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They who were enriched by her, shall lament her ruin.

shall weep mourn Over

more :

wood, and all man

wood, and of brass,

ble,

481

Rev.

and selves by her expensive magnificence, shall secт. her wail and lament over her, out of a regard to xxi. for no man buyeth their own interest, if not to her's; because no her merchandise any one any longer shall buy their wares, with xviii. which they had loaded so many gallant vessels 11 12 The merchan- that carried on a traffic with her : They 12 dise of gold, and sil- shall lament, that so noble a vent for all the ver, and precious stones, and of pearls, delicacies of a pompous and luxurious life, is and fine linen, and lost; and that they can no longer thus dispose purple, and silk, and of the ladings of gold, and silver, and every precscarlet, and all thyine ious stone, and pearls, and of the fine linen of ner vessels of ivory, Egypt, and the purple of Sidon, and the silk of and all manner ves- the eastern countries, and the scarlet, and every sels of most precious odoriferous wood, that the plantations of Arabia, and iron, and mar or the coasts of India, could boast; and every curiously wrought vessel of ivory, and every vessel of most precious wood, in value exceeding even that, and all the utensils of brass, and of iron, and of marble, with which the houses of the rich, and of the great, have 13 And cinnamon, been furnished. No longer shall they there 13 ments, and frankin- find a market for rich and fragrant commodicense, and wine, and ties; for cinnamon, and perfume, and myrrh, oil, and fine flour, and incense, nor for the more necessary and and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, important supplies of wine, and oil, and fine and horses, and flour, and wheat, and kine, and sheep, and horses, chariots, and slaves, and chariots, and slaves and their yet more and souls of men. infamous traffic for the lives, and the very that thy soul lusted souls of men, which they sacrificed to their avaafter are departed rice, and their treachery, shall cease. And 14 from thee, and all thou, O Babylon, shall join thy cry with theirs; things which were dainty and goodly for all the fruits, which thy soul desired, and for are departed from which alone thy degenerate nature had any rethee, and thou shalt maining relish, are gone from thee, and all thy find them no more delicious and splendid things are departed from 15 The merchants thee; and the loss is final as well as entire; for of these things which thou shalt never find them any more. I repeat 15 were made rich by it again, the merchants of all these [commodioff for the fear of her ties,] who were enriched by her, shall stand afar torment, weeping off, in a mixture of terror and grief, for fear of and wailing, her torment, weeping, and mourning, but abso

and odours, and oint

14 And the fruits

at all.

her, shall stand afar

• Slaves.] The Greek word caula can fail to take notice of it. Compare has plainly this signification. Compare Isa xxii. 1, 7, 14, sim. Some have Tobit x. 9. interpreted many of these passages, as referring to the circumstances of Popish worship, and the trade of their priests; as ver. 11, to relics, pardons, and indulgencies: ver. 12, to their images, and

Weeping and mourning.] There is in all this so evident a reference to the lamentation over Tyre, described by Ezekiel, (chap. xxvii.) that I suppose few readers

482

The apostles and prophets are exhorted to rejoice over her.

SECT. lutely incapable of giving her any relief; smit

xxi.

Rev.

ing on their breasts, And saying, Alas, alas, 16 And saying, for the great, elegant and magnificent city, that Alas, alas, that great i was clothed with fine linen, and purple, and ed in fine linen, and city, that was cloth16 scarlet, and adorned with gold, and precious purple, and scar17 stones, and pearls! For, who can sufficiently let, and decked with lament this sad instance of the uncertainty of gold, and precious stones, and pearls ! all human things, when he sees, that, in one 17 For in one hour hour, all these great riches are laid waste, and so great riches is made desolate? And this sad scene was repre- And every ship mascome to nought. sented to me in a lively vision; and every pi- ter, and all the comlot, and every one of the ship's company, and the pany in ships, and mariners, and all that bestow their labour upon sailors, and as many as trade by sea, the sea, stood afar off from the flames of the stood afar off, 18 burning city, And cried, when they saw the 18 And cried when smoke of her burning, áscend in such thick col- they saw the smoke umns to heaven, What [city, is] like to the great ing, What city is of her burning, saycity, so long unequalled in its glory, and now like unto this great 19 in its ruin? And they seemed like men in the city?

20

greatest agony of distress, and cast dust upon their 19 And they cast
dust on their heads,
heads, and cried, weeping, and mourning, saying, and cried, weeping
Alas, alas, for the great city, by whose magnifi- and wailing, saying,
cent expenses, arising from her profusion, and Alas, alas, that great
elegance, and grandeur, all that had ships in city, wherein were
made rich all that
the sea, were enriched, so that she alone was had ships in the sea,
sufficient, as it were, to maintain the merchan- by reason of her cost-
dise of the world; for she is made desolate in liness! for in one
hour is she made
one hour, to a degree that we should have im- desolate.
agined utterly impossible.

e

But while they were thus lamenting their 20 Rejoice over own loss and her's, I was affected in another her, thou heaven, manner, and could not forbear crying out in and prophets; and ye holy apostles, for my own heart, Rejoice over her, O thou just aveng- God hath avenged ing heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, you on her. who look down from your abodes of glory, on so wonderful and interesting a scene. Take your part in the sacred triumph; for on your account, God has pronounced sentence upon her; he hath adjudged her to righteous destruction, for

the furniture of their churches and chapels, and the variety of rich dresses for their images and priests: ver. 13, to the incense used at their altars: ver. 22, to the musical instruments used in their worship and ver 23, to the vast numbers of lamps burning before their idolatrous altars; and the like. But it seems rather to centre in one view, the loss of every

thing valuable and desirable, and the utter ruin of this magnificent city.

Apostles. Nothing can be more lively than this apostrophe, in which the apostles, though honoured in Rome by so many superstitious and idolatrous rites, are, nevertheless, called upon to rejoice in her destruction.

There shall be no joy or festivity in her any more.

483

her opposition to his kingdom, and for the SECT. injuries done to you, who, with ardent and xxi. unwearied zeal, endeavoured to establish and promote it.

Rev.

xviii.

21 And a mighty And, as soon as I had uttered this in corres- 21 angel took up a stone pondence to the scene which had been reprelike a great millstone and cast it in. sented of old, with relation to the great seat of to the sea, saying, the Chaldean empire, (Jerem. li. 64,) a strong Thus with violence angel took a stone, like a great millstone; and, shall that great city with a vigorous and rapid motion, hurled it into down, and shall be the sea, saying, Thus shall Babylon the great found no more at all. city, unequal as the production of this event

Babylon be thrown

more at all in thee;

more in thee; and

thee;

23 And the light

may seem to any human power, be violently hurled away by the almighty arm of an avenging God, and sink into the dephts of destruc22 And the voice tion; so that it shall never be found any more. of harpers and musicians, and of pipAnd the harmonious sound of harpers, and other 22 ers, and trumpeters, musicians, and those who sound the flute, and the shall be heard no trumpet, shall no more be heard in thee; and eveand no craftsmen, of ry artificer of every curious trade, employed for whatsoever craft he the accommodations and ornaments of life, shall be, shall be found any no more be found in thee, O Babylon, nor shall the sound of a mill. the noise of the millstone be heard in thee any stone shall be heard more, even to prepare bread for the meanest inno more at all in habitant. And the light of a lamp shall no more 23 be seen in thee, to gild thy dark night with its of a candle candle shall cheerful rays; and the voice of the bridegroom shine no more at all and the bride, rejoicing in their new relation, in thee; and the and celebrating the nuptial feast, shall be heard groom and of the in thee no more, because thy merchants were bride shall be heard grandees of the earth, and maintained so shameno more at all in ful a traffic by every dishonest art, and because thee; for thy mer- all the nations were deceived by thy sorceries, and great men of the poisoned by thy pernicious practices. And, 24 earth for by thy to complete her guilt, as Babylon of old had sorceries were all grown great by the slaughter of Israel, so in her, nations deceived. 24 And in her was who has been here represented, was found the found the blood of blood of the prophets, and of the saints of God, prophets, and of even of all those who were slain upon the earth; saints, and of all for this wicked city exceeded all the rest of the that were slain upon world in cruelties, and might boast in the mul

voice of the bride

chants were the

the earth.

Burn. Theo.

This the original (compare Dan. vii. 11,) will be swallow.
ed up in a lake of fire and brimstone, as
Sodom and Gomorrah were.
Vol. II. p. 123. Compare Rev. xix. 20.
& Verse 22, 23] Compare Jer. xxv.
0; xxxiii. 11; Ezek. xxvi. 13, & sim.

Hurled away.] words opμnuali Bandnosas import; as if falling by its own weight, its fall would not have been rapid enough. From hence Dr. Thomas Burnet infers, in his Theory of the earth, that Rome, being first fired, VOL. 6.

62

434

Reflections on the fall of Babylon.

SECT. titudes of the martyrs she had slain, beyond all xxi. that had ever gone before her, in such detestable persecutions; and this hath filled up the xviii. measure of her iniquities, and plunged her into 24 this irrecoverable ruin.

Rev.

verse

IMPROVEMENT.

Το

FROM the particular detail which is here given us, of the va12, 13 rious commodities in which Babylon traded with its merchants, we may surely take an incidental occasion to reflect upon the rich bounty of Divine providence to the children of men, in giving them such a variety of good things, which tend not only to their necessary support, but their ornament and delight. whatever pernicious purposes vanity and luxury may abuse the silver and the gold, the gems and the pearls, the fine linen and silk, the purple and scarlet, the ivory and the marble, the cinnamon and the myrrh, as well as the more important blessings of wheat and oil, of kine, and sheep, and horses, all are the gifts of God; and, if wisely and properly used, may justly excite our thankfulness to him; and it is on ourselves, and not on him, that we are to charge it, if what should have been for our welfare becomes a trap, and our treasures be turned into idols. Nor is the wise disposition of Providence to be disregarded, in causing many of these things to be the peculiar products of different countries, denying to some what he has given to the rest, that so traffic and commerce may be encouraged, and, by it, society and intercourse extended among different nations, and provision made for that spread of Divine knowledge, which had, in many instances, been impossible, if human industry, quickened by necessity, and the prospect of gain, had not invented those arts of navigation, to which Great Britain, above all other nations, is so much indebted, and without which, indeed, our beautiful and fruitful island had been a desert, inaccessible to men.

2

But, though this oblique reflection may profitably be made, the great object to which we are directed by this chapter, is the 21 certain and final ruin of Babylon, which, how highly soever exalted, how superbly soever adorned, how luxuriously soever regaled, shall fall, shall fall as a millstone east into the sea. Strong is the Lord God who judgeth her; and it is impossible she can withstand the force of his omnipotent arm. Long has she, in a metaphorical sense, been the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird; and God will make her so in 5 another, even in a literal sense, when he shall appear to remember and punish those iniquities, which have reached unto heaven; 24 among which, various and detestable as they have have been, shedding the blood of the prophets and the saints, must be reckoned

The heavenly host triumphs over her.

485

verse

as most enormous. Let no triumph of the antichristian powers, SECT. for the present, shake our faith in these most certain and indu- xxi. bitable prophecies; and let that charge never be forgotten, "Come forth from her, O my people, and be separate." Blessed 4 be God, that a separation has been begun, that it has been so long supported, and that so many attempts to bring back God's Israel into captivity have been defeated. May the boundaries of the reformation be extended; may the purity of the reformed churches be more and more advanced, and all remainders of superstition, persecution, and imposition, be taken away. And, to conclude all, let those who are now living deliciously, and glorifying themselves in the forgetfulness of God, abusing the various gifts of his bounty to his dishonour, and saying in their hearts, that they shall see no sorrow, remember, how suddenly their state may be 7 changed; how quickly they may sink into the depths of misery, proportionable to the height of their abused prosperity; and experience a torment and sorrow, which will be doubly bitter in 6 the remembrance of their former condition. Let such, therefore, in whatever rank of life they are, according to the words of Daniel to the most illustrious king of Babylon, (Daniel iv. 27,) Break off their sins by righteousness, and their iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening out of their tranquillity; and give glory to God, before all their cheerful light be exchanged for darkness, and all the harmony of their music for 23 weeping and wailing, groaning and lamentation for ever.

SECT. XXII.

The triumphs of the heavenly host in the fall of Babylon are described, and further illustrated, by a view of an attack made by Christ and his army, on the beast, which ended in an entire victory over him. Rev. XIX. throughout.

A

REV. XIX. 1.

REVELATION XIX. 1.

9-15

ND after these AND after these things, this affecting repre- SECT.

things I heard

a great voice of

Rev.

xix. 1

sentation of the certain destruction of Bab- xxii. much people in ylon, as the seat of the antichristian kingdom, I heaven, saying, Al- heard the voice as of a great multitude in heaven, leluia; Salvation, who seemed to be triumphing on this occasion, and glory, and honour, and power unto saying. Hallelujah; let the name of Jehovah, the Lord our God: the most high God, be ever praised and exalt

ed. Let this great salvation, and all the glory
and honour, which can arise from this, and all
his other wonderful works and the power so
amazingly displayed in them, be ascribed to the

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