Revelation 18
DODDRevelation 18:1
tion of the fall of Babylon, and an account of the her friends and merchants over her. Rev. hout.
REVELATION XVIII. 1.
AND after this, I saw an angel descending from heaven, who had, in his countenance and appearance, the signatures of great power; and the earth was enlightened with his glory, which spread a vivid lustre all around him, reflected from every neighbouring object. And he cried with great might [and] a loud voice of triumphant joy, in the words of Isaiah, (chap. xxi. 9,) saying, It is fallen, it is fallen, even Babylon the great; and what was prophesied concerning the celebrated seat of the Chaldean empire, shall presently be verified in this detested city; so that we may already say, it is become the habitation of demons, (as desolate places were reputed to be,) and the hold of every unclean spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird; (Isa. xiii. 21; Jer. i. 39; li. 37.) Because she hath caused all the nations to drink of the intoxicating and inflaming wine of her raging and insatiable whoredom; and all the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her, and the merchants of the earth have traded with her, and been enriched by the abundance of her luxuries. And I then heard another voice from heaven, saying to the remainder of faithful souls which were yet in Babylon, Come ye out from the midst of her, O my people, separate yourselves from this accursed society, that ye may not be partakers with her in her sins, which are so polluting and insnaring; and that ye may not, by a fatal consequence,
ᵃ Is fallen.] This is still the language of prophecy, expressing what shall certainly and speedily come to pass; for verse the fourth shows, that, in strictness of speech, Babylon was yet to be considered as standing
ᵇ Luxuries.] The word synthesis, seems to signify such luxury of diet as cherishes wantonness, and disposes to acts of un-
un- chastity; and may well represent the manner in which the Roman clergy have pampered themselves, and the effects it has produced, to the scandal of the Christian profession, in the eyes of all the world, as well as the idolatries which have been established and maintained to support that luxury. Compare 1 Tim. v. 11, and the note there.
Her plagues shall come upon her in one day.
partake of her plagues too, which those who share her sins must expect to share, whatever their former profession may have been. Because her sins have followed up to heaven with their clamours, and her unrighteous actions are come up in remembrance before that God, who will not fail severely to visit her for them. And now, O my people, give her, as she also has given to you, and recompense to her double, according to her works; for God will plead your cause for you: in the cup of terror, which she has mingled for those whom she was not able to seduce and debauch, mingle her a double quantity of those poisonous ingredients: In full proportion to the degree in which she hath, for so many ages, made ostentation of her glory, and lived in luxury, inflict upon her torment and grief, and vengeance; because she has audaciously said in her heart, while the Divine threatenings have been sounding in her very ears, I sit as a queen, enthroned above the reach of adversity, and I am not a desolate widow, as it hath been pretended I should be; and I shall not see sorrow. (Compare Isa. xlvii. 7, 8.) Therefore, in one day shall her plagues come upon her, even upon this impious and abominable city, death, and mourning, and famine, which shall all unite their efforts against her; and she shall be burnt with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judges her; and all her boasted strength will, in his presence, be weakness and confusion. And the other kings of the earth, who shall not be active in the execution before described, but still retain their affection for her, even the remainder of those, who have committed fornication, and lived in luxury with her, shall mourn over her, and lament for her, when they shall see the flames of wrath kindle about her, and the smoke of her burning, like that of Sodom in the day of its conflagration, ascending up to heaven. They shall see it, standing afar off for fear of her torment, saying, Wo, wo, and alas, O thou great city, Babylon, the strong city! well may we lament over thee; for in one hour thy judgment is come, and thy desolation is as sudden as it is dreadful and entire. And the merchants of the earth, those who enriched them-
They who were enriched by her, shall lament her ruin.
selves by her expensive magnificence, shall wail and lament over her, out of a regard to their own interest, if not to her’s; because no one any longer shall buy their waxes, with which they had loaded so many gallant vessels that carried on a traffic with her: They shall lament, that so noble a vent for all the delicacies of a pompous and luxurious life, is lost; and that they can no longer thus dispose of the ladings of gold, and silver, and every precious stone, and pearls, and of the fine linen of Egypt, and the purple of Sidon, and the silk of the eastern countries, and the scarlet, and every odoriferous wood, that the plantations of Arabia, or the coasts of India, could boast; and every curiously wrought vessel of ivory, and every vessel of most precious wood, in value exceeding even that, and all the utensils of brass, and of iron, and of marble, with which the houses of the rich, and of the great, have been furnished. No longer shall they there find a market for rich and fragrant commodities; for cinnamon, and perfume, and myrrh, and incense, nor for the more necessary and important supplies of wine, and oil, and fine our, and wheat, and kine, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves: and their yet more infamous traffic for the lives, and the very souls of men, which they sacrificed to their avarice, and their treachery, shall cease. And thou, O Babylon, shall join thy cry with theirs; for all the fruits, which thy soul desired, and for which alone thy degenerate nature had any remaining relish, are gone from thee, and all thy delicious and splendid things are departed from thee; and the loss is final as well as entire; for thou shalt never find them any more. I repeat it again, the merchants of all these [commodities,] who were enriched by her, shall stand afaroff, in a mixture of terror and grief, for fear of her torment, weeping, and mourning, but abso-
c Slaves.] The Greek word σωμεῖα has plainly this signification. Compare Tobit x. 9. d Weeping and mourning.] There is in all this so evident a reference to the lamentation over Tyre, described by Ezekiel, (chap. xxvii.) that I suppose few readers can fail to take notice of it. Compare Isa. xxiii. 1, 7, 14, & sim. Some have interpreted many of these passages, a referring to the circumstances of Popis worship, and the trade of their priests as ver. 11, to relics, pardons, and indulgencies: ver. 12, to their images,
The apostles and prophets are exhorted to rejoice
lutely incapable of giving her any relief; smiting on their breasts, And saying, Alas, alas, for the great, elegant and magnificent city, that was clothed with fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For, who can sufficiently lament this sad instance of the uncertainty of all human things, when he sees, that, in one hour, all these great riches are laid waste, and made desolate? And this sad scene was represented to me in a lively vision; and every pilot, and every one of the ship’s company, and the mariners, and all that bestow their labour upon the sea, stood afar off from the flames of the burning city, And cried, when they saw the smoke of her burning, ascend in such thick columns to heaven. What [city, is] like to the great city, so long unequalled in its glory, and now in its ruin? And they seemed like men in the greatest agony of distress, and cast dust upon their heads, and cried, weeping, and mourning, saying, Alas, alas, for the great city, by whose magnificent expenses, arising from her profusion, and elegance, and grandeur, all that had ships in the sea, were enriched, so that she alone was sufficient, as it were, to maintain the merchandise of the world; for she is made desolate in one hour, to a degree that we should have imagined utterly impossible.
But while they were thus lamenting their own loss and her’s, I was affected in another manner, and could not forbear crying out in my own heart, Rejoice over her, O thou just avenging heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, who look down from your abodes of glory, on so wonderful and interesting a scene. Take your part in the sacred triumph; for on your account, God has pronounced sentence upon her; he hath adjudged her to righteous destruction, for
the furniture of their churches and chapels, and the variety of rich dresses for their images and priests: ver. 13, to the incense used at their altars: ver. 22, to the musical instruments used in their worship: and ver. 23, to the vast numbers of lamps burning before their idolatrous altars; and the like. But it seems rather to centre in one view, the loss of every
thing valuable and desirable, and the utter ruin of this magnificent city.
Apostles.] Nothing can be more lively than this apostrophe; in which the apostles though honoured in Rome by so many superstitious and idolatrous rites, are, nevertheless, called upon to rejoice in her destruction.
There shall be no joy or festivity in her any more.
her opposition to his kingdom, and for the injuries done to you, who, with ardent and unwearied zeal, endeavoured to establish and promote it.
And, as soon as I had uttered this in correspondence to the scene which had been represented of old, with relation to the great seat of the Chaldean empire, (Jerem. li. 64,) a strong angel took a stone, like a great millstone; and, with a vigorous and rapid motion, hurled it into the sea, saying, Thus shall Babylon the great city, unequal as the production of this event may seem to any human power, be violently hurled away by the almighty arm of an avenging God, and sink into the depths of destruction; so that it shall never be found any more. And the harmonious sound of harpers, and other musicians, and those who sound the flute, and the trumpet, shall no more be heard in thee; and every artificer of every curious trade, employed for the accommodations and ornaments of life, shall no more be found in thee, O Babylon, nor shall the noise of the millstone be heard in thee any more, even to prepare bread for the meanest inhabitant. And the light of a lamp shall no more be seen in thee, to gild thy dark night with its cheerful rays; and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride, rejoicing in their new relation, and celebrating the nuptial feast, shall be heard in thee no more; because thy merchants were grandees of the earth, and maintained so shameful a traffic by every dishonest art, and because all the nations were deceived by thy sorceries, and poisoned by thy pernicious practices. And, to complete her guilt, as Babylon of old had grown great by the slaughter of Israel, so in her, who has been here represented, was found the blood of the prophets, and of the saints of God, even of all those who were slain upon the earth; for this wicked city exceeded all the rest of the world in cruelties, and might boast in the mul-
† Hurled away.] This the original words, ἑρμηνῶν βουβησῆναι import; as if calling by its own weight, its fall would not have been rapid enough. From hence Dr. Thomas Burnet infers, in his Theory of the earth, that Rome, being first fixed,
(compare Dan. vii. 11,) will be swallowed up in a take of fire and brimstone, as Sodom and Gomorrah were Burn Thee. Vol. II. p. 123. Compare Rev. xix. 20. † Verse 22, 23] Compare Jer. xxv. 0; xxxiii. 11; Ezek. xxvi. 13, & xiii.
VOL. 6.
Reflections on the fall of Babylon.
titudes of the martyrs she had slain, beyond all xxi. that had ever gone before her, in such detestable persecutions; and this hath filled up the Rev. measure of her iniquities, and plunged her into xviii. this irrecoverable ruin. 24
IMPROVEMENT.
From the particular detail which is here given us, of the various commodities in which Babylon traded with its merchants, we may surely take an incidental occasion to reflect upon the rich bounty of Divine providence to the children of men, in giving them such a variety of good things, which tend not only to their necessary support, but their ornament and delight. To whatever pernicious purposes vanity and luxury may abuse the silver and the gold, the gems and the pearls, the fine linen and silk, the purple and scarlet, the ivory and the marble, the cinnamon and the myrrh, as well as the more important blessings of wheat and oil, of kine, and sheep, and horses, all are the gifts of God; and, if wisely and properly used, may justly excite our thankfulness to him; and it is on ourselves, and not on him, that we are to charge it, if what should have been for our welfare becomes a trap, and our treasures be turned into idols. Nor is the wise disposition of Providence to be disregarded, in causing many of these things to be the peculiar products of different countries, denying to some what he has given to the rest, that so traffic and commerce may be encouraged, and, by it, society and intercourse extended among different nations, and provision made for that spread of Divine knowledge, which had, in many instances, been impossible, if human industry, quickened by necessity, and the prospect of gain, had not invented those arts of navigation, to which Great Britain, above all other nations, is so much indebted, and without which, indeed, our beautiful and fruitful island had been a desert, inaccessible to men.
But, though this oblique reflection may profitably be made, the great object to which we are directed by this chapter, is the certain and final ruin of Babylon, which, how highly soever exalted, how superbly soever adorned, how luxuriously soever regaled, shall fall, shall fall as a millstone cast into the sea. Strong is the Lord God who judgeth her; and it is impossible she can withstand the force of his omnipotent arm. Long has she, in a metaphorical sense, been the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird; and God will make her so in another, even in a literal sense, when he shall appear to remember and punish those iniquities, which have reached unto heaven; among which, various and detestable as they have have been, shedding the blood of the prophets and the saints, must be reckoned
The heavenly host triumphs over her.
as most enormous. Let no triumph of the antichristian powers, for the present, shake our faith in these most certain and indubitable prophecies; and let that charge never be forgotten, “Come forth from her, O my people, and be separate.” Blessed be God, that a separation has been begun, that it has been so long supported, and that so many attempts to bring back God’s Israel into captivity have been defeated. May the boundaries of the reformation be extended; may the purity of the reformed churches be more and more advanced, and all remainders of superstition, persecution, and imposition, be taken away. And, to conclude all, let those who are now living deliciously, and glorifying themselves in the forgetfulness of God, abusing the various gifts of his bounty to his dishonour, and saying in their hearts, that they shall see no sorrow, remember, how suddenly their state may be changed; how quickly they may sink into the depths of misery, proportionable to the height of their abused prosperity; and experience a torment and sorrow, which will be doubly bitter in the remembrance of their former condition. Let such, therefore, in whatever rank of life they are, according to the words of Daniel to the most illustrious king of Babylon, (Daniel iv. 27,) Break off their sins by righteousness, and their iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening out of their tranquillity; and give glory to God, before all their cheerful light be exchanged for darkness, and all the harmony of their music for weeping and wailing, groaning and lamentation for ever.