Rome never has been, and from its very position never could be, a great commercial city. . . . The details of this lamentation far more nearly suit London than Rome, at any assignable period of her history." Then, with his beautiful simplicity and accustomed frankness (great qualities of a true scholar) he adds, "I leave this difficulty unsolved." But the interpretation given in this work, that Babylon is the symbol of the antichristian world-power, which is nowhere more fully present than in secularized commerce, both by land and by sea, and that these laments regard papal Rome only in a subordinate manner, and not so much as a city, but rather as a harlot church in adulterous union with the world, completely solves this difficulty, and is thereby strongly confirmed. For it is not Rome exclusively that here fills the eye of the Seer, but the great antichristian world, as represented in Rome, London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Moscow, New York, and in all the cities of the nations' whose fall is involved in that of Babylon (323).

20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and ye saints and apostles and prophets, for God hath judged your judgment upon her.

In the strongest contrast with the preceding lamentations is this call upon the heavenly host, upon the saints, apostles, and prophets, to rejoice over the destruction of the harlot world-power: the particular reason given for which is, that God has now executed upon her that judgment which they in all ages have predicted or anticipated, and which rights all the wrongs she has ever inflicted. For this judgment is contained in all the prophecies concerning the typical destruction of the historic Babylon, and the typical deliverance of the Old Testament church, where also it is an occasion of similar rejoicing:

Sing, O heavens, for the Lord hath done it;

Shout, ye lower parts of the earth;

Break forth into singing, ye mountains,

O forest, and every tree therein :

For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob,

And will glorify himself in Israel (Is. xlix. 23).

Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth,

And break forth into singing, O mountains:

For the Lord hath comforted His people,

And will have compassion upon His afflicted (xlix. 13).

For the destruction of the world-power, though it be regarded by those who have been corrupted with luxury and wantonness as a measureless calamity, is in truth the greatest of blessings, because it is the realization of divine justice, and indispensable to the deliverance of the church from bondage, and to the final establishment of the Lord's kingdom. Hence He says to His people: "When these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke xxi. 28).

21 And a mighty angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and hurled it into the sea, saying, Thus with sudden violence shall Babylon the great city be hurled, and shall be found no more.

In this symbolical transaction the sudden violence with which the great antichristian world-power shall be overthrown and made to disappear forever is strikingly represented, in pointed allusion to the following prophecy: "When thou hast made an end of reading this book, thou shalt bind a stone unto it, and shalt cast it into Euphrates; and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again, because of the evil that I will bring upon her" (Jer. li. 63–64).

22 And the voice of harpers and of minstrels and of flute players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman of any craft shall be found any more at all in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; 23 and the light of a lamp 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 ones of the earth; for with thy sorcery all the nations of the earth were deceived: 24 and in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain in sacrifice upon the earth.

Here the utter ruin or desolation of the literal Babylon, as foretold by the prophets, as it was in the time of St. John, and as it has continued for almost 2,000 years since, is taken to represent the overthrow and destruction of the antichristian world-power of the last times: and all these particulars

are significant, showing that within its limits there will be no festivity, no art, no form of industry, no household life, and no source of population; and all this in allusion to innumerable prophecies, of which the following is a single example:

I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness,

The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride,

The sound of the millstones and the light of the candle (Jer. xxv. 10). The vision closes with the three great crimes for which, above all others, the harlot world-power is thus judged and punished: (1) Her enormous luxury, as signified by the fact, that her merchants, the ministers to her wantonness, 'were the great ones of the earth,' those who filled the most exalted stations, and had the greatest power and influence: (2) Her having seduced by her sorceries, or meretricious solicitations, all the nations, governments, political powers of mankind into rebellion against God, and, as the harlot church, having taken them into adulterous union with herself, and made them the instruments of her vices and crimes: (3) Her bloody persecution of prophets and saints, and of all who have ever been sacrificed in the cause of truth and right, whose blood is now required at her hands.

1. We see here what is meant by 'the end of the world' in the Scriptural sense of that expression; for it does not mean the close of man's history upon earth, but the end of his rebellion against God, including the destruction of all antichristian political and ecclesiastical powers, and the deliverance of the true church from their enslaving and corrupting influences. Moreover, in strict analogy with prophecy in general, it may include a series of sudden events (20); for much of what is here predicted takes place, as we shall see, previously to, and in preparation for, the establishment of the Lord's millennial kingdom; but it is not consummated until the issue of the last battle subsequently to the millennium, which is immediately followed by the final judgment and the descent of the New Jerusalem from heaven to earth.

2. Further, I venture to suggest that this destruction of the world-power under the symbol of Babylon consumed by

...

fire, may be identical with what is elsewhere spoken of as a conflagration of the earth, in which, as it has been commonly believed, the physical world will be literally burned up: for otherwise this catastrophe does not appear at all in these. visions, and it seems impossible to account for its omission. If this identification be correct, it may lead to a figurative, in place of the literal interpretation which has generally prevailed, of such prophecies as the following: "The heavens that are now and the earth . . . are treasured up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. . . . The day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Pet. iii. 7-10). For such a figurative interpretation of these prophecies would not weaken in the least, much less invalidate, the practical exhortations which are based upon them, such as the following: "Seeing that all these things are thus to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat! But we according to His promise look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (iii. 11-13).

3. In conclusion, the unparalleled fulness with which the overthrow of the antichristian world-power is represented, both by pre-announcement and description in detail, shows its enormous importance in the scheme of divine providence. Moreover, inasmuch as it includes the deliverance of the church from bondage to the world, and the suppression of evil, it is, as we have seen, and as will more fully appear in the next vision, a subject of great rejoicing in heaven, and should be an object of longing desire and unceasing prayer with all the people of God: for when finally delivered from this bondage, 'then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear' (Mat. xiii. 43).

XL

JUBILATE IN HEAVEN OVER THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD POWER THE PURIFICATION OF THE CHURCH AND THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB XIX I-IO

In this vision, as in others where a corresponding stage has been reached (228), we have a jubilation in heaven over the destruction of the antichristian world-power, the consequent deliverance and purification of the church, and her marriage with the Lamb.

I After these things I heard as it were the great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah, the salvation and the glory and the power of our God! 2 For true and just are His judgments, for He hath judged the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.

This voice is that of the whole heavenly host, including the saved, who have come safely through 'the great tribulation,' and whom we have seen and heard as 'a great multitude which no man could number,' shouting, 'The salvation be unto our God, who sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb' (159). Here with their great voice they exclaim at the glory of God, the great salvation, and the power by which it has been wrought out, and celebrate the truth and justice of His judgments as manifested in the means He has employed, i. e. the destruction of the harlot world-power who corrupted the earth with her fornication. Hence they see in her overthrow the hand of God avenging the blood of His servants upon her; as God said to Jehu: "Thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the