The Holy Scripture - english version B.indd - Sabbat

360John's Foreview of Romanism.knee to the modern Baal? In all this history only too faithfully correspondsto prophecy. Deep calls to deep, and the utterances of inspiration are caught upand echoed by the experience of generations. The voices of the prophets comeback in thunder from the course of ages, and the proof that God has spokenreverberates throughout the world.Having briefly considered John's prophecy concerning the rise and reignof the Papal power, we have now to glance at his prediction of its fall andoverthrow. This you will find in Revelation xvii.-xix. We have not timeto read these chapters now ; you are doubtless familiar with them, and will dowell to study them carefully and thoroughly. They contain the second complexor duplicate prophecy concerning Romanism - the career and judgment of" Babylon the Great."In this prophecy John beholds the ten-horned BEAST representing theRoman empire bearing a mystical WOMAN, dressed in purple and scarlet,decked with gold, precious stones, and pearls ; a harlot, and the mother of harlotsand abominations, the guilty paramour of kings, the cruel persecutor of saints ;intoxicated, but not with wine - drunken with the blood of the saints and of themartyrs of Jesus. What a vision ! what a prophecy !You remember the angel's interpretation of this vision : " The womanwhich you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."We showed that that city was Rome, indisputably Rome. That Babylonthe Great means Rome is admitted by Romanists themselves. CardinalBellarmine says that " Rome is signified in the Apocalypse bythe name of Babylon." Cardinal Baronius admits that " all personsconfess that Rome is denoted by the name of Babylon inthe Apocalypse of John." Bossuet observes that " the featuresare so marked, that it is easy to decipher Rome under thefigure of Babylon (Rome sous la figure de Babylone). But,while admitting that Babylon the Great, seated on the seven hills, meansRome, Papal interpreters assert that it means heathen Rome, and not ChristianRome - the Rome of the Cæsars, and not that of the popes.In reply to this, we answer, first, that the name upon the harlot's brow is" mystery," and that heathen Rome was no mystery. The true character ofheathen Rome was never concealed. On the other hand, Christian Romeis a " mystery " ; it is not what it seems. In profession, it is Divine ; incharacter, satanic.We say, in the second place, that there is a marked and international contrastin the Apocalypse between the two cities Babylon and Jerusalem, which isoverlooked by the Papal interpretation. Babylon, in the Apocalypse, is a city anda harlot ; Jerusalem, in the same book, is a city and a bride. The former is thecorrupt associate of earthly kings ; the latter is a Church ; the former then isno mere heathen metropolis. The contrast is between Church and Church ; thefaithful Church [Editor: Assembly] and the apostate Church.In the third place, we point to the fact that the judgment described inRevelation xviii. falls on Babylon when her sins had reached to heaven ; thatis, in the darkest part of her career. But when Alaric destroyed Rome in A.D. 410