|
|
Previous
Chapter |
|
|
|
THE
GREAT WHORE BABYLON
|
|
|
|
Come.
The multitude of the lost which left the Creator, and prostituted
itself to commit adultery with demons, is spoken of as sitting upon
the waves, that is, the discord of the peoples. But on the contrary,
"of the multitude of the believers there was one heart and
one soul,"
whom the Apostle "espoused to one husband, to present them
a pure virgin to Christ."
|
|
|
|
kings.
The whole is superior to its parts. For the king and inhabitants
of the earth are all those who seek proudly for earthly things,
whom through the lust of vices, the allurement of the world defiles,
and madness of the mind makes drunk.
|
|
|
|
wilderness.
By the wilderness, he represents the absence of Deity, Whose presence
is paradise.
scarlet
beast.
The devil, through ungodliness, blood-stained, blasphemous, inflated
with the arrogance of presumption, extols the corruption of the
wicked.
seven.
That is, which has both the kings and kingdoms of the world, whose
glory he also shewed to the Lord upon the mountain.
For as we said before,
universality is often indicated both by the number seven, and
the number ten.
|
|
|
4 |
purple.
In purple is shewn the false appearance of simulated rule, in
scarlet the blood-stained dress of ungodliness.
gilded.
That is, with all the allurements of simulated truth. Lastly,
he explains what is within this beauteousness, as follows.
cup.
The golden cup full of abominations is hypocrisy, because hypocrites
"outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within are full
of all uncleanness."
|
|
|
5 |
forehead.
This corrupter at once on her very countenance
is shewn to be the nurse of vices. But because she is only discerned
by wisdom and prudence, especially under precious ornament, it is
indicated that this is a mystical name.
|
|
|
6 |
saints.
There is one body adverse within and without, and although it may
seem separate in place, yet it acts in common by unity of spirit.
So the ancestors of the wicked are in sense accused of stoning Zacharias,
though they did it not themselves.
|
|
|
8 |
was,
and is not. That is to say, the devil aforetime
ruled in the world, and when the Lord was crucified, he was cast
out. But at the end of the world he is loosed from the stronghold
of his prison, and by the breath of the Lord's mouth will perish
for ever. Tichonius refers the beast to the whole body of the devil,
which is made up by the course of generations, as they pass away
and succeed each other; for this reason above others, that he shews
the woman sitting upon the beast, whom he had promised to shew sitting
upon the waters, that is, the peoples.
|
|
|
9 |
heads.
The heads of the beast, he says, are the kings of the world, who
through the swelling of pride are said to be like exceeding high
mountains, on whom there rests a wanton ungodliness, so that they
both oppress by violence, and deceive by fraud.
|
|
|
10 |
five.
Seeing that he had described in the number seven the fulness of
worldly dominion, the last part of which, that is, the kingdom
of Antichrist, had not yet come; he now accordingly testifies
that five kings had passed away, that the sixth was present, that
the seventh was to come.
short
space.
Because the Lord beholds us both proud and weak, he says, that
the days which he has introduced as singularly evil, are mercifully
shortened; in truth, that he may both alarm their pride by the
adversity of the time, and refresh their weakness by the shortness
of it.
|
|
|
11 |
eighth.
Antichrist, who is to reign at the end of
the age, because of the unity of the body of the ungodly of which
he is the head, pertains to the number of the kingdoms of the world.
But because of his singular power of wickedness, he is also retained
in the order of his own proper place.
|
|
|
12 |
horns.
The kingdoms of the world have not yet fully
displayed their power in persecuting the Church. For although
these even now have rule over the greatest part, yet there will
be the stronger power of insane boasting when they have also deceived
such by signs. Some understand it, that when the last persecution
draws near, there will be ten kings who are to divide the world
between them; according to the prophecy of Daniel also, who said
of the fourth beast, "And he had ten horns; and behold another
little horn came up from the midst of them, and three of the first
horns were plucked up before his face;" and that Antichrist
who should arise from Babylon, should subdue the king of Egypt,
and of Africa, and that after they were slain, seven other kings
should also submit their necks to the conqueror. But others say
that Antichrist is placed in the number eleven, to signify prevarication.
For eleven indicates a departure from the perfection of the number
ten.
as
kings.
He says, "as kings," because they only reign as in a
dream, who oppose the kingdom of Christ.
|
|
|
13 |
mind.
That is, with like consent they make war for the devil with all
their will. For this is to receive a kingdom after the beast, by
imitating the devil to be adversaries of Christ.
|
|
|
14 |
overcome.
That the weakness of man might not fear the cruelty of the old
enemy, he describes the beast which has seven heads, and is armed
with the horns of a secular kingdom, as vanquished by Christ triumphant:
and then, to denote that He is triumphant in His own, he has added
the following.
chosen.
He has well premised chosen, for "many are called, but few
chosen."
|
|
|
16 |
hate.
They will begin to hate with extreme abhorrence the glory of the
world, which they now embrace with wanton love, when at the end
they see, now that the Lamb is conqueror, that they themselves
are to be condemned. It may also be otherwise understood, either
that there are always contentious among the proud; or, that every
one "who loves iniquity hates his own soul."
desolate.
For they make the world waste through the wrath of God, while
they are given up to it, and use it unrighteously.
flesh.
When she is deprived of her accustomed delights, they will burn
her in the fires of hell.
|
|
|
17 |
hearts.
God, the Jugde, he says, just and mighty, and to whom justice
is always pleasing, for the punishment of their former sins suffered
the ungodly to do such things, for whose sake He might with reason
bring to an end the whole world; as the Gospels testify to have
been done in the instance of Sodom,
and of the flood.
give.
That is, that they should obey the devil until the Scriptures
should be fulfilled, in which God said, that in the time of the
fourth kingdom He would bring the earth to its consummation; as
we read in Daniel, "There shall be the fourth kingdom upon
the earth, which shall be more powerful than all these kingdoms,
and shall devour, and overthrow, and destroy the whole earth."
|
|
|
18 |
city.
So also below,
when he was bidden to behold the Lamb's wife, he saw the holy city
coming down from heaven; and when he described it, he said, "And
the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it."
For there are two cities in the world, the one proceeding from the
abyss, the other from heaven. And therefore he now compares the
same ungodliness, which he had described under the appearance of
a harlot naked and burned up, with the ruins of a deserted city.
|
|
|
|
|
|