8. Another objection may be considered here.
Some persons have alleged, that since Prophecy is best interpreted by its fulfilment, and since all do not agree in interpreting these Apocalyptic prophecies in such a manner as to apply them to Rome, and since Rome denies that they are applicable to herself, therefore they ought not be so interpreted.
But a little consideration will show the fallacy of this allegation.
It is indeed true, that Prophecy is best interpreted by its fulfilment; and, if it cannot be proved to the satisfaction of candid, intelligent, and attentive inquirers, that these Prophecies have been partly fulfilled in the Church of Rome, then assuredly there is a strong presumption that they have not been so fulfilled.
But,--because the fulfilment is not universally acknowledged, and, particularly, not acknowledged by the Church of Rome,--it is not therefore true, that they have not been fulfilled.
All Christians agree, that the Prophecies of the Old Testament, concerning the Messiah, have now been fulfilled for near two thousand years in the person of Jesus Christ. And yet, up to this hour, the heathens do not believe this; and, what is more, the Jews, who held those prophecies in their hands, and were the most concerned in the accomplishment of those prophecies, do not acknowledge their fulfilment, but obstinately deny it.
But, let us ask,--Does this denial of that accomplishment in any degree invalidate the truth of those prophecies, or render their fulfilment less certain? Assuredly not. Nay, it confirms it. For, this incredulity of the Jews was predicted in those prophecies: Lord, who hath believed our report? (Isa..liii.1; John xii.38).
In like manner, it is futile to allege, that these prophecies of the Apocalypse do not point at the Church of Rome, because the Church of Rome does not acknowledge that they concern her. Indeed this her scepticism concerning them is a corroboration of the proof of their fulfilment. Just as it was foretold in the prophecies of the Old Testament, that the Jews would not believe their fulfil ment, so in like manner it is foretold in those of the Apocalypse, that she whom they do concern will not believe them, and will not repent (Rev.ix. 20; xvi.9-11) but will be stricken with judicial blindness, and be hardened by God’s judgments; in a word, that Babylon will be Babylon to the end.
Therefore, if the Church of Rome is Babylon, we have no reason to be surprised that she does not acknowledge, and have no reason to expect that she will acknowledge, that she herself is the subject of these prophecies, and is there pourtrayed as Babylon.
Let us observe here the mysterious dealings of God. The Jews hold in their hands, and revere as divine, the Old Testament. And from the Old Testament the Church of Christ proves her own cause against the Jews,. And so the Church of Rome holds in her hands the Apocalypse; she acknowledges it to be the work of St. John, and requires all men to receive it as divinely inspired. And may not perhaps the church of Christ prove from it her own cause against Rome?
The true question therefore, we see, is --not whether the Church of Rome acknowledges,--no, nor whether persons of our own Communion acknowledge, that these prophecies have been already fulfilled, or are being fulfilled, and will be completely fulfilled, in the Church of Rome, --but, whether there is evidence to convince an unprejudiced mind that such is the case.
This is the question before us.
9. Let us therefore proceed with our argument. The Woman, called the "Harlot," and "Babylon," or "the Great City," the "City on Seven Hills," the City of Rome, sits on the Beast as on a throne, that is, governs it, and is supported by it. The Beast is represented as having ten Horns bearing Crowns, which, we are taught, are ten Kings, or Kingdoms; and these, it is added, had not received power in St. John’s age, but were afterwards to receive it with the Beast
Now, if, with Bossuet and his co-religionists, we imagine the Woman on the Beast to be Heathen, and not Christian, Rome, then let us ask, Where, in that case, were these Ten Kingdoms, which did not exist in St. John’s age, and which were to arise and receive power together with Rome? Heathen Rome reigned alone, and was destroyed, before any such kingdoms arose. None can be found to correspond to St. John’s description.
But now adopt, again, the other supposition. Let the Beast, with the Woman enthroned upon it, represent the City and Church planted on the Seven Hills on which the Woman sits. Let it represent the Church of Rome. Then all is plain. When the heathen Empire of Rome fell, new Kingdoms arose from its ruins. These were the horns of the Beast which then sprouted up; then the Church of Rome increased in strength; and these Kingdoms received power with her.
Look again at the prophecy. These kings, we read, give their power and strength to the Beast. They reign, as kings, at the same time with the Beast. As kings--that is, they are called kings--but the Beast is the real Sovereign of their subjects. And what is the fact? The European Kingdoms, which arose at the dissolution of the Roman Empire, surrendered themselves to the dominion of the Church of Rome, and were, for many centuries, subject to the Papacy. The Woman, who sat upon the Beast, had her hand upon the Horns, and held them firmly in her grasp. She still treats them as her subjects. The Papal Coins proclaim this. "Omnes Reges servient ei." "Gens et Regnum, quod tibi non servierit, peribit." Such are her claims; and at the Coronation of every Pontiff she thus accosts him: "Know thyself to be the Father of Kings and Princes, Ruler of the World." These are the words which he assumes to himself, when the papal Tiara is placed on his brow. Thus in the claim of the Church of Rome to exercise sway over the Kings of the earth, and in that amplitude of dominion and plenitude of felicity, to which she has appealed for so many generations as a proof that she is favoured by Heaven, we recognize another proof that the Babylon of the Apocalypse, the Woman on the Beast, to whom Kings were to give their power and strength, is no other than the Church of Rome.
Still further: It is prophesied in the Apocalypse that some of the Horns, of kingdoms, which were to receive power together with the Beast, will one day rise against her, and eat the flesh of the Harlot, and burn her with fire (Rev.xvii.16).
Now, again suppose, for argument’s sake, that the Woman on the Beast was Heathen Rome. Then, we readily allow, that Alaric with his Goths, Attila with his Huns, Genseric with his Vandals, Odoacer with his Heruli, did indeed sack the City of Rome. But when did they ever receive power together with Rome? when did they give their power and their strength to Heathen Rome? Never. If, therefore, the Woman upon the Beast is only the City of Pagan Rome, then the Prophecy of St. John has failed; which, since it is from God, is impossible.
But Pagan Rome has long since ceased to be. Therefore, these predictions cannot concern Pagan Rome. But they do concern the Seven-hilled City, Rome; and, therefore, they point at that City in which the Bishop of Rome now rules. And the marvel predicted by the Apocalypse is this--and a stupendous mystery it is-- that some of the Powers of the Earth, which received strength with the Beast, and at one time gave up their might to it, would, under the overruling sway of God’s retributive justice, arise against the Woman seated on the Beast, and "tear her flesh," and burn her with fire (Rev.xvii.16). And, what is still more marvellous, they will do this, although, in the first instance, they have been leagued with the Beast and with the False Prophet (Rev.xvii.13, 14; xix. 19), or False Teacher, who is the Ally of the Beast, on whom the Woman sits as a Queen, in opposition to Christ: and it is foretold, that they will punish Rome in a mysterious transport of indignation, and in a wild ecstasy of revenge.
Such is the prophecy of St. John. And let us ask the candid reader,--Is not this prophecy even now in course of fulfillment, in the eyes of the World?
Of all the princely houses of Europe that were once devoted to the Roman Papacy, none was a more abject vassal of it, than the house of Savoy. In the seventeenth century, A.D. 1655, it executed with ruthless obsequiousness the sanguinary mandates of Rome, exhorting it to exterminate the Vaudois--the Protestant communities of the Alps--with fire and sword. Such was its eagerness in the work of destruction, that Oliver Cromwell wrote a letter of expostulation to the Duke of Savoy, and sent an ambassador from England to deprecate this crusade of desolation; and Milton then wrote his famous sonnet, which has proved almost prophetic, "On the late Massacre in Piedmont, "Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughter’d saints, whose bones Lie scatter’d on the Alpine mountains cold."
And what is now the case, at the present time?
A Prince of that same house, the house of Savoy, has now been raised up to the Throne of Italy, Victor Emmanuel; and he has ‘torn the flesh’" of Rome, he has despoiled her of the greater part of her temporal dominions; France (which is now virtually mistress of Rome), Spain, and Portugal, have recognized him as King of Italy; he has suppressed her Monasteries, and has thus deprived Rome of her most powerful spiritual Army; and it is not improbable, that either his dynasty or that of some other secular Potentates formerly devoted to the Papacy, may be employed as an instrument for inflicting more chastisements on Papal Rome.
10. Further, let us look forward, and examine the Apocalyptic Prophecy, which describes what the state of the mystical Babylon will be after her fall.
Her condition, we are taught in the Apocalypse, will then be like that of the literal, or Assyrian Babylon, after its destruction. Concerning the literal Babylon, Isaiah prophesied thus: Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there (Isa.xiii.21). And Jeremiah predicted that Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing (Jer. li. 37).
So St. John in the Apocalypse prophesies of the mystical Babylon: Babylon the great (he says) is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. (Rev. xviii. 2). For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her; for her sins have reached to heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Now, take, again, the supposition of Bossuet, and other Romish Theologians, and let it be imagined, for argument’s sake, that Babylon is only the Heathen City of Rome. Rome was taken, at several times, by the Goths and the Vandals; let its capture be, as is alleged by those Romish Divines, the fulfilment of St. John’s Prophecy, Babylon is fallen. Rome having been Pagan, became Papal. What then is the consequence? Rome--Papal Rome--is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit!....Will this be allowed by Romish Divines? Rome the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, the cage of every unclean and hateful bird!
No: we do not say this; and in their language Rome is " the Capital of Christendom," "the Holy City," the "spiritual Sion." They call her Sovereign " the Supreme Pontiff," "Holy Father"; his States are " the States of the Church"; and his throne, "the Holy See."
Therefore these Apocalyptic prophecies were not fulfilled in Pagan Rome. But it is allowed by Romish Divines that they concern Rome. Therefore they do not concern Rome as Pagan, but as Papal.
11. Again; it is prophesied in the Apocalypse that Babylon will be burnt with fire, and become utterly desolate. Now, let Babylon be imagined to be only the heathen City of Rome. How then, let us ask, can the prediction be reconciled with the fact? How can it be said, the Rome has been burnt with fire, and that the smoke of the burning ascends to heaven? (Rev.xviii.8,9). Has the voice of harpers and musicians ceased within her? has she been taken up, like a great millstone, and plunged in the sea? No: the voice of melody is still heard in her princely palaces; they are still adorned with noble pictures and fair statues. The riches of her purple and silk and scarlet, and pearls and jewels, are still displayed in the splendid attire of her Pontiff and his Cardinals in their solemn conclaves. Cavalcades of horses and chariots, with gorgeous trappings, and long trains of religious processions, still move along her streets; clouds of frankincense still float in her Temples, which on high festivals are hung with tapestry and brocade and gay embroidery; her precious vessels still glitter on her Altars; her rich merchandise of gold and silver is still purchased; her dainty and goodly things are not yet departed from her. She still sits as a Queen, and glorifies herself, and says, I am no Widow, and shall see no sorrow. She still claims the title of Divinity, and calls herself ETERNAL.
Let any one refer to the confident language she used, and to the gorgeous splendour in which she displayed herself on December 8, 1854, when she promulgated, in St. Peter’s Church, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception; and on Whitsunday, June 8, 1862, when she canonized the Japanese Martyrs,--a ceremonial associated with her own claims to Supremacy, spiritual and temporal, and he will admit these statements as unquestionable.
Here, therefore, we are brought to the same conclusion. The Babylon of the Apocalypse is allowed on all hands to be Rome. Pagan Rome it cannot be. It is therefore Papal Rome.
