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BABYLON

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Publishing Committee · Saratoga Springs, N. Y. · Jan 13, 1852

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 2, No. 10.

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BABYLON.

By O. Nichols

BY O. NICHOLS.
The article in the last “Review and Herald” from the “Voice of truth of Sept. 1844,” concerning “What is Babylon, her fall, and Come out of her my people,” was read with much interest. It is the most excellent piece that I ever read on that subject.
The following language clearly defines Babylon: “The woman (Rev. xvii) is symbolical of the church, and as she is called Babylon, there can be no dispute but that the church is Babylon. What church? It is a mother and her daughters, a family of harlots. The mother represents the Catholic church, the eldest member of the family, and the daughters represent the Protestant sects. The whole family most strikingly represent a great city. Take the whole and the figure is perfect; leave out the children, and it is imperfect.”
There are some things which we think are erroneous, which we will briefly notice.
1st. “The harlot woman in chap. xvii, and the woman clothed with the sun in chap. xii, are the same churches.” There is a wide distinction in the character of the woman of Rev. xii, and the mother of harlots of chap. xvii. The latter is a cruel persecutor, “drunken with the blood of the saints.” Verse 6. The woman which brought forth the man-child was persecuted, “and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Chap. xii, 11, 13. Also, the dragon 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. Verse 17.
This applies to the last state of the woman of chap. xii. The last state of the woman of chap. xvii is described in chap. xviii, and their characters are widely different. We believe the truth to be this: The woman of Rev. xvii, seated upon a scarlet beast, symbolizes the established church, incorporated and united with political governments; [the beast;] and when the church and state were united, they were emphatically one body, civil and ecclesiastical, symbolized by a beast. Rev. xiii, 1—10. The church symbolized by a woman, and the civil power which carried the church, by a beast.
The woman of Rev. xii we believe symbolizes a church of a different character: a holy people which are God’s chosen witnesses to proclaim the simple truths of the Bible, and which would not conform to the established church, or follow their tenets and creeds, but chose the New Testament for their christian guide; and for so doing they were denounced as heretics, and were persecuted unto death. “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” Chap. xii, 11. “All that will live godly shall suffer persecution.”
God has in all ages had a holy peculiar people, that were persecuted for not obeying or following the tenets of the worldly church. It is not true that the woman of chap. xii has degenerated, “and become a fallen church.” Neither is it true that “she was holding unlawful connection with the beast, or kings of the earth during the 1260 years” she was in the wilderness.
2d. “During the 1260 years the supremacy was vested in the beast, (the political power,) not in the woman,” (the church,) of chap. xvii. Both the prophecy and history prove this incorrect. During this period of time, the woman was seated upon the beast, held the reins, dictated, guided, and was the mouth of the beast, (chap. xiii, 5,) had the “dominion” and reigned over the (ten) kings of the earth. The history of the Catholic church proves this to be literally true. She did actually have dominion over the crowned kings and emperors.
3d. “The chronology of the woman seated on the beast commenced at the end of the 1260 years, A. D. 1798, when she takes her seat upon the beast.” “Now she is a drunken harlot, and guides the beast which carries her, or holds the supremacy over the state. Has not the church held this station over the kings and rulers of the earth since A. D. 1798? The facts in the case prove that she has. She sits upon many waters; and reigneth over the kings of the earth; not by physical power, but by artifice, cunning and deception.”
The facts in the case forbid such an application. It cannot be demonstrated that either the Papal or Protestant churches have in any sense reigned over the kings of the earth or “held the supremacy over the state” since A. D. 1798.
To practice “artifice, cunning and deception” is one thing, but to “reign,” or “hold the supremacy over the state” is quite a different thing. “To reign” signifies, 1st. “To exercise sovereign power or authority; to rule; to exercise government as a king or emperor; or to hold the supreme power” 2d. Reign signifies royal authority; supreme power; sovereignty. 3d. Reigning signifies “holding or exercising supreme power” &c. [Webster.]
“The woman is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” That is the church or the Pope at its head, holding or exercising the supreme power over the kings &c. This is the only reasonable application of the word “reigneth” in this verse. Has the church exercised this supreme power over kings and rulers since 1798? Neither the Papal or Protestant church has had this power, but the reverse, since that period. The Papal church did hold and exercise the highest authority and “dominion” over the kings for a long period during the 1260 years, and their “dominion” was taken away in 1798—9, and this church power has not been established since. But in instituting the “image” of papacy, I fully believe that Protestant church supremacy will be established, and “they will exercise all the power of the first beast,” or Papal beast.
Rev. xvii, 16, 17, shows conclusively the chronology of the “whore” seated upon the beast, as it is described in verses 3—6, to be previous to 1798.
“The ten horns shall hate the whore, make her desolate, &c. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will.” This has been literally true with regard to the Papal church supremacy. For the last 50 years the ten kingdoms have hated the temporal dominion of the Pope, who is the head of the Catholic church. The reign of Napoleon made her desolate and naked; “for God put in their hearts,” to do this, to “fulfill his will.”
The Protestant church authority is the last that will exercise dominion and she will be made desolate under the seven last plagues. Then the “great city” will be destroyed forever, and “found no more at all.” The “great city” I understand symbolizes the church incorporated, and united to the state. Both the Catholic and Protestant are included. Its primitive existence commenced with the Catholic church, the “mother.” The Catholic church as a “mother” or parent, exercised its authority during its appointed time, 1260 years. Then her daughters came on the stage, and as her children have been growing in strength, influence and power, the mother’s power has been diminishing, as our parents naturally do, through enfeeblement by age. Take them as a whole, mother and children, they are one family, “that great city, Babylon.” Rev. xviii.
Rev. xvii, I understand, is an explanation of chap. xiii, particularly the seven heads and ten horns. The beast is the same as in chap. xiii, 1, a symbol of the Roman Empire, while united with the Papal church.
Some think the woman on the scarlet beast applies in its chronology since 1798, because there are no crowns specified on the ten horns. There are no crowns specified upon the ten horns of the great red dragon, the symbol of Pagan Rome. Chap. xii, 3. But it is well known that those were ten crowned horns, or kings, under Pagan Rome; and they continued to be crowned kings throughout the 1260 years; but the Pope’s crown was higher in authority and reigned over them; and the ten kingdoms have generally continued regal governments since A. D. 1798. [Crown signifies “royalty, regal government.” Webster.] Kings, or crowns still continue in the old Roman Empire, and nothing can be shown from chap. xvii, to prove they will not still continue, until the battle of the great day of God Almighty. See Rev. xvii, 12, 14.
It is true that the woman represents one thing, (the church power,) and the beast another, (the political power.) But when the church and state are united, or blended together by an act of incorporation by the state, do not these two powers become one? And as the beast, or civil power, has incorporated and united the church with their governments, hence the church becomes a part of their government, or a part of the beast, and is fitly called “the beast.” All the authority that the church ever had, was given them by the civil government.
Dorchester, Mass.