LECTURE XII.' REV. xvii. 18. "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” THE Vision of which these words form the conclusion, is one to which we have already, more than once, had occasion to refer, for the illustration of Daniel's vision of the four beasts, and of that which last engaged our attention in the Revelation of St. John. But the more minute examination of it now in its several particulars, will fill up in some points the outline, which we have traced in preceding visions, of that worldly and tyrannical power which was in due time to arise, to be the counterfeit, the adversary, and persecutor of the Church of Christ. The beloved disciple has been describing, in the sixteenth chapter, the pouring out upon the earth of those seven vials of Divine wrath, which, as we have already seen, represent the infliction, in full and final measure, of those judgments of the Almighty which had been in part accomplished in six of the seven trumpets. The seventh trumpet, as has been shewn, contained under it the seven vials, which are 1 Preached Feb. 2, 1845. 362 Order of the Vision. [LECT. "the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God 2." And the vision in which these judgments are revealed, beginning with the fifteenth chapter, seems to be the carrying on of that which was described, in the end of the eleventh chapter, as following immediately upon the sounding of the seventh trumpet. There the adoration of the four and twenty elders before the throne of the Divine glory proclaimed the time to be come, when the Almighty would "give the reward unto" His "servants the prophets, and to the saints," and would "destroy them which destroy the earth.” And then we are told, "the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail 3." In the fifteenth chapter the vision, as it would seem, is resumed. "I looked," says St. John, "and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: and the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four living creatures gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of the Lord, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." Then follow the plagues of those seven vials; and when "the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air," we read, "there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the 2 Chap. xv. 1. 3 Chap. xi. 18, 19. Chap. xv. 5-8. XII.] Babylon the Great. 363 throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath 5." 6 The vision before us, which follows in the seventeenth chapter, contains the description of that strange form, as it would seem, of idolatry and corruption which had been represented thus under the mystic name of Babylon. "And there came," says St. John, "one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying, Come hither; I will shew thee the judgment of the great harlot, that sitteth upon the many waters; with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication"." It cannot be necessary to remind those who are familiar with the language of Sacred Prophecy, that the term "fornication" and the character of an harlot, are used continually in the Old Testament to signify idolatrous corruption of worship, and forbidden intercourse with heathen kings and nations; and that judgments resembling those which are here described, are by the prophets denounced upon those empress cities of the ancient world from which the abominations of idol worship, and the pollutions which attended them, spread over the earth. Thus the prophet Nahum threatens woe upon Nineveh, the proud capital of the Assyrian empire, "because Chap. xvii. 1, 2. 5 Chap. xvi. 17-19. 6 ἐπὶ τῶν ὑδάτων τῶν πολλῶν. 7 364 66 Comparison of language 9 [LECT. of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts "." And still more closely parallel with the language in the vision before us, is that of the prophetic denunciations upon ancient Babylon, the prototype of her who is here described. "O thou that dwellest upon many waters'," is the appellation under which she is addressed in the prophecies of Jeremiah; in which it is said concerning her, “Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that hath made all the earth drunken; the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad"." And "the many waters on which, in the vision before us, the harlot is represented as sitting, we are to understand, as the angel expressly declares in the interpretation of the vision, to be "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Pursuing the method,-for none better can be adopted, of applying to the illustration of Scripture-language similar expressions in other visions, we shall be reminded here of what was said in the vision of the thirteenth chapter, of the wild beast which ascended out of the sea, "having seven heads, and ten horns," that "power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations 1." And, as was then observed, the power delineated in that vision was thus identified the more closely with the wild beast spoken of in the former vision of the two witnesses, as ascending out of the abyss to make war 8 Nahum iii. 4. " Or "sittest," as here v. 1. καθημένης. 1 Jer. li. 13. 4 XII.] of preceding Visions. 365 against them and overcome them, while "they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations5" were to be partakers in the temporary triumph over those witnesses. 6 66 7 But the identity with the persecuting power described in those visions is still more clearly marked in the unfolding of the scene before us. So he carried me away," says St. John, speaking of the Angel who had invited him to behold the visitation of judgment," he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns"." The scene of the vision was laid in the wilderness; and this seems designed to recal to our recollection the vision of the twelfth chapter, where the wilderness was the chosen place of refuge for the woman there described, the Church of God. It would appear, as has been well observed, to have been with the view of calling that description to mind, that the wilderness is made the scene of the present vision. We saw there how, in the very hiding place which had been given her from the face of the serpent, her relentless enemy still laboured to overwhelm her; and when "the earth helped" her and protected her from the effects of his rage, “the devil was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ"." It was further revealed, accordingly, how there rose up, from the waters of the great deep, a power, resistless and cruel, to whom the dragon |