Page images
PDF
EPUB

is a

[ocr errors]

the nature of which is incomprchenfible to the human intellect, and may be true or falfe. There "mystery of godlinefs," and there is also the myftery of iniquity." The prophet cannot mean the former in this place; the expreffion would be extremely improper when applied to the enemies of Chrift, whom he is here defcribing : he must therefore, from the tenour of his difcourfe, mean the latter. This "myfiery of iniquity" St. Paul alfo describes when speaking of the coming of Chrift on the " great day of God Almighty," by that wicked whom the Lord fhall confume with the fpirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Indeed, the whole of the apoftolic defcription of this "mystery of iniquity" pertinently applies to the ungodly confederacy.

But it may here be afked, where is the "my"tery" of idolatry, apoftafy, or atheifm? The anfwer is, that they are all myfteries beyond the comprehenfion of the human intellect, and myfteries alfo the most iniquitous that have ever been invented by men, or devils. Is it not a "mystery" incomprehenfible, that man, originally made in the image and after the likeness of God) endued with the light of reafon, and the impulfe of confcience, fhould, with unfpeakable ingratitude, ceafe to obey God's righteous will, and to worship him; and fhould prefer the adoration of dead men and idols of "gold and filver, and brafs, and flone, "and wood, which neither can fee, nor hear, nor "walk," to the worship of the only true God, their Sovereign Creator? This is the "mystery of iniquity," of polytheism, and idolatry. Is it not a mystery" that men fo made and endued, fhould

[ocr errors]

66

*

1 Tim. iii. 16. Rev. ix. 20.

+ 2 Theff. ii. 7.

Gen. i. 26.

put

put their whole truft in fatalism, and fhould be perfuaded to believe they fhall live in a fenfual paradife, which they know from experience, is followed by confequences that deftroy them in this life? And that fallen, finful man fhould be as infallible as the God of heaven? This is the "mystery" of apoftafy. And is it not a yet

[ocr errors]

greater myftery of iniquity," that the universe Thould be pronounced to be eternal and self-created; and that there is not, nor ever has been, one felf-exifting fpirit, or GoD, who created all things? And this is the myftery of atheifm.

Thus all the three powers of idolatry, apoftafy, and atheism, are" myfteries of iniquity," and therefore the prophet calls them, emphatically, " myftery," in the fingular number, because they are united, and form but one body, one

[ocr errors]

"MYSTERY."

GREAT

5. Farther, this confpiracy of the ungodly is defcribed by the name of "BABYLON THE GREAT." The word" Babylon," tranflated, is a mixture, or confufion of things. From the antecedent defcription of this confpiracy, it is to confift of a mixture of all the Polytheifts, Apoftates, and Atheists, a mixture of all the falfe doctrines that ever exifted on the earth; and it is natural to believe, indeed it feems abfolutely impoffible not to conclude, that their discordant and heterogeneous tenets and principles fhould not, when mixed together, be the caufe of a great political fermentation, and quarrel among themselves, and be one of the means of their deftruction, as the prophet has before intimated.

6. Again, it is called, "The mother of Harlots." It is the mother of all idolatry, of all the deviation s

deviations from the true word of God, of all the fchifms in the church of Chrift. It is nów, in its combined ftate, the mother of polytheism, apoftafy, and atheism, and of the ungodly" of the "whole world." Becaufe, upon fome of them, Satan, the fpirit of evil, and the deceiver of the whole world, had begotten all his illegitimate children; therefore it is moreover called, emphatically," the abomination of the earth."

7. There is another mark of this wicked confederacy, which I cannot pafs over in filence: the prophet having reprefented it by the preceding names, concludes with telling us, that "he faw "the woman drunken with the blood of the faints,

[ocr errors]

and with the blood of the martyrs of Jefus ;" that is, raving and rejoicing over the multitude of faints and martyrs, whom the had unjustly and unmercifully put to death! Where now are the Powers who have wantonly oppofed, and wilfully fpilt the blood of the faints and martyrs of Jefus, but the powers of pagan idolatry, of Mohamedan and papal apoftafy, and French atheifm? Have they not, in a regular fucceffion, from the rife of the church of Chrift to this day, been its only oppofers, and the murderers of its most pious and righteous members?

There are other marks befides in this chapter, tending to fhow, that the prophet is defcribing a certain great confederacy of the ungodly, which is to take place in the " laft days," or in the great day of GOD ALMIGHTY. But to confider them all would be inconfiftent with the limits fixed to thefe brief conjectures; and I truft enough has been faid to enable the diligent and religious feekers

[blocks in formation]

after truth, to understand the meaning of the prophet, and to prove that the Power thus defcribed is not the Power to which proteftant commentators have gcnerally afcribed it. I am well aware, that they have imputed all the figns of the Power, mentioned in this chapter, to the Papal hierarchy. But I cannot concur with them in loading the Popes of Rome, with all the fins of the world. Their ambition, their avarice, and their idolatry, have been wicked indeed; but there have been other Powers in the world, enemies to the church of Chrift, befides the Popes, who have drawn mankind into grievous error and fin. The Powers of Mohamedanifm and Atheifm, as we have feen, have had a heavy fhare. How, then, can we conceive, that the Spirit of truth fhould intend to load the Popes of Rome with all the crimes, all "the abominations of the earth?"

That the prophet could not mean merely to defcribe the Papal power, by the "great whore," or any other appellation, I have before confidered, appears to me very evident, from the regular and perfpicuous manner, in which he treats this important fubject throughout the Revelation. He foretels the events in the fame order of time, in which they were to come to pass. He always finishes the hiftory of one period of events, and of one Power, before he proceeds to the next in fucceffion, never mentioning a fubsequent one before the antecedent. He began his prophetic hiftory of the rife of the church of Chrift in general, through pagan oppofition, with its victory over it. In the next chapter defcribes the fall of pagan Rome; then the rife of Mohamed and the Othman empire, and their dreadful perfccutions of the church in the Eaft. He then paffes to the hiftory of the church in the West, and having

* Chap. vi. vii. &c. &c. in order.

given us a fummary view of the great outlines of it*, proceeds, in the next chapter, to take a fummary view alfo of his new fubject. In the first part of the following chapter, he foretels the rife and exploits of the Papal church, and in the latter part of it, the coming of the atheistical power of France. Hitherto his hiftory had been confined to the contests of the church and her enemies. But the fubfequent parts of the Revelation relate to the final destruction of her adverfaries, her complete triumph over them, and her eternal redemption. Moreover, according to his ufual method of beginning a new fubject, he takes, in his proem, a brief view of the great events of which it was to be compofed §; and, again, in the chapter which follows ||, in a series of events, he details the manner in which the deftruction was to be poured out fucceffively, or, at determined periods, upon all the opponents and enemies of the church. Under the "firft vial of the wrath of God," he foretels the judgments that should be poured out on revolutionary France; under the fecond vial, on Papal Rome; under the third, upon Papal Germany; under the fourth, upon the king and people of France; under the fifth, upon the republic and people of France, in her atheistical fiate; and under the fixth, upon the Othman empire, or Mohamedan apostasy. After this we read no more of the powers of Paganifm, Mohamedanifm, Papacy, or Atheism, acting in their feparate capacities, and of their diftinct operations against the church of Chrift; but, on the contrary, we find that the prophet, under the "feventh vial," begins the hiftory of a new future power, and grand confederacy, of all of them together, for the purpose of the utter deftruction of the truth, and the word of God. This fubject he introduces in the laft verfes of the fixteenth chapter.

* Chạp. x. xi. † xii.

xiii § xiv. xv.

Il xvi.

Now

« PreviousContinue »