CHAPTER II Part II Whether Babylon In The Apocalypse Is The Church Of Rome

This idea runs through the whole Book of Revelation. In the Church of Pergamos there are said to be some who hold the doctrines of Balaam, and cause others to commit fornication (Rev. 2:14). At Thyatira there is a Jezebel, who, by her false teaching, seduces Christ’s servants; and they who commit adultery with her are threatened with tribulation (Rev. 2:20,22). And, on the other hand, the faithful who follow the Lamb–i.e. Christ –whithersoever He goeth, are said to be Virgins, [and not to have been defiled with women]; that is, not sullied with the stain of spiritual harlotry (Rev. 14:4).

The name Harlot, therefore, describes a Church, which has fallen from her first love, and gone after other lords, and given to them the honour due to Christ alone; [and if the Roman Church gives to other beings any of the worship which is due to Christ alone (and surely she ascribes to; the Blessed Virgin Mary almost equal honour as to Christ), then this name is applicable to the Church of Rome.]

But here it is said by Romish Divines,–If a faithless Church had been intended by St. John, then

A) He would not have called her a harlot, but an adultress; and

B) He would not have designated her by the name of a heathen city, Babylon, which never owned the true God, but by the name of some city, such as Samaria which once knew Him, and afterwards fell away from Him.

These [above] are Bossuet’s allegations. We may reply to them as follows:

A) We allow that a faithless Church may be called an Adulteress because she forsakes God; but she may also be, and often is, called in Scripture a Harlot, when she mixes false doctrine and worship with the true faith.

Thus Isaiah exclaims concerning Jerusalem, the ancient Church of God (Isa. 1:21), “How is the faithful City become a harlot!” And Jeremiah, “Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers” (Jer. 3:1). And Hosea, “Though Israel play the harlot, let not Judah offend” (Hosea 4:15).

The original word which is uniformly used for harlot by St. John in the Apocalypse is Porné. And this same word or its derivatives, is used in the passages just quoted, and is employed in the Septuagint Version of the Prophets of the Old Testament, at least fifty times 3, to describe the spiritual fornication, that is, the corrupt doctrine and practice of the Churches of Israel, which Bossuet specifies as the proper parallel, is charged with harlotry.

Therefore the word harlot does designate a Church; and if the Church of Rome is described by that name in the Apocalypse, then the word harlot, as applied to her, indicates the multitude of her sins.

Besides, the Harlot’s name in the Apocalypse is Mystery (Rev. 17:5,7). This word, Mystery, is used more than twenty times in the New Testament, and is never applied to any object openly infidel, but is always applied to something sacred and religious,–such as a Church.

B) To consider Bossuet’s second objection:–We readily allow that a faithless Church might be called Samaria; but we affirm that it may also with greater propriety, under certain circumstances, be termed Babylon. Thus Isaiah addresses the ancient Church of God by two heathen names, Sodom, and Gomorrah. “Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah” (Isa.1:10). And again, he says, “they declare their sin as Sodom” (Isa. 3:9). So Ezekiel calls Jerusalem a sister of Sodom; and Sodom more righteous than her (Ezek. 16:48. Compare 2 Pet. 2:6. Jude 7). It is clear that the words Sodom and Gomorrah, two heathen names applied to Churches, denote here great flagrancy of guilt in those Churches.

In the Apocalypse, also itself, a false teacher in a Church is called not only a Balaam, but a Jezebel (Rev. 2:14. 20), that is, is compared to a heathen patron of idolatry.

Therefore, Babylon may represent a faithless Church; one which, having been a Bethel, or House of God, becomes a Bethaven, or House of Idols (Hosea 10:5,15). And if the Apocalyptic Babylon be a Church, and if the church of Rome be that Church, then the heathen name Babylon, ascribed to her, is designed by the Holy Spirit to show the enormity of her guilt.

The Harlot is named Babylon. And Babylon is called the Great City. She is so named twelve times in the Apocalypse, and no other city is called in this book The Great City. Now, the Great City, which is the city of the Beast, who persecutes the Witnesses, and in whose street their body lies (Rev. 11:8), which City is called, spiritually, Sodom and Egypt, is also called the City in which their Lord was crucified (Rev. 11:8). That is, it is also spiritually called a Jerusalem, i.e. it is called a Church of God.

Therefore, again we see, the Harlot is a Church.

This is also clear from the following considerations. The Apocalypse abounds in contrasts. For example, the Lamb, who in St. John’s Gospel is always called Amnos, and never Arnion, is called Arnion, and never Amnos, in St. John’s Apocalypse, in which Arnion occurs twenty-nine times. And why does HoAmnos here become To Arnion? To contrast Him more strongly with To Therion; that is, to mark the opposition between the Lamb and the Beast.

And as the Lamb is contrasted with the Beast, so is the Spouse of the Lamb, or the Bride, contrasted with the Harlot who sits on the Beast.

Thus, on one side we see the faithful Woman (Rev. 12:1), clothed with the Sun, Which is Christ, and treading on the Moon, that is, surviving all the changes and chances of this world; and having her brows encircled with Twelve stars–the diadem of Apostolic faith. She is a Mother; and her child is caught up to heaven.

On the other side, we see a faithless Woman, arrayed in worldly splendour, and having on her forehead the name Mystery; and called “Mother of Abominations of the Earth.”

Again; On the one side, we see the faithful Woman driven into the wilderness and persecuted by the Dragon.

On the other side, we see the faithless Woman, enthroned on seven hills, sitting on many waters which are peoples and nations; persecuting, and sitting on the Beast, who receives his power from the Dragon.

The former Woman (as affirmed by all the best ancient Expositors) is the faithful Church, which is truly Catholic or Universal.

The latter Woman, who is contrasted with her, and is called the Harlot, is a faithless Church, which claims to be Catholic, but is not.

Let us pursue the contrast.

The faithful Woman appears again, after her pilgrimage in the wilderness of this world is over. Her sufferings have ceased. Look upward. Her glory is revealed at the close of the Apocalypse. The Woman which was in the wilderness has now become the Bride in Heaven. She is Christ’s Church glorified, His Spouse purified. She is arrayed in fine linen, pure and white. She is called the Holy City, the new Jerusalem (Rev. 19:7,8; 21:2,9,10).

Now look below at the faithless Woman, or Harlot, sitting on the Beast. She is arrayed in scarlet and pearls, and jewels, and gold. She is called Babylon, the Great City (Rev. 17:4,5; 11:8), the Jerusalem in which Christ is crucified (Rev. 11:8).

Behold once more. What is the end?

Look upward: Heaven opens its golden portals to receive the Bride.

Look downward: Earth opens its dark abyss to engulf the Harlot.

How striking is this contrast!

And what is the conclusion from all this?

As the former Woman, the Bride, the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, represents the faithful Church, so the second Woman, the Harlot, the great City, the City on Seven Hills, which reigned in St. John’s age, the mystical Babylon, the reprobate Jerusalem, represents a faithless Church.

The question now is,–What Church?

At this point, the evidence, stated in the former Chapter, comes in with irresistible force. It was then proved that the City on seven hills– the City which reigned in St. John’s age–the City called Babylon in the Apocalypse,–is the City of Rome; and this (as we have also seen) is not denied, but generally allowed by Romish Divines.

The answer, therefore, is: The second Woman, the Harlot, represents the faithless Church in the City of Rome.

Is this result confirmed by facts? Let us inquire.

The Woman enthroned on the Beast is represented in the Apocalypse as holding a golden cup in her hand, with which she intoxicates men, and of which she requires all to drink (Rev. 14:8; 17:4; 18:6). Does this apply to the Church of Rome? Certainly it does: this appears as follows:

(1) Almighty God has distinguished man from the rest of the creation by the endowments of Reason and of Conscience; and He commands them to use them, and not to give them away. But the Church of Rome requires men to sacrifice them to her will. And then she pours into their minds a delirious draught of strange doctrines, with which she makes the head dizzy, and the eyes swim, and the feet stagger: and this swoon-like trance she calls Faith. [which cannot be found in Holy Scripture, and which were unknown to the Apostles, and to the Apostolic Churches of Christ.] She requires all to drink of this cup (Rev. 14:8; 17:4; 18:6). She says of her Trent Creed, “This is the Catholic Faith, out of which there is no salvation.”

(2) Again: the faithless Woman [in the Apocalypse] is represented as drunken with the blood of Saints. And when I saw her, says St. John, I wondered with great admiration (Rev. 17:6).

Now, if the Woman had been heathen Rome, past or to come, why should St. John wonder? It is not wonderful, that a heathen city should persecute the Saints of God. St. John had seen the blood of Christians spilt by imperial Rome. She had beheaded St. Paul, and had crucified St. Peter. He himself had been a martyr in will, and was now an exile, by her cruelty. Therefore he could not have wondered with great admiration, if the Harlot was heathen Rome. But it was a fit subject for surprise, that a Christian Church–a Church calling herself the “Mother of Christendom,” “the spiritual Sion,” “the Catholic Church”–should be drunken with the blood of the saints; and at such a spectacle as that St. John might well have wondered with great admiration.

Has, then, the Church of Rome ever stained herself with the blood of Christians?

Yes; she has erected the prisons, and prepared the rack, and lighted the fires, of what she calls “the Holy Office of the Inquisition” in Italy, Spain, America, and India. At this day she lauds one of her Popes, whom she has canonized, Pius the Fifth, in her Breviary 4, for being an inflexible Inquisitor. She has engraven the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s day on her coins 5 , and represents it as a work done by an Angel from heaven; and her Pontiff 6 went into a public procession to Church to return thanks to God for that savage and treacherous deed. She has inserted an Oath in her Pontifical, by which she requires all her Bishops to “persecute 1 and wage war against” all whom she calls heretics.

[Germany France, Holland, England, Scotland, Belgium, Poland, Croatia, Hungary. She commanded the ancestors of Victor Emmanuel to persecute to the death the Christians of Piedmont. One of her Popes, whom she has canonized, Pius the Fifth, is praised in her liturgical offices, for being an inflexible Inquisitor.]

What would St. John have said to this? Would he not have justly wondered with great admiration, that such acts should be done under the auspices of one who calls himself the Vicar of Christ?

(3) Again: the Woman is represented as enticing the Kings of the Earth to commit fornication with her (Rev. 17:2; 18:3); and they are said to give their power and strength to the Beast (Rev. 17:13), on which she sits.

This assuredly does not apply to heathen Rome. She received the gods of other Nations into her Pantheon. Even the reptile deities of Egypt found a place there. She would have opened her doors to Christianity, if Christianity had been content to be enshrined with Heathenism.

But these words of the Apocalypse are strikingly characteristic of Papal Rome. She has trafficked and tampered with all the Kings and Nations of the Earth.

In the words of the judicious Hooker (Hooker, serm. v. 15), “she hath fawned upon Kings and Princes, and by spiritual cozenage hath made them sell their lawful authority for empty titles.” She has caressed and cajoled them with amatory gifts of flowers, pictures, and trinkets, beads and relics, crucifixes and Agnus Deis, and consecrated plumes and banners. She has drenched and drugged their senses with love-potions of bewitching smles and fascinating words; and has thus beguiled them of their faith, their courage, and their power. Like another Delilah, she has made the Samsons of this world to sleep softly in her lap (Judges 16:19), and then she has shorn them of their strength. She has captivated, and still captivates, the affections of their Prelates and Clergy, by entangling them in the strong and subtle meshes of Oaths of vassalage to herself, and has thus stolen the hearts of subjects from their Sovereigns, and has made Kingdoms to hang upon her lips for the loyalty of their People; and so in her dream of universal Empire she has made the World a fief of Rome.

So strong is the spell with which she still enchains Nations, that even we [in England] who are excommunicated by her, and whose heroic Virgin-Queen was anathematized by her as an Usurper 1 , and whose land is now partitioned out into Papal Dioceses 2 , as if it were a Roman Province, and the names of whose greatest Cities–our Westminsters and our Liverpools–are given away by her as titles as if they were Italian villages, have been fain to seek intercourse with her without requiring a retraction of the unrighteous oaths which she imposes on English subjects, or a revocation of the imprecatory anathemas which she has denounced, and still denounces on English Sovereigns 3 ; and as if it were possible for us to sever what she declares indissolubly united–her temporal and spiritual sway!

(4) Again: The Woman is described as sitting on a scarletcoloured Beast, full of names of Blasphemy (Rev. 17:3).

Has not Rome fulfilled this prophecy? The colour here mentioned is reserved by her to her Pontiff and Cardinals. And how does she designate herself? As Infallible, Indefectible, Eternal. And are not these names of Blasphemy ? Some persons appear to imagine that names of Blasphemy must indicate an infidel power. But this notion is erroneous. “Blasphemy,” in the New Testament, denotes an assumption of what is divine. And the names which Rome claims for herself, are usurpations of the [God’s] incommunicable Name. “When that which is temporal claims Eternity, this,” says St. Jerome, “is a name of blasphemy.” And when she [Rome] withholds the Holy Scripture from her people and she has never printed at Rome a single copy of either Testament in its original language! –and when she bestows honour on those who revile Scripture, calling it “imperfect, ambiguous, a mute Judge, a leaden Rule,” and by other opprobrious names 1 , is she not guilty of Blasphemy against the Divine Author of Scripture? And when, with the Cup of her sorceries in her hand, she takes away the Cup of Blessing in the Lord’s Supper which Christ has commanded to be received by all (John 6:53, Matt. 26:26,27. Mark 14:23); and when she makes men drink of the one, and will not allow them to drink of the other, is not this an act of Blasphemy against the Son of God?

(5) Again: the Harlot in the Apocalypse exercises temporal and spiritual sway. She is enthroned upon many waters, which are Nations and Peoples (Rev. 17:15). She has kings at her feet. She makes them drink of her Cup. She trades in the souls of men (Rev. 18:13). The Beast on which she sits as a Queen, and of which she is the Governing Power, uses the agency of the second Beast, or false Prophet or Teacher, and this false Teacher causeth all, both small and great, to receive his mark, and that no one may buy or sell, save he who has the mark, the name of the Beast, or the number of his name (Rev. 13:16,17).

[This lamb-like creature may be speaking of something other than this]

It is very observable, that this False Prophet or Teacher is said in the Apocalypse to have two horns like the horns of a Lamb (Rev. 13:2). Now the word Lamb is used twenty-nine times in the Apocalypse, and in every one of these places it relates to Christ, the Lamb of God. Hence it is clear, that the False Prophet or Teacher, who is the ally of the Beast on whom the Harlot sits, is not a heathen or infidel power, but makes a profession of Christianity. He comes [like a Lamb] with the specious words of Christian innocence and Love. He is therefore the Minister of some form of Christianity, or Church. Therefore, again, the Harlot is a Church. And the Church of which he is a Minister (as is evident from the passage of the Apocalypse just cited), puts forth a claim to universal temporal and spiritual sway; and this union of civil and religious Supremacy is a very striking characteristic.

Does not this characteristic apply to the Church of Rome,–and to the Church of Rome alone? Assuredly it does.

The Church of Room sits as a Queen upon many waters, which are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues (Rev. 17:15). She claims two swords. Lord, behold! here are two swords (Luk. 22:38); one of her Pontiffs has interpreted these words of St. Peter as authorizing her double sway, [temporal and spiritual]. She holds in her hands two keys–the emblems, as she asserts, of her universal power. The Roman Pontiff is twice crowned, once with the Mitre, his symbol of a universal Bishopric, and once with the Tiara, in token of Universal Imperial Supremacy. He wears both diadems. There is indeed a Mystery on the forehead of the Church of Rome, in the union of these two Supremacies; and it has often proved a Mystery of Iniquity. It has made the holiest Mysteries subservient to the worst Passions. It has excited Rebellion on the plea of Religion. It has interdicted the last spiritual consolations to the dying, and Christian ininterment to the dead, for the sake of revenge, or from the lust of power. It has forbidden to marry–and yet it has licensed the unholiest Marriages 4. It has professed friendship for Kings, and has invoked blessings on Regicides and Usurpers. It claims to be the only dispenser of the Word and Sacraments, and it has transformed the anniversary of the Institution of the Lord’s Supper into a season of malediction 5. It has changed the hill of the Vatican into a spiritual Ebal (Deut. 27:13), from which it has fulmined curses according to its will.

Hence we come to the same conclusion: vix. that the Harlot City is the Church of Rome. Other characteristics may now be noticed.

(6) The Woman in the Apocalypse is said to be seated on a scarlet beast (Rev. 17:3); to be also clad in scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls (Rev. 17:4); and her merchandise is said to be in gold and silver, and precious stones, and pearls and fine linen, and purple and silk, and scarlet (Rev. 18:12); and after her destruction they who weep over her cry, Alas! alas! the Great City, which was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls (Rev. 18:16)

This description of the Woman’s vesture is so definite, and is repeated with such emphasis, that it is manifestly intended for the purpose of identification.

Such, let us note, is her attire.

Next we find in the Apocalypse that divine honour is given to the Beast on which she sits: They worshipped the Beast, saying (Rev. 13:4), Who is like unto the Beast?

The word here interpreted to worship is one proskunein which literally signifies to adore by prostration and by kissing; as described in the divine words, Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which hath not (1 Kings 19:18) kissed him.

This word proskunein (“to bow down”) occurs twenty-four times in the Apocalypse. In ten of these instances, it designates Adoration paid to Almighty God: in nine others, it describes the adoration claimed for the Beast and his image; and thus it shows, that he exacts what is due to God, and (as the Angel warns St. John) not due to Angels, but to God alone (Rev. 19:10; 22:9); and this is Blasphemy.

Observe, next, the votaries of the Beast say, Who is like unto the Beast? This is a challenge to God Himself. Lord, says the Psalmist (Ps. 35:10), Who is like unto Thee? and again (Ps. 71:19); 113:5), O God Who is like unto Thee? and Among the gods, there is none like unto Thee, O Lord; there is not one that can do as Thou doest (Ps. 86:8). It is also a parody of the name of the Angel Prince, the conqueror of Satan and his angels, Michael, whose name means Who is as God? Let us remember, too, that this expression, Who is like unto the Beast? the watchword of the worshippers of the Beast, affords a striking contrast to the words emblazoned on the standard of the Maccabees, those courageous soldiers against Antiochus Epiphanes,–Who among the gods is like unto Thee, Jehovah? from which badge [according to some] the Maccabees derived their name.

Recollect, now, that Babylon is a type of Rome; and it is said to the King of Babylon, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my Throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the Mount of the congregation; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell (Isa. 14:12-15).

Here, the Mount of the congregation, wherein the King of Babylon sits, is the Temple of God.

Let it be remembered also that the Woman sitting on the Beast is called the Mother of abominations (Rev. 17:4,5). The word abomination Bdelugma specially designates an object of idolatrous Adoration; and the prophecy of Daniel, predicting the pollution of God’s Temple by the setting up in it of the abomination of desolation, was fulfilled in the first instance (B.C. 168) by Antiochus Epiphanes, who placed an idol upon the altar of God in the Temple at Jerusalem: or, as the Book of Maccabees expresses it, set up the abomination of desolation on the Altar: thus defiling God’s House, and making it desolate; that is, banishing from it God’s true worship, and His faithful worshippers.

This prophecy was to have a second fulfilment in Christian times. For our Lord speaks of it as referring to an event still future, [as follows–]

When ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, stand in the Holy Place; whoso readeth, let him understand (Matt. 24:15).

This prediction of our Lord had, no doubt, a partial fulfilment when Jerusalem was occupied, and its Temple profaned, by factious assassins professing zeal for God. But it will have another fulfilment in the Christian Sion, or Church. This opinion is confirmed by the prophecy of St. Paul, concerning the Mystery of Iniquity. Then, says the Apostle, shall the Man of sin, or that Lawless One Anomos, be revealed, the Son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the TEMPLE of God, showing himself that he is God (2 Thess. 2:3,4).

The words here rendered, so that he sitteth in the Temple of God Kathisai eis naon, are remarkable. naon, the word rendered Temple, is the holier part of the Temple,–the Sanctuary, where the Altar is; and Kathisai eis naon are words involving motion, and signify to be conveyed or to convey himself and take a seat in the Holy Place of the Temple of God, or the Christian Church.

Let us now pause, and review the evidence before us.

The abomination of desolation, as we have seen, was the placing of an IDOL upon the ALTAR in God’s TEMPLE; and our Lord speaks of the Abomination of desolation, as still to be expected, and to be manifested in the Holy Place (Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14); and St. Paul predicted the appearance of a Power, which he calls Mystery, claiming Adoration in the Christian Temple,–taking his seat in the Sanctuary of the Church of God, showing himself that he is God.

Let us also remember that Daniel’s word abomination, which describes an object of idolatrous worship, is adopted by the Apocalypse; and that, in like manner, St. Paul’s word Mystery is adopted in the Apocalypse; and that both these words are combined in this book, in the name of the Woman, whose attire is described minutely by St. John, and whose name on her forehead is “Mystery (Rev. 17:5,7), Babylon the Great, Mother of abominations of the Earth.”

Let us enquire now, – Whether this description is applicable to the Church of Rome? [Is this description applicable to the Church of Rome?]

For an answer to this question, let us refer–not to any private sources–but to the official “Book of Sacred Ceremonies” of the Church of Rome.

This Book, sometimes called “Ceremoniale Romanum,” is written in Latin, and was compiled three hundred and forty years ago, by Marcellus, a Roman Catholic Archbishop, and is dedicated to a Pope, Leo X. Let us turn to that portion of this Volume, which describes the first public appearance of the Pope, on his Election to the Pontificate.

We there read the following order of proceeding: “The Pontiff elect is conducted to the Sacrarium, and divested of his ordinary attire, and is clad in the Papal robes.” The colour of these is then minutely described. Suffice it to say, that five different articles of dress, in which he is then arrayed, are scarlet. Another vest is specified, and this is covered with pearls. His mitre is then mentioned; and this is adorned with gold and precious stones.

Such, then, is the attire in which the Pope is arrayed, and in which he first appears to the World as Pope. Refer now to the Apocalypse. We have seen that scarlet, pearls, gold, and precious stones are thrice specified by St. John, as characterizing the Mysterious Power portrayed by himself.

But we may not pause here. Turn again to the “Ceremoniale Romanum.” The Pontiff elect, arrayed as has been described, is conducted to the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica, or Church of St. Peter. He is led to the Altar; he first prostrates himself before it, and prays. Thus, he declares the sanctity of the Altar. He kneels at it, and prays before it, as the seat of God.

What a contrast then ensues! We read thus:

“The Pope rises, and, wearing his mitre, is lifted up by the Cardinals, and is placed by them upon the Altar–to sit there. One of the Bishops kneels, and begins the ‘Te Deum.’ In the meantime the Cardinals kiss the feet and hands and face of the Pope.”

Such is the first appearance of the Pope in the face of the Church and the World.

This ceremony has been observed for many centuries; and it was performed at the inauguration of the present Pontiff, Pius IX; and it is commonly called by Roman writers the “Adoration”. It is represented on a coin, struck in the Papal mint with the legend, “Quem creant, adorant,”–“Whom they create (Pope), they adore.”… What a wonderful avowal!

The following language was addressed to Pope Innocent X 1, and may serve as a specimen of the feelings with which the Adoration is performed:–

“Most Holy and Blessed Father, Head of the Church, Ruler of the World, to whom the keys of the Kingdom of heaven are committed, whom the Angels in Heaven Revere, and [whom] the gates of hell fear, and [whom] all the World adores, we specially venerate, worship, and adore thee, and commit ourselves, and all that belongs to us, to thy paternal and MORE than divine disposal”.

What more could be said to Almighty God Himself?

But to return. Observe the nature of this ‘ADORATION.’ It is performed by kneeling, and kissing the face and hands, and feet. And what is St. John’s word, nine times used to describe the homage paid to the Mysterious rival of God? It is proskunein, to kneel before and kiss.

Next, observe the place in which this adoration is paid to the Pope. The Temple of God. [The principal Temple at Rome, St. Peter’s Church.] Observe the attitude of him who he receives it. He sits. Observe the place on which he sits. The Altar of God.

Such is the inauguration of the Pope. He is placed by the Cardinals on God’s Altar. There he sits as on a Throne. The Altar is his footstool; and the Cardinals kneel before him, and kiss the feet which trample on the Altar of the Most High.

Let us now turn to St. John. The Power described by him is Mystery, and is called the mother of Abominations. And the word Abomination in Scripture often means Idols; and, in the prophecies of Scripture, it describes a special form of idolatry. The Abomination of desolation, as we have seen, prefigures the setting up an object of idolatrous adoration on the ALTAR in the TEMPLE of God.

Such was the Idol set up by Antiochus in the Jewish Temple. And our Lord describes the Abomination of desolation as standing in the Holy Place. And the Apostle St. Paul predicts that the fall of the Roman Empire will be succeeded by the rise of a power which he calls MYSTERY, exalting itself above all that is called God, or is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God–or is conveyed to the sanctuary of God, and there placed to sit–showing himself that he is God.

7. The following questions therefore arise here:–

a) Has not the Church of Rome fulfilled the Apocalypse in the eyes of men, has she not proclaimed, and does she not now proclaim, her own identity with the [faithless] Woman in the Apocalypse, at every election of every Pontiff, even by the outward garb of scarlet, gold, precious stones, and pearls, in which she then invests him, and in which she then displays him to Christendom and the world?

b) And has she not fulfilled the Apocalypse, and does she not proclaim her own identity with that [faithless] Woman whose name is Mystery, Mother of Abominations, by publicly commencing every Pontificate with making the Pontiff her own Idol, by lifting him up on the hands of her Cardinals, and by making him sit on God’s Altar, and by kneeling before him, and kissing his feet?

c) By her long practice of this form of Abomination, which she calls “Adoration,” has she not identified herself with the Apocalyptic power, whose name is Mystery, and also with the “Mystery of Iniquity,” described by the Apostle St. Paul as enthroned in the Temple of God?

d) By placing her Pontiff to be adored, like the Most High, in God’s presence, on God’s Altar in a Christian Church — in her own principal Church at Rome, St. Peter’s — as Antiochus Epiphanes placed an idol to be adored on God’s Altar in the Temple at Jerusalem, does she not identify [make] the Pope of Rome with the [to be like to the] King of Babylon, whose pride and fall are portrayed by Isaiah, and to the Abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, and by our Blessed Lord Himself?

(8) Let us pause here, and sum up what has been said.

Either the claims of the Church of Rome are just — or they are not.

If they are,– she is infallible, and indefectible. She is the Mother and Mistress of Churches. Her Pontiff is the Universal Pastor; the Centre of Unity; the Father of the Faithful; the Supreme Head, and Spiritual Judge of Christendom, and (as he himself asserts) it is necessary for every one to be in communion with him, and to be in subjection to him. Out of his Communion (he says) there is no salvation.

Now, we hold in our hand the Apocalypse of St. John, the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:1), the Voice of the Spirit to the Churches (Rev. 2:7,11,17, etc.); the prophetic History of the church from the Apostolic age to the Day of Doom.

In it St. John places us at Rome; he points to its Seven Hills (Rev. 17:9): he shows us the City enthroned upon them: he retains us there, while he reveals to us Rome’s future history, even to its total extinction, which he describes (Rev. 18:1-24).

a) If now, [as Rome affirms] Christ has instituted a spiritual supremacy, and an Infallible Authority anywhere, which all men are obliged to acknowledge, and to which all must bow, and with which all must be in communion on pain of everlasting damnation, it may reasonably be supposed, that the Holy Spirit, in revealing the future History of the Church [as He does in the Apocalypse], and in providing guidance and comfort for Christians, under their trials, which He predicts, would not have failed to give some notice of such spiritual supremacy and infallible authority in the Church.

b) If Christ has settled that spiritual Pre-eminence and Supremacy at Rome, it may reasonably be concluded, that the Holy Spirit, when speaking specially and copiously of Rome, and tracing her history [as He does in the Apocalypse, and as Romish divines allow that He does], even to the day when she will be burnt with fire, and her smoke ascend to heaven, — would not have omitted to mention that Pre-eminence and Supremacy supposed to exist at Rome.

c) If the Church of Rome is,– as she herself affirms,– the true Spouse of Christ, the Mother and Mistress of all Churches in Christendom, and if communion with her is necessary to salvation, assuredly the Holy Spirit would have taken great care that no reasonable man should be able to impute to the Christian Church of Rome what He intended for the Heathen City of Rome. And, since by the Union of the supreme civil authority with the spiritual in the person of the Bishop, who is also the Sovereign of Rome, and by the consequent incorporation of the City of Rome in the Church of Rome, there was great probability of such a confusion — which the Holy Spirit could foresee — He would have guarded against it, and have taken care, that the Character He draws of the Harlot, and the awful description which He gives [in the Apocalypse] of her future doom, could not possibly be applied by any reasonable man to the Church of Rome.

9) Now, what is the fact?

a) Not a word does the Holy Spirit say, in the Apocalypse, of the existence of any Supreme Visible Head or Infallible Authority in the Church.

b) Not a word does He say of the Church of Rome being the Centre of Unity — the Arbitress of Faith — the Mother and Mistress of Churches. Not a word does he speak in her praise. Indeed the advocates of the church of Rome (who all allow that [in the Apocalypse] He speaks largely of the Roman City) say that He does not mention the Roman Church at all!

How unaccountable is all this, if, as they affirm, Christ has instituted such a Supremacy; and if He placed it at Rome!

10) But now let us take the other alternative. Let the claims of the church of Rome be unfounded; then it must be admitted that they are nothing short of blasphemy: for they are claims to Infallibility, Indefectibility, and Universal Dominion, spiritual and temporal, which are Attributes of Almighty God.

And now again let us turn to the Apocalypse. What do we find there?

We see there a certain City portrayed — a great City — the great City — the Queen of the Earth when St. John wrote — the City on Seven Hills — the City of Rome.

At Rome, then, we are placed by St. John. We stand there by St. John’s side. This city is represented by him as a Woman; it is called the Harlot. It is contrasted [by him] with the Woman in the Wilderness, crowned with the Twelve Stars, the future Bride in Heaven, the new Jerusalem; that is, it is contrasted with the faithful Apostolic Church, now sojourning on earth, and to be glorified hereafter in heaven.

The Harlot persecutes with the power of the Dragon; the Bride is persecuted by the Dragon: the Harlot is arrayed in scarlet; the Bride is attired in white: the Harlot sinks to an abyss; the Bride mounts to heaven. The Bride is the faithful Church; the Harlot contrasted with her, is a faithless Church.

The Great City, then, which is [allowed to be Rome, is] called a Harlot, and a Harlot is a faithless Church, therefore that Great City is the Church of Rome.

This Harlot-City is represented as seated upon many waters, which are Peoples, and Nations, and Tongues. Kings gave their power to her, and commit fornication with her. She vaunts that she is a Queen for ever. She is displayed as claiming a double Supremacy.

Now, look at Rome. She, she alone of all the Cities that are, or ever have been, in the world, asserts universal Supremacy, spiritual and temporal. [She wields two swords.] She wears two Diadems. And she has claimed this double power for more than a thousand years. “Ruler of the World” — “Universal Pastor” — “Father of Kings and Princes” — these are the titles of her Pontiff. She boasts that she is the Catholic Church; that she is “alone, and none beside her” on earth: she affirms that her light will never be dim, her Candlestick never removed. And yet she teaches strange doctrines. She has broken her plighted troth, and forgotten the love of her espousals. She has been untrue to God. She has put on the scarlet robe and gaudy jewels and bold look of a harlot, and gone after other gods. She canonizes men,– [as she did the other day -June 8, 1862], and then worships them. She would make the Apostles untrue to their Lord, and constrain the Blessed Mother of Christ to be a rival of her Divine Son. She adores Angels, and thereby dishonours the Triune God, before Whose glorious Majesty they veil their faces. She deifies the Creature, and thus defies the Creator.

St. John, when he calls us to see the Harlot-City, the seven-hilled City, fixes her name on her forehead — Mystery — to be seen and read by all. And he says, Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy (Rev. 1:3; 17:7).

Her title is Mystery, a secret spell, bearing a semblance of sanctity: a solemn rite which promises bliss to those who are initiated in it: a prodigy inspiring wonder and awe into the mind of St. John: an intricate enigma requiring for its solution the aid of the Spirit of God.

Heathen Rome doing the work of heathenism in persecuting the Church was no Mystery. But a Christian Church, calling herself the Mother of Christendom, and yet drunken with the blood of saints — this is a Mystery. A Christian Church boasting herself to be the Bride, and yet being the Harlot; styling herself Sion, and being Babylon — this is a Mystery. A Mystery indeed it is, that, when she says to all, “Come unto me,” the voice from heaven should cry, “Come out of her, My People” (Rev. 18:4). A Mystery indeed it is, that she who boasts herself the city of Saints, should become the habitation of devils; that she who claims to be Infallible should be said to corrupt the earth; that a self-named “Mother of Churches,” should be called by the Holy Spirit the “Mother of Abominations”; that she who boasts to be Indefectible, should in one day be destroyed, and that Apostles should rejoice at her fall (Rev. 18:20): that she who holds, as she says, in her hands the Keys of Heaven, should be cast into the lake of fire by Him Who has the Keys of hell (Rev. 1:18). All this, in truth, is a great Mystery.

Eighteen Centuries have passed away, since the Holy Spirit prophesied, by the mouth of St. John, that this Mystery would be revealed in that City which was then the Queen of the Earth, the City on Seven Hills,– the City of Rome.

The Mystery was then dark, dark as midnight. Man’s eye could not pierce the gloom. The fulfilment of the prophecy seemed improbable,– almost impossible. Age after age rolled away. By degrees, the mists which hung over it became less thick. The clouds began to break. Some features of the dark Mystery began to appear, dimly at first, then more clearly, like Mountains at daybreak. Then the form of

the Mystery became more and more distinct. The Seven Hills, and the Woman sitting upon them became [more and more] visible. Her voice was heard. Strange sounds of blasphemy were muttered by her. Then they became louder and louder. And the golden chalice in her hand, her scarlet attire, her pearls and jewels glittered [were seen glittering] in the Sun. Kings and Nations were [displayed] prostrate at her feet, and drinking her cup. Saints were slain by her sword, [and she exulted over them]. And now the prophecy became clear, clear as noon-day; and we tremble at the sight, while we read the inscription, emblazoned in large letters, Mystery, Babylon the Great, written by the hand of St. John, guided by the Holy Spirit of God, on the forehead of the Church of Rome.