure of the contracting parties. Mademoiselle Arnout, a celebrated comedian, expressed the public feeling when she said, “_Marriage the sacrament of adultery_.” What an awful harvest would be expected of such seed! Alison continues:
“A Revolutionary Tribunal was formed at Nantes, under the direction of Carrier, and it soon outstripped even the rapid march of Danton and Robespierre. Their principle was that it was necessary to destroy _en masse_, all the prisoners. At their command was formed a corps, called the Legion of Marat, composed of the most determined and bloodthirsty of the revolutionists, the members of which were entitled, on their own authority, to incarcerate any person whom they chose. The number of their prisoners was soon between three and four thousand, and they divided among themselves all their property. Whenever a further supply of captives was wanted, the alarm was spread of a counter-revolution, the _generale_ beat, the cannon planted; and this was followed immediately by innumerable arrests. Nor were they long in disposing of their captives. The miserable wretches were either slain with poinards in prison, or carried out in a vessel and drowned by wholesale in the Loire. On one occasion a hundred ‘fanatical priests,’ as they were termed, were taken out together, striped of their clothes, and precipitated into the waters…. Women big with child, infants eight, nine, and ten years of age, were thrown together into the stream, on the sides of which men, armed with sabres, were placed to cut off their heads if the waves should throw them undrowned on the shore.
“On one occasion, by orders of Carrier, twenty-three of the revolutionists, on another twenty-four, were guillotined without any trial. The executioner remonstrated, but in vain. Among them were many children of seven or eight years of age, and seven women; the executioner died two or three days after, with horror at what he himself had done. So great was the multitude of captives who were brought in on all sides, that the executioners, as well as the company of Marat, declared themselves exhausted with fatigue; and a new method of disposing of them was adopted, borrowed from Nero, but improved on the plan of that tyrant. A hundred or a hundred and fifty victims, for the most part women and children, were crowded together in a boat, with a concealed trap-door in the bottom, which was conducted into the middle of the Loire; at a signal given, the crew leaped into another boast, the bolts were withdrawn, and the shrieking victims precipitated into the waters, amid the laughter of the company of Marat, who stood on the banks to cut down any who approached the shore. This was what Carrier called his _Republican Baptisms_. The _Republican Marriages_ were, if possible, a still greater refinement of cruelty. Two persons of different sexes, bereft of every species of dress, were bound together, and after being left in torture in that situation for half an hour, thrown into the river. Such was the quantity of corpses accumulated in the Loire, that the water of that river was affected, so as to render a public ordinance necessary, forbidding the use of it to the inhabitants; and the mariners, when they heaved their anchors, frequently brought up boats charged with corpses. Birds of prey flocked to the shores and fed on human flesh; while the very fish became so poisonous, as to induce an order of the municipality of Nantes, prohibiting them to be taken by the fishermen.
“The scenes in the prisons which preceded these horrible executions exceeded all that romance had figured of the terrible. Many women died of terror the moment a man entered their cells, conceiving that they were about to be led out to the noyades; the floors were covered with the bodies of their infants, numbers of whom were yet quivering in the agonies of death. On one occasion, the inspector entered the prison to seek for a child, where, the evening before, he had left above three hundred infants; they were all gone in the morning, having been drowned the preceding night. Fifteen thousand persons perished either under the hands of the executioner, or of disease in prison, in one month: the total victims of the Reign of Terror at that place exceeded thirty thousand.”
After narrating scenes of terror in Paris, Alison says again: “Such accumulated horrors annihilated all the charities and intercourse of life. Before daybreak the shops of the provision merchants were besieged by crowds of women and children, clamoring for the food which the law of the _maximum_ in general prevented them from obtaining. The farmers trembled to bring their fruits to the market, the shop-keepers to expose them to sale. The richest quarters of the town were deserted; no equipages of crowds of passengers were to be seen on the streets; the sinister words, _Propriete Nationale_, imprinted in large characters on the walls, everywhere showed how far the work of confiscation had proceeded. Passengers hesitated to address their most intimate friends on meeting; the extent of calamity had rendered men suspicious even of those they loved most. Every one assumed the coarsest dress, and the most squalid appearance; an elegant exterior would have been the certain forerunner of destruction. At one hour only were any symptoms of animation seen: it was when the victims were conveyed to execution; the humane fled with horror from the sight, the infuriated rushed in crowds to satiate their eyes with the sight of human agony.
“Night came, but with it no diminution of the anxiety of the people. Every family early assembled its members; with trembling looks they gazed around the room, fearful that the very walls might harbor traitors. The sound of a foot, the stroke of a hammer, a voice in the streets, froze all hearts with horror. If a knock was heard at the door, every one, in agonized suspense, expected his fate. Unable to endure such protracted misery, numbers committed suicide. ‘Had the reign of Robespierre,’ said Freron, ‘continued longer, multitudes would have thrown themselves under the guillotine; the first of social affections, the love of life, was already extinguished in almost every heart.'”
With one more quotation from this historian I will dismiss this horrible theme: “The combination of wicked men who thereafter governed France, is without parallel in the history of the world. Their power, based on the organized weight of the multitude, and the ardent co-operation of the municipalities, everywhere installed by them in the position of power, was irresistible. All bowed the neck before this gigantic assemblage of wickedness. The revolutionary excesses daily increased, in consequence of the union which the constant dread of retribution produced among their perpetrators. There was no medium between taking part in these atrocities, and falling a victim to them. Virtue seemed powerless; energy appeared only in the extremity of resignation; religion in the heroism of which death was endured. There was not a hope left for France, had it not been for the dissentions which, as the natural result of their wickedness, sprung up among the authors of the public calamities.
“It is impossible not to be struck, in looking back on the fate of these different parties, with the singular and providential manner in which their crimes brought about their own punishment. No foreign interposition was necessary, no avenging angel was required to vindicate the justice of divine administration. They fell the victims of their own atrocity, of the passions which they themselves had let loose, of the injustice of which they had given the first example to others The Constitutionalists overthrew the ancient monarchy, and formed a limited government; but their imprudence in raising popular ambition paved the way for the tenth of August, and speedily brought themselves to the scaffold; the Girondists established their favored dream of a republic, and were the first victims of the fury which it excited; the Dantonists roused the populace against the Gironde, and soon fell under the axe which they had prepared for their rivals; the anarchists defied the power of ‘heaven itself,’ but scarce were their blasphemies uttered, when they were swept off by the partners of their bloody triumphs. One only power remained, alone, terrible, irresistible. This was the power of Death, wielded by a faction steeled against every feeling of humanity, dead to every principle of justice. In their iron hands, order resumed its sway from the influence of terror; obedience became universal, from the extinction of hope. Silent and unresisted, they led their victims to the scaffold, dreaded alike by the soldiers who crouched, the people who trembled, and the victims who suffered. The history of the world _has no parallel_ to that long night of suffering, because _it has none to the guilt which preceded it_; tyranny never assumed so hideous a form, because licentiousness never required so severe a punishment.”
Prom this awful description, which might be carried to almost any extent, the reader will understand the force of the prophecy which declared that the “sea became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea.”
4. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
7. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
Fountains and rivers are tributaries to the sea, and thus, they symbolize the inferior communities and nations belonging to the Apocalyptic earth. France was the great central power and the sea of revolution upon which the second vial descended. The surrounding nations were the rivers and fountains upon which the third was poured. It is not said of them that they became as the blood of a dead man, nor that every living thing in them died, but only that “they became blood.” This symbol denotes the insurrections and desolating wars in which the nations of Europe were involved for a number of years, growing out of the French Revolution. I shall not here take time nor space to enter into the historical details relating to this statement; the facts are well known. “The blood-thirsty Jacobinism of France waged war not only upon its own monarchy, but sought to overturn all the thrones and fabrics of despotism in Europe. The same system of infidelity and atheism had been spread through the kingdoms there, though not to so great an extent as in France, and prepared the elements for revolution in them likewise.” The French republic encouraged these agitations and by a unanimous decree of the Assembly, in 1792, set itself in open hostility with all the established governments of Europe. It was in these words: “The National Convention declares in the name of the French nation, that it will grant fraternity and assistance to all people who wish to recover their liberty; and it charges the executive power to send the necessary orders to the generals, to give succor to such people, and to defend those citizens who have suffered, or may suffer in the cause of liberty.” “The Revolution, having accomplished its work in France, having there destroyed royal despotism, … now set itself about fulfilling its early promise of giving liberty to all peoples. In a word, the revolutionists became propagandists. France now exhibits what her historians call her social, her communicative genius.” Napoleon was right when he said that a revolution in France was sure to be followed by a revolution throughout Europe. “France conceived the idea that she had a Divine mission, as the great apostle of liberty, to propagate republicanism through all the kingdoms of Europe. In her madness of intoxication she undertook the work, threw down the gauntlet, and the fierce tocsin of war sounded from nation to nation, until the continent was converted into one vast battle-field.”
The “angel of the waters” signifies the angel that had charge of the vial of wrath poured out upon the rivers and fountains of waters. In full view of the awful plagues sent upon the inhabitants of earth, one grand thought seemed to occupy his mind–the righteousness of these judgments. It is not such a thought as humanity would have in mind when reading the history of these fearful convulsions of society, one scene of terror only preparing the way for another more horrible, until they would feel like closing the book and asking, “When will this awful night of horror be over? When will these avenging judgments cease?” These, however, were not the thoughts of this angel clothed in spotless garments; for, draining his vial to the dregs and forcing the nations to drink it, he said: “Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them _blood to drink_; for they are worthy.” Truly, in this the Word of God is fulfilled, which says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” Isa. 55:8. That class of people who represent God as a kind, loving Father only, one who will not take vengeance upon the objects of his own creation–let them visit in the pages of history these nations of Europe, scathed and blasted with the hot thunderbolts of divine wrath, until their minds sicken with horror at the sight of human agony and blood. In full view of these horrifying scenes let them hear the angel of the waters saying, “Thou art righteous, O Lord … because thou hast judged thus; for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy”; while another voice from heaven, even from the altar, replies, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, _true and righteous_ are thy judgments”–and their theology must here break down.
The thoughts just expressed confirm with certainty our interpretation of the “sea” and “rivers and fountains of waters” as signifying those nations which had been the persecutors of the saints, and show, also, the character of the divine judgments as being the shedding of their blood. They had shed the blood of saints and prophets, and now the same cup of wrath was placed to their lips, and they were forced to drink it to the dregs. God remembered the sighs and groans of his faithful followers; the cry of the martyrs for the avenging of their blood on “them that dwell on the earth” reached his ear; and now the time of retribution began.
8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
The sun is the great central luminary of the earth, under whose genial light and warmth everything rejoices and develops in forms of beauty. When, however, a scorching power is given to his rays, the earth becomes as a furnace in which every green thing is burnt up. What the sun is to this world, such are the ruling powers to a kingdom; and power being given them to scorch as with fire denotes that the government would be administered, not for the good of the people, but for the purpose of oppression. A scorching sun, therefore, is a proper symbol of tyrant rulers.
Still keeping in view the object of God in sending these first plagues–the punishment of the nations embraced within the territory of the ten former kingdoms of Europe–we are directed with certainty to the next great scourge that followed as a result of those already developed–the almost universal military empire of Napoleon. The success of three of the four greatest military leaders the world has ever seen–Alexander, Caesar, and Charlemagne–has been so clearly predicted by inspiration that no believer in the truth of Revelation attempts to deny it; therefore it is not surprising that the fourth–Napoleon– should also be assigned a place in Apocalyptic vision: not so much because of his all-powerful military genius merely, but because of his mighty influence and effects upon the very nations that were especially made the subject of prophecy, as they stand connected with the history of God’s people for centuries. At the close of the Revolution the French nation had not virtue nor religion necessary to remedy the evils under which they had long been suffering from the oppression of their monarchs; for when they undertook the work and demolished the throne, they let loose all the wildest elements of wrath to rage without restraint. The nation rejected God, and God rejected the nation. He gave them up to their own madness, to the fury of the most atrocious wickedness that was ever developed under heaven. “From the wild excesses and intolerable calamities of blood-red republicanism, the people were rejoiced at length to find a refuge in a gigantic military despotism, which became the terror and scourge of Europe.” But the hand of God was in this thing, also. When the sun scorches the earth with burning heat, it is God that gives it its power. So Napoleon with his iron will and towering genius was only an instrument in God’s hand for scourging the guilty nations. In the ordinary sense of the term Napoleon was not a tyrant to his own nation. Still, his government was a despotism to France; while to the Apocalyptic earth, or the ten kingdoms, he was a scorching sun, for his empire extended over the whole. It finally became a saying that “if Napoleon’s cocked hat and gray coat should be raised on the cliffs of Boulogne, all Europe would run to arms.” This agrees with the statement of the historian Judson, concerning the monarchs of Europe, that “the mere name of Napoleon was a dread to them.” None of them could stand before his terrible onset. “Europe was shaken from end to end by such armies as the world had not seen since the days of Xerxes. Napoleon, whose hands were upheld by a score of distinguished marshals, performed the miracles of genius. His brilliant achievements still dazzle, while they amaze, the world.” The crowns and scepters of Europe he held as play-things in his hand, to dispose of at pleasure. Says Wickes: “Never in the history of Christendom were ancient dynasties overthrown, and new ones created, kings made and unmade, within so short a period, as during the unparallelled career of this great conqueror. He had the crowns and kingdoms of all Europe in his gift, to settle as he pleased, or bestow as presents upon his relatives and friends. To his brother Jerome he gave the crown of Westphalia; to his brother Louis, the crown of Holland; to his brother Joseph, the kingdom of Spain; to his brother-in-law and general Murat, the kingdom of Naples; and others he conferred upon his favorite marshals.”
When he invaded Russia, a territory outside of the Apocalyptic earth, he exceeded his mission, and there met with the most terrible overthrow. Although he entered that kingdom with the most magnificent army that he had ever gathered together, yet for suffering and disaster that famous retreat from burning Moscow stands without a parallel in history. It was not the Russian armies that prevailed against him; it was God that fought against him with the blasts of his north wind. These speedily silenced those tremendous parks of artillery that had thundered upon the fields of Jena, Friedland, Wagram, Marengo and Austerlitz, and scattered those invincible battalions that had marched triumphant over Europe. Ney, at the head of the National Guards, ever before victorious, was compelled to beat a hasty retreat, glad to escape with the smallest remnant of his host. Napoleon failed here because God had given him no mission to perform in that territory.
Concerning his ambition, the Encyclopaedia Britannica says: “With a frame of iron, Napoleon could endure any hardships; and in war, in artillery especially and engineering, he stands unrivalled in the world’s history…. He could not rest, and knew not when he had achieved success…. He succeeded in alienating the peoples of Europe, in whose behalf he pretended to be acting. And when they learned by bitter experience that he had absolutely no love for liberty, and encouraged equality only so long as it was an equality of subjects under his rule, they soon began to war against what was in fact a world-destroying military despotism.” He was inspired with the most unbounded ambition, which was nothing short of despotism over all Europe, if not the world. Universal empire was his grand object, or, as it has been expressed by historians, a desire to concentrate “the world in Europe–Europe in France–France in Paris–Paris in _himself_.” Says Wickes: “The empire which he actually reared in Europe was a vast, oppressive, centralized despotism…. To build it up, he desolated France through his terrible conscriptions, requiring the whole strength and flower of the nation to supply his armies. It is stated that after the wars of Napoleon there were three times the number of women in France that there were of men. The fathers, the husbands, the sons, the brothers, had fallen upon the battle-field, and thus desolated almost every household in the kingdom. Similar desolation also he carried by his wars into the other kingdoms.”
The dread of Napoleon settled down upon all the nations of Europe. They could not cope with his mighty genius, and therefore his presence was a terror to them. When the allied powers secured his first abdication, in 1814, and sent him to the island of Elba, the desolating results of his long career were shown in the work that the Congress of Vienna was called upon to perform when it assembled in the fall of 1814. While the representatives of the powers were laboring to repair the damage that had been wrought and to adjust the territorial limitations of the various nations that had been altered or entirely demolished, the assemblage was suddenly surprised the following spring by the news that Napoleon had escaped from Elba and was enroute to Paris. The terror and consternation in Europe then experienced is shown by the following quotation from Sir James Mackintosh, a man of high reputation as a jurist, as a historian, and as a far-sighted and candid statesman:
“Was it in the power of language to describe the evil! Wars which had raged for more than twenty years throughout Europe, which had spread blood and desolation from Cadiz to Moscow, and from Naples to Copenhagen; which had wasted the means of human enjoyment, and destroyed the instruments of social improvement; which threatened to diffuse among the European nations the dissolute and ferocious habits of a predatory soldiery … had been brought to a close…. Europe seemed to breathe after her sufferings. In the midst of this fair prospect and of these consolatory hopes, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba; three small vessels reached the coast of Provence; their hopes are instantly dispelled; the work of our toil and fortitude is undone: the blood of Europe is spilled in vain.”
The bitterest ingredients in the cup of these nations was the humiliating overthrow of their own government and their subjection to the hated _republican_ despotism of France. It was a scorching sun that they could not endure. Still, they repented not to give God glory; they continued as before. After Napoleon had accomplished the purpose for which he was intended, God permitted this stupendous genius to be subdued; but it required the combined powers of Europe to secure his downfall.
Creasy, in his Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, says concerning the battle of Waterloo, “The great battle which ended the twenty-three years’ war of the first French revolution, and which quelled the man whose genius and ambition had so long _disturbed and desolated the world_, deserves to be regarded by us … with peculiar gratitude for the repose which it secured for us and for the greater part of the human race.”
10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11. And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Under this vial the symbols differ somewhat. The “beast” is evidently the one of whom the image was made, referred to in verse 2–the Papacy. The seat that the Papacy occupied from the time the dragon resigned in favor of the beast (chap. 13:2) was his position of temporal power and authority. In the following chapter the Papacy is described as _seated_ upon a ten-horned beast, the ten horns of which symbolized the kingdoms of Europe. In this position it was able to exercise a guiding influence over the European nations. We have already seen what great power the Popes exercised in this direction during the Dark Ages. But the “beast” of chapter 17 himself, as distinguished from his horns, symbolizes the Holy Roman Empire, which was a revival of the old empire of the Caesars. This revived “world-empire” was closely allied to the Papacy. When Charlemagne, the Carlovingian king, restored the empire of the West, he was crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by Pope Leo III., A.D. 800. “The Popes made the descendants of Charles Martel kings and emperors; the grateful Frankish princes defended the Popes against all their enemies, imperial and barbarian, and dowering them with cities and provinces, laid the basis of their temporal sovereignty, which continued for more than a thousand years.” After the decline of the Carlovingian power the imperial authority was again revived by Otto the Great (962), who was crowned Emperor of the Romans by the Pope. Henceforth the empire of the West was termed the _Holy Roman Empire_. “From this time on it was the rule that the German king who was crowned at Aachen had a right to be crowned … emperor at Rome.” So the general rule was that the Popes upheld the emperors, and the emperors sustained the Popes in their position as the spiritual heads of the church and as temporal rulers over the Papal states, which were granted them originally by the donations of Pepin and Charlemagne.
In chapter 13 the civil powers of Europe and the ecclesiastical power of Rome are not shown by a double symbol–a woman and a beast–as in chapter 17, but are there represented by a combination of symbols drawn from the departments of human life and animal life, which shows that a politico-religious system is intended, as heretofore explained; hence the term _beast_, as there used, signifies either the Papacy or the civil power. Thus the term is used in the present chapter under consideration, and has reference here to the beast as an ecclesiastical power–the Papacy–and his “seat” refers to his temporal authority.
This vial, then, being poured out upon his seat, with the result that his kingdom was filled with darkness–a symbol drawn from nature–points to the downfall of the Pope as a temporal ruler. Thus he would be deprived of his “seat.”
We have already seen that each plague prepares the way for a succeeding one. Under the reign of Napoleon the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved (1806). This was the beginning of the end of the Pope’s temporal authority; for the two had in a great measure been for ages interdependent upon each other. Pius VII. was made a prisoner and the temporal sovereignty of the Roman See declared to be at an end; while the Pope himself was forced to disown all claim to rank as a temporal ruler. Of course, this was but a temporary overthrow; for when the period of Reaction came, the Pope recovered also temporal authority. But the vast territories of Avignon, Venaissin, Bologna, Ferrara, and the Romagna–representing fully _a third_ of all the Papal dominions–which had been forcibly ceded to France under Napoleon, was never restored to the Roman See. From that time the sun of the Pope’s temporal kingdom rapidly approached the horizon; while the inhabitants of his dominions continued to blaspheme God through the atheistical Jacobinism that infested to so great an extent the whole mass of society–symbolized by their “sores”–and the firm supporters of Popery were filled with excessive chagrin and mortification of mind–symbolized by their “pains”–because the power of their leader, who professed temporal sovereignty over the whole earth, was being suddenly destroyed and his kingdom left in darkness. Concerning this matter the People’s Cyclopaedia, after speaking of the blow the Pope’s spiritual supremacy received at the Reformation, says: “But in her relations to the State the Roman church has since passed through _a long and critical struggle_. The new theories _to which the French Revolution gave currency_ have still further modified these relations.” In the second revolution of 1848 the Pope’s temporal authority was about to be entirely destroyed by the attempted establishment of the republic of Italy; but at this juncture France, who, notwithstanding her plagues, had not repented of her former deeds, not willing to desert entirely the Papal cause after upholding it faithfully for centuries, interfered, and the Pope was sustained in his position by a French garrison until 1870 (except a short time in 1867), at which time the success of King Victor Emmanuel and his capture of the Eternal City established the free government of United Italy. The temporal sun of the Pope set forever; his kingdom was left in darkness.
12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
13. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
14. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
The symbols under this vial are so different that at first they scarcely look like anything constituting a plague. By recalling a few circumstances of history we shall understand why the river Euphrates was selected as a symbol, and also, its true signification in this connection. This river was connected with ancient Babylon, and while running in its own channel was the protection of the city and an obstacle to its capture. By turning the water of this river from its course, King Cyrus (according to the account given by Herodotus) succeeded in overthrowing the city, with the result that God’s people who were at that time in captivity there received permission to return to their own land and to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:1-3. Under the sixth trumpet this symbol was applied to the four angels as a symbol of the restraint placed upon their operations, they being bound in that river. As there are no agents in this vision who are represented as bound, we must apply it to the city itself, the name of which is given in verse 19–Babylon–being a symbol of one of its defenses. According to verse 19 this mystical Babylon is composed of three parts, being made up of the dragon (in his modern form), the beast, and the false prophet mentioned in verse 13. And its location is not confined to the territory of the ten kingdoms; for its field of operations is not only that of the “earth”–the Apocalyptic earth–but “_of the whole world_.” Ver. 14. In one division of this great city, that of the false prophet, God’s people were long held in captivity; but its spiritual overthrow was to be accomplished by the drying up of the Euphrates of its defenses, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared.[12]
[Footnote 12: Applying the Euphrates (an object from nature) as a symbol of ecclesiastical affairs in this manner appears to be in violation of the laws of symbolic language laid down; but we should bear in mind the fact that events of whatever nature connected with the history of God’s chosen people in the old dispensation are of themselves proper symbols of similar events in the New Testament dispensation. Thus the temple, altar, candle-sticks, incense, holy city, etc., of the former dispensation, although of themselves objects from nature, are nevertheless clearly used to represent affairs of the church, because of their former significance as connected with the people of God. The fact that the great city of this chapter is spiritual Babylon (see verse 19) is positive proof that the river Euphrates is here applied in the proper manner.]
To the Hebrews the term _east_ had a much more extensive signification than with us, to whom its only distinction is that it is the point of the sun’s rising. But beyond this, it was to the Jews the cardinal point of the compass to which they naturally looked first. Their temple was built toward the east, its principal entrance being in that direction. The most powerful and enlightened kingdoms of the world lay to the east of Judea, and they included them all under the general term, sons or children of the East (Orientals) and kings of the East, comprehending not only Arabia and the lands of Moab and Ammon, but also Armenia, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Chaldea. Travelers from these countries would all enter Judea from the east, and they were considered Orientals. These nations were also distinguished for their proficiency in science and learning. The Magi, or wise men of the East, came to worship the infant Jesus at Jerusalem. They were eminent in the science of astrology, which was considered the greatest science of that day. The East, therefore, was looked to for wise men; and it is a noticeable fact that the pathway of science, of literature, and of empire has ever been from that direction, so as to have passed into a proverb, “westward the star of empire holds its way.” “The kings of the East,” then, employed as a symbol of this sixth vial, is not intended to signify any persons literally from that quarter of the earth, but represents the bringing in of knowledge and understanding. Thank God that we live in the time when the defenses of spiritual Babylon have been broken through and when light and knowledge on the Word of God has reached the hearts of many redeemed souls held in bondage there! And like the Israelites of old, when Cyrus, entered the ancient Babylon through the dry river-bed of the Euphrates, they have come out with rejoicing and made their way to Zion again. Halleluiah! That the spiritual downfall of Babylon is a real plague to sectarians there can be no doubt, and it is plainly declared to be such in chap. 18:8, where the same event is described.
At the very time when the defenses of Babylon are thrown down, the three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon (Paganism), and out of the mouth of the beast (Romanism), and out of the mouth of the false prophet (Protestantism), to gather together all the wicked powers throughout “the whole world” for that last great day of God Almighty.[13] There is no analagous object to which a _spirit_ can be made a symbol; therefore we must regard them as being literally spirits of devils, here appearing under their own appropriate title. Their mission is to form a confederation of all the gigantic powers of wickedness, slimy and loathsome as the animal to which they are likened, and to array themselves against the cause of Christ.
[Footnote 13: I do not suppose that these three unclean spirits should be limited in their operations to Paganism, Romanism, and Protestantism; for that leaves out Mohammedanism, which is neither Pagan, Roman, nor Protestant, yet is certainly “false prophecy”; and the three spirits were to gather the “whole world.”]
Armageddon, where the spirits gathered all the enemies of truth and righteousness together, means the mountain of Megiddo, the memorable field of the overthrow of Sisera’s mighty host by Barak. It was also the place of great defeat to the Israelites in the time of Josiah and the scene of his death. The name, therefore, stands as a symbol for a field of slaughter or defeat and denotes that when the confederation of wickedness is complete, the united host of God’s enemies will be utterly defeated, as by the overthrow of Megiddo. This great conflict with powers of wickedness and spirits infernal will be further explained in chapter XX.
Simultaneous with the notable events of this vial, the announcement is made of the near-coming of Christ to the world–“Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” The children of God that have been gathered out of old Babylon rejoice in the glad announcement and say, “Even so come, Lord Jesus.”
17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
18. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
The application of this vial to the judgments of the last great day is so plain that but little comment is here necessary. It was poured “into the air,” a region of vast extent, not confined to a given locality, but embracing the whole earth. Hence this plague is universal. When the seventh angel emptied his vial, “There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.” All is now fulfilled. The work of wrath is finished. The description of the plague follows, but it follows only _as a description_. As actually accomplished, it preceded that great voice, which was uttered in view of the thing already brought to pass.
The dissolution of the earth itself upon which we live is not here described, although according to the teaching of other scriptures it occurs at this time; but the symbols, being drawn from the department of the operations both of humanity and of nature, show the complete and final overthrow of all the great powers civil and ecclesiastical. The dominancy of these great powers has been the chief burden of Apocalyptic vision, and here their utter destruction at last is set forth under various symbols. The weight of the Jewish talent is said to have been one hundred and fourteen pounds. Such a mass of ice descending from heaven would beat down everything in its resistless, desolating fury. There is no intimation, however, of men being killed under this or the accompanying symbols; therefore as individuals they survive, while the storm of wrath falls upon the civil and ecclesiastical institutions of society, resulting in their utter annihilation. This is the “great day of his wrath” described under the sixth seal, to the symbols of which this description bears a striking resemblance, as any one can see at a glance. Well may the oppressors of earth say to the mountains and hills, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Chap. 6:16, 17.
CHAPTER XVII.
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5. And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Here again the narrative returns to take up another series of the history. A number of times we have been taken over the same ground. It is this feature of the Apocalypse more than any other that has misled and perplexed commentators. Attempting to explain it as one continuous narrative from beginning to end, they have been compelled to consider numerous passages as “digressions,” “parentheses,” or “episodes,” etc. As already observed, however, the prophecy is not arranged after the ordinary plan of histories, narrating all the contemporaneous events in a given period, whether civil, religious, literary, scientific, or biographical, thus finishing up the history of that period; but it consists of a number of distinct themes running over the same ground.
In this chapter a more particular description of the church of Rome, “that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (verse 18), is given under the symbol of a drunken harlot. With this vile prostitute “the kings of the earth have committed fornication”–they have encouraged her in her corruption and idolatries–“and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” This latter symbol is doubtless taken from the cup of drugged wine with which lewd women were accustomed to inflame their lovers. So had this apostate church made “the inhabitants of the earth”–of the ten kingdoms–drunken with her wine-cup and thus rendered them willing partakers in her abominable idolatries. She is described in two positions–first, as “sitting upon many waters,” which the angel informs us “are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (verse 15); and second, “upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” The first position denotes her wide supremacy in the world over distant peoples and nations; the second, the close relationship that she sustained to the civil power. That beast carried her in royal state. The civil powers of Europe have usually lent themselves as a caparisoned hack for this great whore to ride upon and have considered themselves highly honored thereby. This beast was full of the names of blasphemy, which were the same as the blasphemous assumptions of the Papacy, as explained in chapter XIII, showing that he agreed perfectly with this apostate church in her impious claims and supported her in them, making himself equally guilty and deserving of the same name. What is intended exactly by his scarlet color I do not know. The same power under its Pagan form was represented as a red dragon.
The appearance of this woman was that of the most splendid character, nor are we to suppose the contrary because she was such an infamous prostitute. She may have been, and according to the description was, all that, but still her appearance was such as to bewitch her admirers and votaries. Robes of purple and scarlet, with the most costly profusion of gold and diamonds, were superb adorning, even regal splendor. All that skill and wealth could do in magnificence of attire was bestowed upon her to set forth her charms. The “golden cup in her hand” was as to richness in harmony with her dress, while as to contents it set forth her character, for it was “full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.” This cup was an appropriate symbol of her atrocious wickedness and idolatries.
This woman had also a name written on her forehead. It was not, indeed, placed there by herself nor by her admirers; but He who drew this symbolic picture placed it there that all might know her true character. “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Although this apostate church was only in embryo in the apostles’ day, yet the apostle who gave us a careful delineation of its terrible characteristics declared that it was then developing and denominated it a _mystery_. “The mystery of iniquity doth already work.” 2 Thes. 2:7. The same apostle regarded as an unquestionable fact that _godliness_ was a mystery (1 Tim. 3:16); but he who peruses the history of the Papacy will be forced to declare with emphasis, “Without controversy great is the mystery of Romanism.” She is also styled Babylon the Great. This name is derived from ancient Babylon. This city was the center of the earth’s idolatry and stood first of all as the direct enemy of God’s people. So, likewise, this church is the center of earth’s spiritual idolatry. There are other harlots, or corrupt churches, in the world beside her; but she is the _mother_ of them all. They are all children by her side. Some of them greatly honor her and in deep veneration call her “_our holy mother church_;” but God brands her as the “mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.”
But the statement that she was a harlot merely, does not entirely describe her character. She was a _drunken_ harlot. Drunken with what–wine? No indeed; that were a very small sin for her. She was “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” Romanists positively declare that their church never persecutes; but with the picture of this drunken prostitute before our eyes, we shall be hard to convince. To illustrate this point fully would be to write a book of martyrs much larger than the present work; so, for lack of space only, we shall have to content ourselves with merely bringing forward a few of many historical proofs showing _that they themselves_ claim the right to exterminate heretics.
Innumerable provincial and national councils have issued the most cruel and bloody laws for the extermination of the Waldenses and other so-called heretics; such as the Councils of Oxford, Toledo, Avignon, Tours, Lavaur, Albi, Narbonne, Beziers, Tolosa, etc. Since Papists will assert that these had no authority to establish a doctrine of the church (although they clearly reflect its spirit), I remind the reader that some of their _General_ Councils have by their decrees pronounced the punishment of death for heresy. At least six of these highest judicial assemblies of the Romish church, with the Pope at their head, have authoritatively enjoined the persecution and extermination of heretics. Extracts from the Acts of these Councils could be given if space permitted. 1. The second General Council of Lateran (1139), in its twenty-third canon. 2. The third General Council of Lateran (1179), under Pope Alexander III. 3. The fourth General Council of Lateran (1215), under the inhuman Pope Innocent III., which exceeded in ferocity all similar decrees that had preceded it. 4. The sixteenth General Council, held at Constance in 1414. This Council, with Pope Martin present in person, condemned the reformers Huss and Jerome to be burned at the stake and then prevailed on the emperor Sigismund to violate the safe-conduct that he had given Huss, signed by his own hand, in which he guaranteed the reformer a safe return to Bohemia; and the inhuman sentence was carried out, with the haughty prelates standing by to satiate their eyes on the sight of human agony. This council also condemned the writings of Wickliffe and _ordered his bones to be dug up and burnt_, which savage sentence was afterwards carried into effect; and after lying in their grave for forty years, the remains of this first translator of the English Bible were reduced to ashes and thrown into the brook Swift. Well has the historian Fuller said, in reference to this subject, “The brook Swift did convey his ashes into Avon, the Avon into Severn, the Severn into the narrow seas, and they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wickliffe are the emblem of his doctrie, which is now dispersed all over the world.” 5. The Council of Sienna (1423), which was afterwards continued at Basil. 6. The fifth General Council of the Lateran (1514). The laws enacted in each succeeding Council were generally marked, if possible, with augmented barbarity.
Says the learned Edgar, in his Variations of Popery: “The principle of persecution, being sanctioned not only by theologians, Popes and provincial synods but also by General Councils, _is a necessary and integral part of Romanism_. The Romish communion has, by its representatives, declared its right to compel men to renounce heterodoxy and embrace Catholicism, and to consign the obstinate to the civil power to be banished, tortured, or killed.” St. Aquinas, whom Romanists call the “angelic Doctor,” says, “Heretics are to be compelled by corporeal punishments, that they may adhere to the faith.” Again, “Heretics may not only be excommunicated, but _justly killed_.” He says that “the church consigns such to the secular judges _to be exterminated from the world by death_.”
Cardinal Bellarmine is the great champion of Romanism and expounder of its doctrines. He was the nephew of Pope Marcellus, and he is acknowledged to be a standard writer with Romanists. In the twenty-first and twenty-second chapters of the third book of his work entitled _De Laicis_, he enters into a regular argument to prove that the church has the right, and should exercise it, of punishing heretics with death. The heading is his, together with what follows.
“Chapter XXI. _That heretics, condemned by the church, may be punished with temporal penalties and even death._ We will briefly show that the church has the _power and ought_ to cast off incorrigible heretics, especially those who have elapsed, and that the secular power ought to inflict on such temporal punishments and even death itself. 1. This may be proved from the Scripture. 2. It is proved from the opinions and laws of the emperors, _which the church has always approved_. 3. _It is proved by the laws of the church … experience proves that there is no other remedy;_ for the church has tried step by step all remedies–first excommunication alone; then pecuniary penalties; afterward banishment; _and lastly has been forced to put them to death; to send them to their own place_…. There are three grounds on which reason shows that heretics should be put to death: the first is, Lest the wicked should injure the righteous; second, That by the punishment of a few many may be reformed. For many who were made torpid by impunity, are _roused by the fear of punishment_; AND THIS WE DAILY SEE IS THE RESULT WHERE THE INQUISITION FLOURISHES,” etc.
“Chapter XXII. _Objections answered._ It remains to answer the objections of Luther and other heretics. Argument 1. From the history of the church at large. ‘The church,’ says Luther, ‘from the beginning even to this time, _has never burned a heretic_. Therefore it does not seem to be the mind of the Holy Spirit that they should be burnt!’ [He surely misunderstood Luther.] I reply that this argument proves not the sentiment, but the ignorance, or impudence of Luther; FOR AS ALMOST AN INFINITE NUMBER WERE EITHER BURNED OR OTHERWISE PUT TO DEATH, Luther either did not know it, and was therefore ignorant; or if he knew it, he is convicted of impudence and falsehood,–for _that heretics were often burnt_ BY THE CHURCH may be proved by adducing a few from many examples. Argument 2. ‘Experience shows that terror is not useful.’ I reply EXPERIENCE PROVES THE CONTRARY–for the Donatists, Manicheans, and Albigenses WERE ROUTED AND ANNIHILATED BY ARMS,” etc.
So this high dignitary of the Catholic church, a cardinal, a nephew of one Pope and the special favorite of others, freely admits the charge so often laid to Popery by creditable historians–the butchering of an “infinite number” of people that differed from them–and here labors hard to uphold it as a principle of righteousness. Their bloody crusades against the innocent, unoffending Waldenses, Albigenses, and other peoples, in which thousands, and in the aggregate _millions_, were slaughtered like venomous reptiles, stand out on the page of history with a prominence that can not be mistaken; and they themselves can not deny it. Dowling has well said that their “history is written in lines of blood. Compared with the butcheries of holy men and women by the Papal Antichrist, the persecutions of the Pagan emperors of the first three centuries sink into comparative insignificance. For not a tithe of the blood of martyrs was shed by Paganism, that has been poured forth by Popery; and the persecutors of Pagan Rome never dreamed of the thousand ingenious contrivances of torture which the malignity of Popish inquisitors succeeded in inventing.” P. 541.
If any of my readers suppose that the character of Popery has changed with the lapse of ages, I must tell you that such is not the ease. Popery is unchangeable and this her ablest advocates declare. Chas. Butler, in the work he wrote in reply to Southey’s book of the church, says, “It is most true that the Roman Catholics believe the doctrines of their church to be unchangeable; and that it is a tenet of their creed, that what their faith ever has been, such it was from the beginning, _such it is now_, and SUCH IT EVER WILL BE.” A copy of the eleventh edition of The Faith of Our Fathers, published in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1883, lies before me. It was written by Archbishop (now Cardinal) James Gibbons, the highest authority of the Roman Catholic church in this country. In page 95 he says: “It is a marvelous fact, worthy of record, that in the whole history of the church, from the nineteenth century to the first, no solitary example can be adduced to show that any Pope or General Council ever revoked a decree of faith or morals enacted by any preceding pontiff or council. Her record in the past ought to be a sufficient warrant that she will _tolerate no doctrinal variations in the future_.” So the doctrine of her inherent right to persecute and slay every one who disagrees with her, which has been enacted by Pontiffs and General Councils and so carried out in the past, is still in vogue and would now be enforced were it in her power to do so.
While this statement of Gibbons’ shows the unchangeable spirit of Popery, still it is the basest presumption upon the historical knowledge of the reader. The facts are that the _official_ acts of some of their Popes and General Councils have been so far wrong that Romanists themselves have been compelled to admit it. Thus the _sixth_ General Council, which was held at Constantinople in 680, and which every Catholic accepts as Ecumenical, condemned, in the strongest terms, Pope Honorius as a Monothelite _heretic_. Let them attempt to deny it, and we will bring forward our proof. Romish authors themselves admit it, the well-known Dupin with the rest, as appears by the following extract from his writings: “The Council had as much reason to censure him as Sergius, Paulus, Peter, and the other Patriarchs oL Constantinople.” He adds in language yet more emphatic, “This will stand for certain, then, that Honorius _was condemned_, AND JUSTLY TOO, AS A HERETIC, by the sixth General Council.” Dupin’s Eccl. History, Vol. II, p. 16.
The Decretals of Isodore furnish another example of Papal infallibility (?). For ages these documents were the chief instrument of the Popes in extending their power and the proof of the righteousness of their assumptions to excessive temporal authority. Wickliffe declared them false and apocryphal. For this he was condemned by the sixteenth _General Council_, held at Constance in 1414, and his bones ordered dug up and burnt because of his daring impudence. The spurious character of these false decretals have since been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt; and since it is impossible to deny it longer, it is admitted even by Romanists. So, after all, this _infallible_ Council was wrong, the Papists themselves being the judges.
Pope Benedict IX. was guilty of such flagitious crimes that he became an object of public abhorrence, and he finally _sold_ the Popedom. One of his infallible (?) successors in the Papal chair, Pope Victor III., pronounced this infallible (?) profligate a person “abandoned to all manner of vice. A _successor of_ SIMON THE SORCERER, and NOT OF SIMON THE APOSTLE.” I do not question the truth of this assertion, but what becomes of their boasted uninterrupted apostolical succession? Baronius, the Popish annalist, confesses that Pope Sergius III. was “the slave of every vice, and the most wicked of men.” Among other horrid acts Platina relates that he _rescinded the acts_ of Pope Formosus, compelled those whom he had ordained to be re-ordained, dragged his dead body from the sepulchre, beheaded him as though he were alive, and then threw him into the Tiber! This Pope cohabited with an infamous prostitute named Marozia and by her had a son named John, who afterwards ascended the Papal throne, through the influence of his licentious mother, under the name of John XI. So the unlawful amours of Sergius produced this infallible, necessary link in the _holy_ chain of uninterrupted apostolical succession! It must be remembered, also, that the Popes have for ages laid claim themselves to infallibility; and in the last General Council of that body, held at the Vatican in 1870, it was declared a dogma of the church. Romanists will tell us that this decree refers only to his official acts, and not to his personal character; but official acts have been the main thing under consideration in the case of Sergius, Honorius, and Benedict. But if such monsters of vice can produce good, holy, infallible acts, as Papists declare, then Jesus Christ is mistaken; for he declared positively that “a corrupt tree _bringeth forth evil fruit_ … neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” Mat. 7:17, 18. “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.” Rom. 3:4. During these dark ages thousands of priests, who were by the laws of the church denied their Scriptural right of possessing a wife (1 Cor. 7:9, etc.), lived openly with concubines; and the Council of Toledo decreed that they should not be condemned therefor, provided they were content with one.
But the devil produced his master-piece of iniquity in the person of Roderic Borgia, who ascended the Papal throne in 1492 under the name of Alexander VI. The utmost limits assigned to Papal depravity were realized in him, so that the very name Borgia has come to be used as a designation of any person unusually wicked. Says Waddington: “The ecclesiastical records of fifteen centuries … contain no name so loathsome, no crimes so foul as his…. Not one among the many zealous annalists of the Roman church has breathed a whisper in his praise…. He publicly cohabited with a Roman matron named Vanozia, by whom he had five acknowledged children. Neither in his manners nor in his language did he affect any regard for morality or decency; and one of the earliest acts of his pontificate was, to celebrate, with scandalous magnificence, in his own palace, the marriage of his daughter Lucretia. On one occasion this prodigy of vice gave a splendid entertainment, within the walls of the Vatican, to no less than fifty public prostitutes at once, and that in the presence of his daughter Lucretia, at which entertainment deeds of darkness were done, over which decency must throw a veil; and yet this monster of vice was, according to Papist … the vicar of God upon earth, and was addressed by the title of HIS HOLINESS!!” But why stir this cesspool of filth any longer? Is not that church of which Alexander VI. was for eleven years the crowned and anointed head–a necessary link in the boasted chain of _holy_ apostolical succession, the pretended vicar of Christ upon earth–is it not, I ask, fitly described by the pen of inspiration “MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH,” as she reeled onward in the career of ages, “drunken with the blood of the saints”?
7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carriest her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10. And there are seven kings; five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
The angel promises to explain “the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carried her.” The beast is the same as the secular beast with seven heads and ten horns, described in chapter 13. An explanation of its heads and horns has already been given. The expression “the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth, and there are seven kings,” requires further explanation. Many have understood the mountains to signify the seven mountains on which the city of Rome is said to be built; but that is adopting the literal mode of interpretation, and is contrary to the laws of symbolic language. The more obvious meaning is that the seven heads represent seven mountains and also seven kings; but this probably is not the idea intended. The heads of a beast are not the proper symbol of mountains. The fact, too, that the woman is represented as sitting upon these mountains, shows that they are to be taken as a symbol, as well as the woman, and not the object symbolized. They are, then, the same as the heads and denote the seven kings or seven forms of government under which the Roman empire subsisted.
The seventh and last head has not yet been identified. Before considering it, however, I wish to call attention to another point that has already been referred to. The beast that John here saw, with the seven heads and ten horns, was Rome under the Papal power. Did new Rome in reality have the seven heads? No. The dragon John saw in chapter 12 is represented as having seven heads and ten horns, and signified Rome under the Pagan power. Did old Rome really possess the ten horns? No. According to verse 12 in this chapter, they were to arise future of John’s time. But notice carefully that the seven heads, which according to this description, belonged to the beast sustaining the Papal power in after years, are here explained by the angel as signifying the very forms of government by which _Pagan_ Rome subsisted. “Five _are fallen_ [a past event], one _is_ [exists at this present time], and the other _is not yet come_.” So according to divine interpretation, the same heads and horns serve for both the dragon and the beast. This could not possibly be a true representation unless they were both in reality the _same beast_, they being represented as two only for the purpose of describing the two phases of Roman history–Pagan and Papal.
With this point established, that these two forms of Roman history are the same beast, we are now prepared to understand the statement that the beast “was and is not, and yet is.” This is equivalent to saying that the beast existed, it ceased to exist, and then it came into existence again. This was exactly the history of Rome. Its downfall under the Pagan form was described under the fourth trumpet as an eclipse of the sun, moon and stars, so that they shone not for a third part of the day and night. For a time it seemed not to exist. A little later the eclipse is lifted; the beast exists again under the Papal form. In this is set forth clearly the wounding and the healing of the beast. The wound was inflicted on its sixth, or Imperial, head (for the first five had already fallen, according to the historical facts just related), being accomplished by the hordes of Northern barbarians overturning the empire of the West. It appeared for a time that the beast was indeed wounded unto death; but not so: to the surprise of all, he survived under the form of the seventh head. At this point the question is sure to be asked, How could the beast continue to live if its seventh head was to continue but “a short space”? This is accounted for by the fact that there was what might be appropriately called an eighth head, but which was in reality of the seven. “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven.” Verse 11.
The identification of the seventh head will now make the matter complete. The facts all meet in the Carlovingian empire, or the empire of Charlemagne. In the year 774 Charlemagne completed the work begun by Pepin twenty years before and overthrew the kingdom of the Lombards in Italy, which was the last of the three horns plucked up before the little horn of Daniel. By this victory he became complete master of Italy, and he received the title Patrician of Rome. This was not merely an honorary title, such as had for ages been conferred upon certain individuals; but it was a distinct form of civil government and supreme, taking the same rank with that of the Consular, the Decemvirate, the Triumvirate, etc., in the earlier history of the nation. It lasted, however, only “a short space,” or twenty-six years, when Charlemagne, having extended his conquests over all the western part of Europe, assumed the Imperial title and thus revived the empire of Rome in the West under its Gothic form. In his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon says: “In the twenty-six years that elapsed between the conquest of Lombardy and his Imperial coronation, Rome, which had been delivered by the sword, was subject, as his own, to the scepter, of Charlemagne. The people swore allegiance to his person and family; in his name, money was coined, and justice was administered, and the election of Popes was examined and confirmed by his authority–except an original and self-inherent claim of sovereignity, there was not any prerogative remaining which the title of emperor could add to the Patrician of Rome.” This decisive testimony by the highest authority on the subject shows conclusively that all the power of sovereignty resided in Charlemagne as the Patrician of Rome, and that this, therefore, is a proper head to be ranked with the other six that preceded it.[14]
[Footnote 14: Commentators frequently identify the seventh head with the Exarchate of Ravenna. After the overthrow of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy by Belisarius, the general of Justinian, about the middle of the sixth century, the territory became subject to the emperor of the Eastern empire and was ruled by him through an Exarch whose place of residence was Ravenna. This Exarchate (sometimes called _Patriciate_) continued until about the middle of the eighth century, when it was terminated by Astolphus, king of the Lombards, who made Ravenna the capital of the Lombardic kingdom in 752. Three years later the Lombards were defeated by Pepin, who made the Holy See a present of the lands he conquered from them–the origin of the temporal power of the Popes. Pepin was succeeded by his son Charlemagne, who was appointed _Patrician_ of Rome, by the Pope, in 774. During the last half century that the Exarchate of Ravenna remained its existence was but little more than a name, the real power of government being usurped by the Papacy. It could hardly be considered an inconsistency were we to interpret the seventh head as signifying both the Patriciate of Ravenna and the Patriciate of Charlemagne that closely followed it; but in the present work I have restricted its application to the latter form because of its distinctive characteristic as constituting a supreme civil power entirely independent of the empire of the East, and because of its importance in the revival of the empire of the West.]
This head, however, continued only “a short space”; and an eighth arose on Christmas, the first day of the year 800 (as time was then reckoned), when Charlemagne was crowned emperor of Rome, and thus revived the empire of the West. This eighth head, however, was “of the seven”; for it was the same as the sixth, both being Imperial–the first being in the Augustan line, and the other in the Carlovingian, and separated from each other by the seventh, or Patriciate. Considered one way, there were eight heads, but two of them were alike, hence only seven; for the eighth was of the seven. According to verse 11 it was under the eighth head that the beast subsisted at the time he was carrying the woman of this chapter, which exactly accords with the historical facts in the case; and the same was continued in a line of emperors reaching down to the time of the French Revolution.
The ten horns had “received no kingdom as yet.” This signifies that at the time when the Revelation was given they had not yet arisen. When they did come into existence they were to receive power as kings with the beast and were to give to it their power and strength. It is a singular fact that a distinct head should continue to exist after these horns had arisen and developed into powerful kingdoms; but herein the remarkable accuracy of prophecy is clearly shown. It is said that they should make war with the Lamb and that the Lamb should overcome them. Some think that this has reference to the persecution of the saints during the Dark Ages; but it seems to me that it would have been stated differently if such were its meaning. It may be a prophetical reference to the battle of Armageddon, which will be terminated by the coming of the Son of God himself to overthrow completely all the powers of wickedness.
15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
The special thoughts contained in these verses have been so far explained already that it is unnecessary to go over the same ground again. Already the civil powers of Europe are beginning to cast this woman aside as an old, wrinkled, haggard prostitute is cast off by her lovers. Already they have deprived her of all temporal authority such as she possessed in guiding this beast of chapter 17, as explained under the fifth plague in the preceding chapter. Whether they are destined to become a still greater enemy to her, the future will determine.
CHAPTER XVIII.
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
2. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
A movement of mighty power is symbolized in these verses. The chronology of the events described in the preceding chapter brings us down to the time when the ten horns turn against the Papacy by depriving her of her temporal authority. This, as we have already seen, was completely fulfilled in 1870 and constituted the fifth plague. In the description of the sixth plague which followed, it was shown that the great city which was invaded was composed of three parts–Paganism (the modern form of the dragon power), Catholicism, and Protestantism. The same great city is here brought to view, and the angel from heaven, with a mighty voice, cries, “Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen.” This fall of Babylon can not signify a literal destruction; for there are certain events to take place in Babylon after her fall which entirely precludes that idea; for instance, the calling of God’s people out of her, in order that they may not receive of her plagues. In these plagues is embraced her literal destruction, or complete overthrow. The fall is therefore a moral one; for the result of it is that Babylon becomes “the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
Protestants who make any attempt to interpret these prophecies usually limit the designation “Babylon the Great” in these verses to the church of Rome, because the woman symbolizing the apostate church in the preceding chapter is denominated “Babylon the Great.” Ver. 5. But the same verse also declares her to be the “_Mother_ of harlots;” and if she as a degraded woman stands as the representative of a corrupt church, her unchaste daughters, also, must symbolize churches that are her descendants; and if the real name of the _mother_ is Babylon, as stated, the proper name of her harlot daughters must be Babylon also. Whether, therefore, the mother or the daughters are referred to, it is all “Babylon the Great,” because it is all the same family and is a part of that “GREAT CITY which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Chap. 17:18. We must, therefore, have something besides the mere title “Babylon the Great” to determine which division of the great city is referred to in a given instance–whether Pagan, Papal, or Protestant.
A careful study of the prophecy now under consideration will show that it has particular reference to the Protestant division of Babylon. It contained many of God’s children; whereas Paganism was always a false religion and never held any of God’s saints. Under the reign of Catholicism, the people of God are represented in all the symbols of this book relating thereto as existing entirely separate from that communion. The description of this apostate church given in the preceding chapter shows clearly that instead of being partly composed of God’s saints, she was their most bitter and relentless persecutor, yea, was “_drunken with the blood of the saints_, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” This is definite proof that the present phase of Babylon under consideration is the Protestant division; and her moral fall is the grand signal for the escape of God’s people who have partly composed her number, as the fall of ancient Babylon was for the escape of the Israelites. In their younger days the Protestant organizations (symbolized by the daughters) were of much better character than the mother church from whom they descended. Many of them started out on reform. While a spiritual people, God worked with them; but when they made their image to the beast, they suddenly declined, and this voice from heaven finally declares them to be in a fallen condition–entirely void of salvation, except a very few chosen saints that have not defiled their garments, contained therein.
That this application of the term _Babylon_ is correct, and also, the fallen condition ascribed to her in accordance with the facts, I will prove by the following testimonies of Protestants themselves. The first is from Vision of the Ages; or, Lectures on the Apocalypse, by B.W. Johnson, member of the Christian sect.
“It is needful to inquire what the term _Babylon_ means. It occurs several times in the New Testament. Here (in the Apocalypse) it is spoken of as ‘that great city,’ and her fall is doomed ‘because she hath made all nations drunk with the wine of her fornication.’ In Rev. 17:5, a scarlet harlot is seen sitting upon the seven-headed and ten-horned monster, and upon her forehead is written, ‘Mystery, Babylon the Great.’ With this woman the kings of the earth are said to have committed fornication. In chapter 18 the fall of the great city, Babylon is detailed at length, and it is again said that all the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. The harlot with Babylon stamped on her brow, and the great city of fornication styled Babylon, in chapters 14 and 18, are one and the same existence.
“There is an ancient city of Babylon often mentioned in the Old Testament, but ages before John wrote, it had ceased to be inhabited, the only dwellers among its lonely ruins were howling beasts and hissing serpents. It has never been rebuilt to this day and has passed away forever. John refers therefore not to old Babylon, but to some power yet unseen (when he was upon the earth), that should be revealed in due time, and of which old Babylon was a symbol. Let us notice some of the features of ancient Babylon.
“1. On that site took place the confusion of tongues which divided those who before had been of one speech and one family, into various tribes and schisms at variance with each other and of various tongues. The word Babylon, a memorial of this event, means confusion, and is derived from Babel.
“2. Old Babylon persecuted the people of God and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem.
“3. It carried the people of God into captivity.
“4. It was a mighty, resistless universal empire. The antitype, the spiritual Babylon, must correspond. There is a power that exhibits all these characteristics. By apostasy from the truth it originated the schism which has divided the family of God into different sects and parties which speak a different spiritual language. It has carried the church into a long captivity by binding upon it the thralldom of superstition. It has been a constant persecutor of the saints, and has enjoyed an almost universal dominion. That power is the woman that sits upon the seven-headed beast … the false woman, symbolical of a false church, the great apostate spiritual dominion of Rome. And we may add, out of which have come–directly or indirectly–_all the religious sects of the present day_.”
Dr. Barnes says: “The word _Babylon_ became the emblem of all that was haughty and oppressive, and especially of all that persecuted the church of God. The word here (Rev. 18:4) must be used to denote some power that resembled the ancient and literal Babylon in these characteristics. The literal Babylon was no more; but the name might be used properly to denote a similar power.”
Wm. Kinkade, in Bible Doctrine, page 249, says, “I think Christ has a true church on earth, but its members are scattered among the various denominations, and are more or less under the influence of mystery Babylon and her daughters.”
Alexander Campbell says: “A reformation of Popery was attempted in Europe full three centuries ago. It ended in a Protestant hierarchy, and swarms of dissenters. Protestantism has been reformed into Presbyterianism, that into Congregationalism, and that into Baptistism, etc., etc. Methodism has attempted to reform all, but has reformed itself into many forms of Wesleyanism. All of them retain in their bosom–in their ecclesiastical organizations, worship, doctrines, and observances–various relics of Popery. They are at best a reformation of Popery, and only reformations in part. The doctrines and traditions of men yet impair the power and progress of the gospel in their hands.” On Baptism, p.15.
Again, he says: “The worshiping establishments now in operation throughout Christendom, increased and cemented by their respective voluminous confessions of faith, and their ecclesiastical constitutions, are not churches of Jesus Christ, but the legitimate daughters of that mother of harlots, the church of Rome.” How any man could possess as much light on this subject as did Mr. Campbell, and then build a sect himself, is more than I can understand.
Lorenzo Dow says of the Romish Church: “If she be the mother, who are the daughters? It must be the corrupt, national, established churches that came out of her.” Dow’s Life, p. 542.
In the Religious Encyclopaedia, Article Antichrist, we read: “The writer of the book of Revelation tells us he heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, that ye partake not of her sins, and receive not of her plagues.’ If such persons are to be found in the ‘mother of harlots,’ with much less hesitation may it be inferred that they are connected with her unchaste daughters, those national churches which are founded upon what are called Protestant principles.”
In the Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge we read: “An important question, however, says Mr. Jones, stills remains for inquiry: Is Antichrist confined to the church of Rome? The answer is readily returned in the affirmative by Protestants in general; and happy had it been for the world had that been the case. But although we are fully warranted to consider that church as ‘the mother of harlots,’ the truth is that by whatsoever arguments we succeed in fixing that odius charge upon her, we shall, by parity of reasoning, be obliged to allow other national churches to be her unchaste daughters, and for this plain reason, among others, because in their very constitution and tendency they are hostile to the nature of the kingdom of Christ.”
One of Martin Luther’s guests remarked that the world might continue fifty years, and he replied: “Pray God that it may not exist so long; matters would be even worse than they have been. There would rise up infinite sects and schisms, which are at present hidden in men’s hearts and nature. No; may the Lord come at once, for there is no amendment to be expected.”
Mr. Hartly, a learned churchman, has remarked as follows: “There are many prophecies which declare the fall of the ecclesiastical powers of the Christian world, and though each church seems to flatter itself with the hope of being exempted, yet it is very plain that the prophetical characters belong to all. They all have left the true, pure, simple religion, and teach for doctrines the commandments of men.”
Says Mr. Simpson, in Plea for Religion: “We Protestants, too, read the declaration of the third angel against the worshipers of the beast and his image, and make ourselves easy under the awful denunciation by applying it exclusively to the church of Rome; never dreaming that they are equally applicable not only to the English, but to every church establishment in Christendom, which retains any of the marks of the beast. For though the Pope and the church of Rome is at the head of the grand twelve hundred and sixty years’ delusion, yet all other churches, of whatever denomination, whether established or tolerated, which partake of the same spirit, or have instituted doctrines and ceremonies inimical to the pure and unadulterated gospel of Christ, shall sooner or later share in the fate of that immense fabric of human ordinances.”
Says Mr. Hopkins: “There is no reason to consider the antichristian spirit and practices confined to that which is now called the church of Rome. The Protestant churches have much of Antichrist in them, and are far from being wholly reformed from the corruptions and wickedness, in doctrine and practice, in it. Some churches may be more pure and may have proceeded farther in a reformation than others; but where can the church be found which is thoroughly purged from her abominations? None are wholly clear from an antichristian spirit and the fruits of it…. And as the church of Rome will have a large share in the cup of indignation and wrath which will be poured out, so all the Christian world will have a distinguished portion of it: as the inhabitants of it are much more guilty than others. There is great reason to conclude that the world, particularly that part of it called Christian and Protestant, will yet make greater and more rapid advances in all kinds of moral corruption and open wickedness, till it will come to that state in which it will be fully ripe and prepared to be cut down by the sickle of divine justice and wrath.”
Mr. O. Scott (Wesleyan Methodist) says: “The church is as deeply infected with a desire for worldly gain as the world. Most of the denominations of the present day might be called _churches of the world_, with more propriety than churches of Christ. The churches have so far gone from primitive Christianity that they need a fresh regeneration–a new kind of religion.”
Said T. DeWitt Talmage: “I simply state a fact when I say that in many places the church is surrendering, and the world is conquering…. There is a mighty host in the Christian church, positively professing Christianity, who do not believe the Bible, out and out and in and in…. Oh! we have magnificient church machinery in this country; we have sixty thousand American ministers; we have costly music; we have great Sunday-schools; and yet I give you the appalling statistics that in the last twenty-five years, laying aside last year, the statistics of which I have not yet seen,–within the last twenty-five years the churches of God in this country have averaged _less than two conversions a year_ each! There has been an average of four or five deaths in the churches. How soon, at that rate, will this world be brought to God? We gain two; we lose four. Eternal God! what will this come to?”
Bishop Roberts said: “The popular religion of this country is not the religion of the New Testament. It has some of its features but not all. It is lacking in grand fundamental elements. It answers many good purposes–restrains, refines, elevates, and gives to society a high grade of civilization; but fails to secure the great end which Christianity is designed to accomplish–the salvation of the soul. It dazzles but to blind, it promises but to deceive; it allures by worldly considerations to a heaven of purity, which no worldling can enter; it gives to its votaries, who long to eat of forbidden fruit, the assurance of impunity from the threatened evils, and leads them on by siren strains from the Paradise of purity into the broad road which ends at last in the blackness of the darkness of an eternal night of despair!”
Says the Golden Rule: “The Protestants are outdoing the Popes in splendid, extravagant folly in church building. Thousands on thousands are expended in gay and costly ornaments to gratify pride and a wicked ambition, that might and should go to redeem the perishing millions! Does the evil, the folly, and the madness of these proud, formal, fashionable worshiper, stop here? These splendid monuments of Popish pride, upon which millions are squandered in our cities, virtually exclude the poor for whom Christ died, and for whom he came especially to preach.”
The report of the Michigan Yearly Conference, even as long ago as 1851, published in the True Wesleyan of Nov. 15, says: “The world, commercial, political, and ecclesiastical are alike, and are together going in the broad way that leads to death. Politics, commerce, and nominal religion, all connive at sin, reciprocally aid each other, and unite to crush the poor. Falsehood is unblushingly uttered in the forum and in the pulpit; and _sins that would shock the moral sensibilities of the heathen, go unrebuked in all the great denominations of our land_. These churches are like the Jewish church when the Savior exclaimed, ‘Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.'”
Robert Atkins, in a sermon preached in London, says: “The truly righteous are diminished from the earth, and no man layeth it to heart. The professors of religion of the present day, in every church, are lovers of the world, conformers to the world. Lovers of creature-comfort, and aspirers after respectability. They are called to _suffer_ with Christ, but they shrink even from reproach. Apostasy, _apostasy_, APOSTASY, is engraven on the very front of every church; and did they know it, and did they feel it, there might be hope; but alas! they cry ‘We are rich, and increased in goods, and stand in need of nothing.'”
I have by no means exhausted the supply of similar testimonies of Protestants now before me, but for lack of space I must conclude. In the face of these amazing facts can any one deny that Protestantism is a part of great Babylon and is in a fallen condition?
“The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” A certain writer on this text has said: “Who take the lead in all the extravagancies of the age? Church-members. Who load their tables with the richest and choicest viands? Church-members. Who are foremost in extravagance in dress, and all costly attire? Church-members. Who are the very personification of pride and arrogance? Church-members. Where shall we look for the very highest exhibition of the luxury, even show, and pride of life, resulting from the vanity and sin of the race? Answer, To a modern church-assembly on a pleasant Sunday.” Though this writer interpreted the text literally, yet he spoke a vast amount of truth, as every one knows.
Consider, too, the wickedness carried on everywhere in sect Babylon unrebuked, with the preachers ofttimes in the lead. Shows, festivals, frolics, grab-bag parties, cake-walk lotteries, kissing-bees, etc., etc. If the apostle were here to-day and we should inform him of a modern church entertainment where a bared female foot, projecting from beneath a curtain, was sold to the highest gentleman bidder, who had the privilege of kissing its owner and taking her to supper, he would probably answer, “Have I not told you, ‘Babylon is fallen’?” If his attention was called to the fact that the members of a prominent church, in a novel entertainment, displayed the likeness of a donkey, minus the tail, while the members one by one were blindfolded, and, amid the uproarous laughter of the crowd assembled, were given the detached part to see who could place it the nearest where it belonged, he would say with double emphasis, “_Have I not told you_, ‘BABYLON THE GREAT IS FALLEN, IS FALLEN, AND IS BECOME THE HABITATION OF DEVILS, AND THE HOLD OF EVERY FOUL SPIRIT, AND A CAGE OF EVERY UNCLEAN AND HATEFUL BIRD’?” The “abominations” are by no means confined to the _mother_ in the Revelation, but are also to be found in abundance in connection with her harlot daughters.
4. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
5. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
6. Reward her even as she rewarded yon, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
7. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
8. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Here we have a number of important truths brought before us–first, that God had a people in Babylon who up to this time were free from her contaminations; second, that they received a positive call from heaven to “come out”; third, that all who refused to obey the heavenly command would become partakers of her sins and receive of her plagues; fourth, that those who came out were to pour the strongest judgments upon Babylon–“reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double.” It is evident that the “torment and sorrow” which God’s people give Babylon after their departure is not a temporal retaliation–for they never indulge in such, and the Word of God forbids it–but is altogether of a spiritual nature; hence the fierce judgment they inflict is executing the Word of truth, which brings to light all the wickedness and abominations contained therein. “Death, and mourning, and famine” only remain. This symbolizes that all spiritual life has departed, while famine and mourning are left. That such is the actual fact is shown by the following lamentation of the late Bishop R.S. Foster concerning his own sect, the Methodist Episcopal:
“The ball, the theatre, nude and lewd art, social luxuries, with all their loose moralities, are making inroads into the sacred enclosure of the church; and as a satisfaction for all this worldliness, Christians are making a great deal of Lent and Easter and Good Friday, and church ornamentations. It is the old trick of Satan. The Jewish church struck on that rock; the Romish church was wrecked on the same; and the Protestant church is fast reaching the same doom.
“Our great dangers as we see them, are assimilation to the world, neglect of the poor, substitution of the form for the fact of godliness, abandonment of discipline, a hireling ministry, an impure gospel, which summed up is a fashionable church. That Methodists should be liable to such an outcome, and that there should be signs of it in a hundred years from the ‘sail-loft,’ seems almost the miracle of history; but who that looks about him to-day can fail to see the fact?
“Do not Methodists, in violation of God’s Word and their own discipline, dress as extravagantly and as fashionably as any other class? Do not the ladies, and even the wives and daughters of the ministry, put on ‘gold and pearls and costly array’? Would not the plain dress insisted upon by John Wesley and Bishop Asbury, and worn by Hester Ann Rodgers, Lady Huntington, and many others equally distinguished, be now regarded in Methodist circles as fanaticism? Can any one going into the Methodist church in any of our chief cities distinguish the attire of the communicants from that of the theater and ball-goers? Is not worldliness seen in the music? Elaborately dressed and ornamented choirs, who in many cases make no profession of religion and are often sneering skeptics, go through a cold artistic or operatic performance, which is as much in harmony with spiritual worship as an opera or theater. Under such worldly performances spirituality is frozen to death.
“Formerly every Methodist attended class and gave testimony of experimental religion. Now the class-meeting is attended by very few, and in many churches abandoned. Seldom the stewards, trustees and elders of the church attend class. Formerly nearly every Methodist prayed, testified or exhorted in prayer-meeting. Now but very few are heard. Formerly shouts and praises were heard; now such demostrations of holy enthusiasm and joy are regarded as fanaticism.
“Worldly socials, and fairs, festivals, concerts and such like have taken the place of religious gatherings, revival meetings, class and prayer meetings of earlier days. How true that the Methodist discipline is a dead letter! Its rules forbid the wearing of gold or pearls or costly array; yet no one ever thinks of disciplining its members for violating them. They forbid the reading of such books and the taking of such diversions as do not minister to godliness, yet the church itself goes to frolics and festivals and fairs, which destroy the spiritual life of the young, as well as the old. The extent to which this is now carried on is appalling. The _spiritual death it carries in its train_ will only be known when _the millions it has swept into hell_ shall stand before the judgment.
“The early Methodist ministers went forth to sacrifice and to suffer for Christ. They sought not places of ease and affluence, but of privation and suffering. They gloried not in their big salaries, fine parsonages, and refined congregations, but in the souls that had been won for Jesus. Oh, _how changed!_ A hireling ministry will be a feeble, a timid, a truckling, a timeserving ministry, without faith, endurance, and holy power. Methodism formerly dealt in the great central truth. Now the pulpits deal largely in the generalities and in popular lectures. The glorious doctrine of entire sanctification is rarely heard and seldom witnessed in the pulpits.”
This lengthy quotation shows clearly the spiritual condition of Methodism, and certainly she is no worse than the rest. God is calling his people out of “all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” Ezek. 34:12. Those who refuse to walk in the light will go into darkness. God help people to “flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul.”
9. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
11. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
12. The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
13. And cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
14. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.