Revelation 18

Chap. XVIII. Ver. 1—8. The fall of Babylon.—This book af- Ver. 15. The whore—Or “harlot.” The Bishop of Meaux (before cited) objects to this being meant of the church of Rome, or to her being called a harlot; because, having been once a true church, her apostacy would render her an adulteress. To this Woodhouse replies, that the same term is applied to the churches of Judah and Israel, when guilty of idolatry, (see (Isaiah 1:21). (Jeremiah 3:1):) the reason of which is, such churches are considered as virtually divorced. (Jeremiah 3:8). Ver. 16. These shall hate, &c.—{The ten horns, which the angel explained of “ten kings,” or kingdoms, and which once exalted and supported her ecclesiastical tyranny, will hate, desolate, strip, and devour her.

They will be rendered “devils.” (Revelation 19:20). We must notice the warning here given, which is also evidently borrowed from Isaiah, (Chap. lii. 11, 12,) in reference to the literal Babylon. So our Lord himself warned his disciples to escape from Jerusalem, when they saw “the abomination of desolation;” that is, the Roman eagle flying before it. They did so, and it is not known that there were any Christians in the city when it was taken by the Romans. And it is certainly lawful at all times to fly from public calamities which we cannot prevent, when we can do it without bringing reproach on our religion. The chief reason why we should fly from depraved and corrupt communities is, that we “partake not of their sins,”

as we would wish to escape “their plagues.” Upon the doctrine of retaliation, (as expressed in ver. 6,) we would only remark, that the Christian religion does in no case tolerate private revenge: but retributive justice is a different thing, and the righteous governor of the world may certainly employ what instruments he pleases in dispensing it. But the passage before us was employed by our reformers, chiefly to justify their secession from the church of Rome. Whenever a church falls into idolatrous worship, as of saints and images, or into other fundamental errors, then should this warning voice be attended to; for if we be partakers in other men’s sins, we must expect to be sharers in their punishment.

And idolatry is a sin against which the Bible abounds with the most awful denunciations, as may be seen in the “Homily against the peril of Idolatry,” wherein also are many passages quoted on the same subject from the Christian fathers, from which only we can copy one short sentence. Origen says— “’Tis not only a mad and frantic part to worship images, but also once to dissemble or wink at it.” But what is most to be lamented, in the case both of apostate churches and individuals, is, that they are seldom sensible of their situation. The church of Laodicea said, “I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing;” while, at the same time, her Lord pronounced her to be “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

So the church of Rome, like Babylon of old, said, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” (Compare (Isaiah 47:7-9).) But, ah! how awfully was she mistaken!— “Therefore,” says the voice from heaven, “therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burnt with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” The precise nature of the judgments here intimated, we presume not to determine. Some have supposed that the city of Rome itself will be burned; and others, that it will be turned into a lake of fire and brimstone: but the harlot of whom we are speaking is not a city, but a church—an apostate church, in degree, and in its termination final.

Ver. 9—24. A lamentation over Babylon.—This lamentation is uttered by different classes of society, the most deeply interested in her fate. 1. The kings of the earth, who had committed fornication with her, and revelled with her in her luxuries; but how selfish was their mourning! They lamented the loss of their own licentious pleasures, but they express no sympathy in her sufferings. “They stand afar off for the fear of her torment”—lest the fire which burns her should scorch them also. 2. The merchants—but what do they do? They lament the loss of their traffic—“For no man buyeth her merchandise any more.” On the particulars of this merchandise we cannot here distinctly remark, one article alone excepted, namely, “the souls of men.”

“Tyre dealt only in men’s bodies, but Rome in their souls. I know not what else (says Mr. Fuller) to make of the sale of indulgences and pardons… of [auricular] confessions and prayers for the dead, and of every other means of extorting money from the ignorant.” “The merchants of these things,” namely, the priests and monks, with other orders in the church, “are made rich by her;” but they also will “stand afar off for fear” of partaking of “her torment:” and well they may fear, if they who are “partakers of her sins,” are to share also in “her plagues.” But Rome has been a wholesale dealer, and has exported her merchandise to every quarter of the globe, and more especially to South America, where she has cheated the souls and burned the bodies of men by thousands!

Well may those who have thus traded beyond the seas stand “afar off,” and cry, “Alas! alas!” While, however, earth is mourning, heaven rejoices; though Rome’s harpers, and pipers, and trumpeters, be all now dumb, heaven, as we shall see in the next chapter, is all joy and triumph. In the mean time, behold, another mighty angel descends from heaven, and tearing up a stone from the rock like a great millstone, casts it with all his strength into the fathomless ocean and cries, “Thus with violence shall Babylon be thrown down, and be found no more at all.” The close of this chapter is beautifully poetical, but the concluding verse contains an appalling fact that must make every reader shudder.

“In her (that is, in Rome) was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” Oh what a discovery is here! Wrath treasured up against the day of wrath, and blood against the day of vengeance! But is not this a strong hyperbole? Scarcely can it be so called; for all the blood that has been shed under the persecutions of Jews and Pagans, as well as nominal Christians, is shed upon one and the same principle, and that decidedly a popish one—the pretended right of controlling consciences: it was found in Rome, the great manufactory and depot (if we may so speak) of persecution. To calculate the quantity of this blood, we must write a martyrology.

Notes on the verses

Ver. 8. Utterly burned with fire.—{She says in her heart, like ancient Babylon, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow;” she glories, like ancient Rome, in the name of “the eternal city;” but notwithstanding, “she shall be burnt with fire.” Probably her destruction will be finished by some immediate judgment of God; and the nature of the soil in the vicinity, the frequent irruptions of subterraneous fires, and terrible earthquakes, which have often occurred, seem to point out the method: the combustibles are provided, and the train is already laid; there only wants “the breath of the Almighty to kindle it.”}—Bagster. Ver. 10. Alas, alas—{Or, Wo! wo! for this will form a part of the last wo.

This lamentation coincides in many particulars with that over Tyre; and the enumeration up the various articles of commerce is calculated to convey some idea of the splendour, luxury, and excess which have so long triumphed in the powerful, magnificent, and elegant metropolis of popery.}—B. Ver. 12. Thyine wood.—Margin, “sweet;” i.e. sweet spices or gums burnt for incense. Ver. 13. And slaves, and souls, &c.—“And bodies and souls of men.” So Woodhouse. “This is literal, and we see no reason for departing from it. It is true, in fact, (says Lowman,) that her slaves [those of Papal Rome] lose all religious, as well as civil, liberty.” Ver. 15. The merchants, &c.—Many of the images in this chapter seem taken from the Lamentation for Tyre, Ezek.

Chap. xxvii. Ver. 20. Rejoice over her, &c.—Compare (Jeremiah 51:47), &c. [It is peculiarly worthy of remark that the apostles, who are idolatrously honoured at Rome, and daily worshipped, should be specially mentioned as rejoicing in her fall; as if it “avenged them” on her, for the dishonour cast on their characters, while it vindicated the glory of God.]—Bagster. Ver. 21. Thus with violence, &c.—See (Jeremiah 51:63-64). [This was to represent the violence of her fall, and that she should never rise again; which is farther illustrated by varied emphatical expressions taken from the ancient prophets. But Rome is still standing and flourishing, and honoured by many nations as the metropolis of the Christian world; she still resounds with singers and musicians; she still excels in arts, which serve for pomp and luxury; she still abounds with candles, and lamps, and torches, burning even by day, as well as by night; and consequently this prophecy has not been, but remains “to be fulfilled.”]—Bagster. Ver. 23. The light of a candle.—Doddridge, “lamp.”