And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power: and the earth was lightened with his glory. 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. 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. 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. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according unto her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 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. 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. 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, 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. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; 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, and cinnamon, and odours, 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. 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. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every ship-master, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee: and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of the millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.—Rev. xviii.
The language of the last chapter was precise. The angel spoke of five kings that were not, of one that was, of a seventh that was to come, of an eighth that would be like one of the seven. It spoke of a city set upon seven hills, which ruled over the kings of the earth. Such a description must have been intended, I thought, to fix our minds upon imperial Rome at a certain epoch. The emperor before Vespasian seemed to be clearly indicated; the scene of the prophecy appeared to be laid in the time between the death of Nero and the overthrow of Vitellius.
The language of this chapter is large and general. To identify the description with any calamities which befell the mere city of Rome—supposing the calamities included, as they did, the burning of the Capitol itself—is impossible. I cannot wonder—I cannot regret that men in different ages should have been sure that it did not concern some past event which affected others; that it concerned them and their doings; that it was a prophecy respecting the world in which they were living. I believe, then, as I said last Sunday, that their instinct is wholly a right one, that the more strictly we adhere to the very words of the book, the more it will be justified.
If the Apostle meant Rome, why did he speak of Babylon? The question has often been asked; the answer which is sometimes given is surely unsatisfactory. It has been supposed that to talk openly would have been unsafe; he was driven to enigmas. Unsafe for whom? He was already in Patmos—would a few years longer on earth signify so much to an apostle that for the sake of them he would suppress the truth? But unsafe, perhaps, because he might have caused a sedition against the ruling powers. Whom could he have tempted to take part in such a sedition? No heathen would have heeded his words. They were especially discouraging to all the dreams of Jewish supremacy. They gave direct warning to the members of the Church, not to take the sword, lest they should perish by the sword. The whole empire, heathen and Jewish, was in anarchy already. What men wanted was some one to tell them whether the anarchy would last for ever.
We read of the destruction of Babylon, not of Rome, because the destruction of Babylon, not of Rome, was in the mind of the prophet, and of Him who taught the prophet. We read of the destruction of Babylon, and not of Rome, because the words were strictly true respecting the Babel polity of which Rome had become the centre, and would not have been true concerning the mere city, contemplated either as a city of walls or as a city of men. We read of Babylon, and not of Rome, because the subject is a system which had been working for generations, not in one country, but in all countries, and which was to hear its sentence in that generation. We read of Babylon, and not of Rome, that we may not identify that system with one place—be the place as evil as it may—but may study it in all its forms and aspects, may be sure that wherever it has existed, does exist, or shall exist, it is essentially the same.
I. “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 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. 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.”
The darkness of the earth is revealed to St. John by a light from heaven. That light does not permit him to look at any evil as original, at any evil as victorious. Babylon has fallen from a better and nobler state; she has become a habitation of demons. The expression clearly points to moral or spiritual wickedness. The “unclean and hateful birds” which lodge in the city, are not owls and bitterns, but the covetousness, filthiness, malice, which fill the hollows that better spirits had once occupied. The ruling city had been corrupting the nations with her pride, and ambition, and lust of gold. Kings of the West and of the East had sold their truth and freedom to her; she had debased and besotted them with her luxuries; she had made the traders of the earth tributaries to her greediness. We all know that it was so. If we are afraid of fixing the charge upon the Roman world of the first century, it is because we suspect the words may apply to worlds with which we have been more nearly in contact. We need not be afraid lest they should lose their force. Let them signify what they signified at first. God will take care that they shall not signify less to us.
II. “And I heard another voice out of heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 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. How much she hath glorified herself and lived delicately, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 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 which judgeth her.”
Did this voice from heaven mean that Christians were to fly from Rome because it was about to undergo great calamities? Whither could they fly? What part of the empire was not exposed to the same calamities? Were they more partakers of the sins of Rome by dwelling in her than by dwelling anywhere else? The message, all have felt, must have another significance than this. Babylon was in Rome; but it was also wherever men were worshipping the things they saw and handled, were worshipping their own lusts, were worshipping themselves. It was this worship which had brought the evil spirits into the city; from it, and from them, God calls His people to come out. All were His people, Jews or Heathens, who would obey that voice, who would confess a righteous Being to be the King and Judge of the earth, who would believe assuredly that what was not righteous must perish. It is hard to believe that; hard for those who profess to believe it most—yes, for those who are thoroughly convinced in their reasons that it cannot be otherwise. Atheism creeps over every one. The more corrupt a society is, the more do the habits and traditions of it impose the feeling upon us that it is to go on; it takes away the heart and hope which should rise against it. If the notion of that society was true—that God has left the world to itself, that He is only just so far as we fancy that He is—there could be no escape from this state of things; the worse it grows, the more pledge it has of perpetuity. But He speaks, and He can make Himself heard. He gives the consciences of men to understand that they shall have their revenge for the debasement and degradation which they have suffered from its vile doctrines and grovelling practices; since these have infected every one that has been brought within their reach; since there is no man whose standard has not been lowered, whose character has not been impoverished, by them. It is a glorious proclamation for mankind—“Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works;” it is the right pæan over the downfall of a demoralising tyranny. Pity it not; it has withered the hearts and souls of human beings; let it wither utterly. The punishment must be in proportion to its luxury and wantonness; in proportion to the heedlessness and stupid confidence which the sins of centuries have generated. “She sits as a queen;” what can depose her? She is no widow; what does she care for any Divine Lord? she “shall see no sorrow;” she does not know what sorrow means; she does not understand how it can come near her. And so the destined downfall overtakes her all unprepared; “in one day there is death, mourning, famine.” The fire which has gone from her comes back to consume her, for He whom she supposed to be far off is at hand. She finds that righteousness is not a phantasy, but a Person—“strong is the Lord God that judgeth her.”
III. “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, 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.”
The terror of these kings of the earth is not for the fall of a particular dynasty—to that they might be well accustomed—nor for any tribulation that had overtaken Rome: that might, perhaps, have been welcomed. They have no sympathy with the victim; they “stand afar off for fear of her torment.” But they have a sense of the insecurity and instability of all which they supposed to be most secure and stable. Their world is tottering to its base. The scheme of society, which they took to be immortal, is breaking into pieces. Outward props have failed. It appears to have no inward coherency. The religious notions which it cherished, and which seemed to promise it more than material help, are discarded; men suspect them to be inventions: they have not withheld the rulers from doing what they listed; they shall not withhold the rebels from doing what they list. “Alas, alas, that great city, Babylon!” It stood upon its own base, and that base has given way.
IV. “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 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, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and the souls of men. 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. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones and pearls! for in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour she is made desolate.”
The particularity of this description constitutes its worth. Comprehend the “odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and fine flour,” in some general phrase which shall express the disappearance of material prosperity, and you transport us into a region of vagueness; the actual cries of the merchants, and the shipmasters, and the sailors, are not heard. I should only weaken the impression of the passage if I commented upon it. There are just one or two words in the midst of it which throw light upon the whole. The traffic is in “beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and the souls of men.” There is no distinction in the articles; they are all contemplated alike as items in a bill of lading, as subjects for barter. The last are chiefly precious as instruments for the production and exchange of the others. They are a part the least significant, but a necessary part—in the great system. They must be ground into atoms in the whirl of this social machine; they consume a certain portion of food; individually they pass away; their places are supplied by others who perform the same jobs. And the kings of the earth, as well as the merchants, and the shipmasters, and even the sailors, cannot understand how it should be otherwise; how society should ever be constituted on a different principle from this. For those who draw profit from the labour that is done, for those who do the labour, it is equally difficult to conceive how men should be more than hands for moulding certain things out of one shape into another shape, or heads for directing the operations of those hands. It is not only a class of tributaries or serfs whom the rulers of the earth reduce to this condition. They are themselves tributaries and serfs. The vision is of a state of society in which they have lost the power of considering that they have any function upon earth but to use “odours, and frankincense, and fine flour, and wine, and sheep, and oxen,” in different combinations. It is a world of restless laziness; all asking to be idlers; all contemplating some distant time when they shall succeed in obtaining so much more of the goods of the earth than their neighbours, that they shall be able simply to eat, drink, and be merry. But these children do not find the end of the rainbow for all their running; the serfdom goes on; the merriment is to come; the capacity for it grows every day less.
V. And therefore, “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her.”
You, O sons of God, who shouted with joy, because the earth was made very good, because man ruled over all the things which were so bright and glorious, because man looked up to God, and was formed in His image, and worshipped Him; you have seen the spectacle of a wicked world, men bowing to these things and making gods of them. Will you not shout for joy again because God is declaring that this inversion shall not be, because He is bearing witness in thunders and lightnings that His order shall be established, and that that which contradicts it shall come to nought? What have ye been witnessing against, holy prophets, but against this worship of things, this degradation of man? What have ye been saying but that God will come out of His place to put down those who cause men to toil in the furnace, that he will shew a man to be more precious than the golden wedge of Ophir, that He will bring forth One who shall rule in righteousness, and shall judge the poor, who shall “reprove with equity for the meek of the earth, who shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall slay the wicked.” What have you been proclaiming, holy apostles? but that the Son of God has taken upon Him the form of a Servant, and has become Man; has passed on the earth for the carpenter’s son; has died the death of the slave and malefactor; has risen out of death in His human body; in that body has ascended on high, that he might fill all things. Did you suppose that, when you announced this Gospel, you were introducing a new religion into the world, which should overthrow the old, and glorify your names? Did you not understand that you were declaring what is the Divine order and economy of the universe? Did you not understand that you were foretelling the utter downfall and destruction of everything, whatever name it may boast, which reduces man into a slave and an animal, which forbids him to claim his glory as a member of the body of the only begotten Son of God? Will you not rejoice then? for in this downfall of a brutal tyranny, in this anarchy of the ruling city, in this earthquake of all nations, your message is proved to be true; the kingdom of man’s enemy is shewn to be rotten; the kingdom of man’s Father and Redeemer is shewn to be eternal.
VI. “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”
The merchants and shipmasters wailed when they saw what was passing in the world. It seemed to them that the system to which they belonged, to which they had given their hearts, was breaking into fragments and another world coming to light. The angel who casts the stone into the sea confirms their dread. He, too, sees in what is happening, the pledge of that which shall happen; he perceives the doom of the Babel system and polity, in the shock through which, at a particular instant, it is passing. So understanding the nature of prophecy we are delivered from many crude notions respecting it, upon which many opinions disparaging to the authority both of the Old and New Testament, have been raised. “Is it true,” we are asked, “that the voice of harpers, and musicians, and trumpeters, were no more heard at all in the city of Rome, after the first century? Is it true, that no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he was, was found in her; and that the voice of the bridegroom and the bride were no more heard at all in her after the revolution which overtook her in the days of Vitellius; or after any event that has befallen her since? Must not, then, St. John have been deceived? Was not the catastrophe which he thought was at hand really distant by a number of yet unfulfilled centuries? Is it not obvious that he was anticipating much more than the destruction of Rome? Was he not looking for the destruction of the world?”
I will take the last question first. I answer it as I have answered it before. If by the destruction of the world is meant the destruction of this earth, as it came from God’s hands, St. Paul and St. John did not look for it in their own day, because they did not look for it in any day. The earth was dear to them; they believed Christ had come upon it, to redeem it from its curse; to burn away that which was corrupt in it; to claim it for His Father. If, again, by the destruction of the world is meant the destruction of human society, I answer, the Apostles’ Gospel was concerning a kingdom of heaven. They took the utmost pains to show that, by a kingdom of heaven, they did not mean a kingdom somewhere in the clouds; that they did mean a society of men established upon a principle which does not make society destructive and impossible, a society governed by God and not by the Devil. They did not foretell that, in their own day, there would be a destruction of human society; if they had, they would have foretold that the kingdom which they said would have no end was to perish at once. What they did look for was a signal vindication of the law of human society against the transgressors of that law. They did look for this in their own day. They did say that, if it came in their own day, a truth would be manifested for all ages to come. It would be shewn that the earth and human society stand on a Divine ground, cannot stand on any other ground. One great experiment had been made, and was making, to establish it on a brutal or devilish ground. That experiment should be confounded. The Babel doctrine might have champions, advocates, apostles, by thousands and tens of thousands in the days to come; but it had been demonstrated to be a lie; and each fresh trial of it would supply a fresh demonstration.
And now, then, I will come to the special question concerning Rome. Beyond all doubt, she rose again as an imperial city after the Vitellian anarchy; she continued an imperial city from Vespasian to Augustulus; she gave titles to Cæsars in the East and the West after her own subjection to barbarian masters; the name Eternal City, which had been bestowed by heathens, was endorsed by popes; her laws and customs were imported into every nation of the West; within her actual walls there was heard the voices of harpers and musicians, of bridegrooms and brides; there were all the arts and ornaments of life. So it was, and so the words of prophets and apostles were fulfilled. They said the earth was the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; they denied that the pride and vanity of man were the sources of any one outward or inward treasure which man possesses; they said, that He who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not, is the author and upholder of laws, institutions, social order; of all that makes life healthful, convenient, graceful; of all that exalts us above the beasts that perish. And, therefore, they said, that Babylon the Great, which will not confess the earth to be the Lord’s and the fulness thereof, which refers all that men possess to their pride and vanity, which debases all laws and institutions into ministers of arbitrary will, which reduces arts into ministers of materialism and sensuality, must sink like lead in the waters; that whenever, in any kingdom of the earth, its maxims become completely recognised, whenever all other maxims are disbelieved—that kingdom must perish. The voices of the bride and the bridegroom must cease in it; its music must turn to discord. It may revive, it may undergo various transmigrations; but the same law will hold in each one. God will be its upholder; its own lusts and atheism will be undermining it. These lusts and atheism will be most intolerable if they are cloaked with the forms of religion, if the name of God is used to cover the contempt and denial of His nature; if the spirit of selfishness is confounded with His; if the sacrifices in which that spirit delights, the sacrifices of the souls and bodies of men, are offered up as if they were pleasing to the God of Truth. In her, it is said, was found the blood of prophets and of all that had been slain upon the earth. For the murders of all brave men who have stood firm on behalf of the truth, for the murder of all men whatsoever, their souls and bodies, this belief in a false and cruel God is responsible. All are victims of the Babel system. The blood of all is discovered when that system falls.
“What matters where, if I am still the same?” are the words which our poet puts into the mouth of Satan. They have a wonderful force in the sense in which he meant them. They have also another force. What matters where, in what city or soil of the earth, under what government or what religion; evil is still the same, selfishness is still the same. The Adversary will make a Babylon wherever men will stoop to him. “What matters where, if I am still the same,” are words which He who came to destroy the works of the Devil, to bruise the serpent’s head, is also speaking to our hearts. “Whatever falsehood there is in any society, in any heart, I am able to overcome it. Out of death I can bring life. Whatever has been turned to the service of Babylon, whatever gifts of the earth, whatever faculties, energies, affections of men, in any corner of the universe, are mine. They are the purchase of my blood. I have vindicated them, I will vindicate them, for the service of the kingdom of God.”