that they to whom he wrote were subject to Rome *. Indeed, in that age, almost all the governments of the Earth had been subjugated by her, and the Sovereigns who were permitted to remain, received their crowns from her hand.

Rome, then, was that great City: Rome reigned over the Kings of the Earth. Therefore, the Woman is Rome.

We pass to another characteristic.

IV. The Woman, described by St. John as sitting on seven hills, and as reigning over the Kings of the Earth, is called BABYLON.

Upon her forehead was a name written—Mystery, Babylon the Great †.

This also, we affirm, identifies her with Rome. I speak not now of the spiritual sense in which Rome is Babylon. This belongs to another part of our subject, and is reserved for consideration in our next Discourse.

But let us observe that, geographically and historically, Babylon has found a remarkable parallel in Rome.

Babylon was the Eastern Rome; and Rome, the Western Babylon.

Babylon was situated in a vast plain: and all have heard of the Campagna of Rome. Both cities are intersected by rivers. The soil of Babylon is described in Scripture as productive of clay for brick,

* Acts xix. 39, 40.

+ Rev. xvii. 5.

and slime, or bitumen, for morter. Witness the Inspired History of the building of Babel in that region. And the enormous brick Walls of the same City have passed into a proverb.

Turn now to Italy. We contemplate a parallel in these respects, in the long arched aqueducts of brick which still stretch across the Roman Campagna, and connect the City with the distant hills; and in the roads, paved with bituminous blocks, which linked the capital to the coast.

Again: the city of Babylon† was surrounded with pools, which, when it was destroyed, stagnated into swampy morasses, and now greatly increase the dreariness and unhealthiness of its desolate plain.

Direct, once more, your eyes to the Campagna ‡ of Rome, formerly peopled with cities, and alive with the stir of men.

From the inundations of the Pomptine marshes, and from the inveterate malaria of many centuries, and from the fetid miasma brooding over its sulphureous springs and brooks, it is now no longer habitable; and by its wild and lonely aspect presents a sad prognostic of its future destiny; and seems, as

*Gen. xi. 3.

See the authorities collected by Rennell, Geogr. of Herodotus, sect. xiv. and Heeren's Researches, vol. ii. p. 129. 174. See Sir W. Gell's Rome and its Vicinity, Article Campagna, i. p. 249-258. Hence, Rome, though a great City, the Queen of the Earth, yet well might be represented by St. John as in the wilderness. (Rev. xvii. 3.)

it were, to sound a sad and solemn warning into the ear of Faith, that, when the divine Judgments are fulfilled, the likeness will be stronger still between Babylon and Rome*.

Here are some striking similitudes; and we must not neglect to consider the historical parallel between Babylon and Rome. Babylon had been and was the Queen of the East, in the age of the Hebrew Prophets, as Rome was the Mistress of the West, when St. John wrote. Babylon was called the Golden City, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency t. She claimed Eternity and Universal Supremacy. She said in her heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I shall be a Lady for ever. I am, and none else beside me: I shall not sit as a Widow, neither shall I know the loss of children §.

In these respects Babylon was imitated by Rome. She also called herself the Golden City, the Eternal City. She vaunted that she would reign for ever ||.

* Joachim, p. 198, states that Pope Gregory I. said, “beatum Benedictum dixisse, 'Roma a gentibus non destruetur, sed terræmotibus fatigata in se ipsa marcescet.'" A severe shock of an

earthquake was felt at Rome on the 25th of June, 1848. The prophecies of St. Malachi allow eleven more Popes to Rome. See Corn. à Lap. ad Apoc. xx.

† Isa. xiv. 4. xiii. 19.

Isa. xiv. 13. § Isa. xlvii. 7, 8. The words ROMAE ÆTERNAE are found on the imperial coins of Rome,-e. g. on those of Gallienus, Tacitus, Probus, Gordian, and others. The Pope is called Urbis Eterna Episcopus, by Ammian. Marcellin. xv. 7. Cf. xiv. 6. xvi. 10. xix. 10. The

Again; the King of Babylon, the mighty Assyrian, was the rod of God's anger, and the staff of His indignation against Jerusalem for its rebellion against Him. So was the Roman Cæsar.

*

Babylon was employed by God to punish the sins of Sion, and to lay her walls in the dust. So, in St. John's own age, the Imperial legions of Rome had been marshalled and despatched by God Himself to chastise the guilty City which had crucified His beloved Son.

Again: the Sacred Vessels of God's Temple were carried from Sion to Babylon, and were displayed in triumph on the table at the royal banquet in that fatal night, when the fingers of a man's hand came forth from the Wall† and terrified the guilty King.

So, the Sacred Vessels, having been restored by Cyrus, and the Book of the Law, and the Golden Candlestick §, and the Table of Shew-bread, were

Jupiter of Virgil speaks the national language when he says, (Æn. i. 278,) His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono; "IMPERIUM SINE FINE DEDI."

* Isa. x. 5.

+ Dan. v. 5, 6.

At the very time when the victorious Persians rushed into the city, the princes of Babylon were engaged in festivities. The reader may compare the terrible description (Isa. xxi.) with Xenophon, Cyr. vii. 5, (p. 403, ed. Oxon. 1820,) who says, that the very guards were intoxicated.

§ Joseph. Bell. Jud. vii. 5, where he describes the Candlestick. The Apocalyptic phrase, "I will remove thy Candlestick," (Rev. ii. 5,) receives a remarkable illustration from this procession; and may be added to the other internal proofs that the

carried captive in triumphal procession to the Roman Capitol and even now they are seen at Rome, carved in sculpture on the marble sides of the arch of Titus, the Imperial Conqueror of Jerusalem.

And what now, it may be asked, was the language of St. John's own age on this solemn subject? Did it, or did it not, recognize Rome in Babylon?

To speak, first, of the Jews. So strong was their sense of the analogy between these two Cities, that the very name which they commonly gave to Rome was Babylon*. They felt that in their own History God Himself had identified the two. And, it may be added, as very remarkable, that, as the Restoration of the Jews by Cyrus did not take place till Babylon was taken, and then immediately ensued, so it is, and has long been, a deeply-rooted opinion and a common proverb among the Jews, that "the Redemption of Israel† cannot be accomplished before Rome is destroyed." And when we consider the stumbling

Revelation was written after the taking of Jerusalem. The Jewish Candlestick is figured on a Coin of Vespasian. Gessner, Tab. lviii. with the legend HIEROSOLYMA CAPTA.

* Schöttgen. Hor. Hebr. i. p. 1125. Wetstein in Apoc. xvii. 18. Winer Biblisch. Realwörterbuch, ii. p. 395, "Schon die Juden pflegten das ihnen verhasste Rom Babylon zu nennen." Cp. Mede's Works, p. 902.

עם חרבן אדום תהיה תשועת ישראל R. Kimchi in Abdiam +

cum devastabitur Roma (Edom), erit redemtio Israeli. See the authorities in the preceding note. The opinion of the Rabbis is, that this destruction will be by fire. See the authorities in Vitringa, p. 792, note.