Bossuet, who makes these two objections in his celebrated comment on the Apocalypse, affirms them to be so strong, that they are fatal to the hypothesis * which identifies the Harlot and Babylon of the Apocalypse with the Church of Rome.

We, therefore, notice them here, and reply to them as follows;

1. We readily allow that a faithless Church may be called an Adulteress, because she forsakes God; but we also affirm that she may be, and often is, called in Scripture a Harlot, when she goes a whoring after other gods.

Thus Isaiah exclaims concerning Jerusalem, the ancient Church of God t, How is the faithful City become a harlot ! And Jeremiah, Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers ‡. And Hosea, Though Israel play the harlot, let not Judah offend §.

The original word, you will remember, which is used for harlot by St. John in the Apocalypse is πόρνη ||. Tón. And you will find that this word (ópvn) is employed in the Septuagint Version of the Prophets of the Old Testament at least fifty times **, to

* Bossuet, Préface sur l'Apocalypse, vii-ix. "Le système des Protestans (says he) est renversé de fond en comble" by these objections. See Appendix F.

Isaiah i. 21.

§ Hosea iv. 15.

|| The Hebrew

‡ Jer. iii. 1.

it, which is always rendered Harlot by our

Translators; as N is adulteress.

** e. g. Ezek. xvi. 15. 22. 33. 35. xxiii. 7, 8. 11. 14. 17,

describe the spiritual fornication of the Churches of Israel and Judah; and so Samaria herself, which Bossuet specifies as the proper parallel, is charged with harlotry.

Therefore, the word harlot does designate a Church; and if the Church of Rome is described by that name in the Apocalypse, then the word harlot, as applied to her, indicates the multitude of her sins *.

2. To consider Bossuet's second objection;-We readily allow that a faithless Church might be called Samaria; but we affirm it may also, and with greater propriety, under certain circumstances, be termed Babylon. Thus Isaiah addresses the ancient Church of God by two heathen names. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah†. And again; they declare their sin as Sodom‡. So Ezekiel calls Jerusalem a sister of Sodom; and Sodom more righteous than her §.

18, 19. 29. 35. 43. 45. xliii. 7. 9. Jerem. ii. 20. iii. 1, 2. 6. 9. xiii. 27. Hosea ii. 2. 4, 5. 10. iv. 12. 15. 18. v. 4. vi. 10. ix. 1. Isaiah i. 21. Micah i. 7. Nahum iii. 4. So EKTорVεUw very frequently.

*Bossuet's objection is the more unaccountable, because the ancient Expositors, such as Aquinas, interpret the Harlot as a teacher of Heresy: thus on cap. xvii. "Habens poculum," Aquinas says, "id est, errorem doctrinæ; hoc maximè in hæreticis locum habet." As far as I recollect, he never mentions Ancient Heathen Rome in expounding these prophecies.

+ Isaiah i. 10.

Isaiah iii. 9.

§ Ezek. xvi. 48. Compare 2 Pet. ii. 6. Jude 7.

It is clear that the words Sodom and Gomorrah denote here great flagrancy of guilt.

In the Apocalypse, also, a false teacher in a Church is called not only a Balaam, but a Jezebel *, that is, a heathen patron of idolatry.

Therefore, Babylon may represent a faithless Church; one which, having been a Bethel, becomes a Bethaven. And if the Apocalyptic Babylon be a Church, and if the Church of Rome be Babylon, then the heathen name Babylon, ascribed to her, is designed by the Holy Spirit to show the enormity of her sins.

II. The Harlot then represents a Church; and she is named Babylon. And Babylon is called the Great City. She is so named twelve times in the Apocalypse; and no other city is there called the Great City.

Now, the Great City, which is the city of the Beast, who persecutes the Witnesses, and in whose street their body lies, and which is called, spiritually, Sodom and Egypt ||, is also called the City in which their Lord was crucified §.

That is, it is also spiritually called a Jerusalem, a Church.

Therefore, again, the Harlot is a Church **.

* Rev. ii. 14. 20.

+ Hosea x. 5. 15.

Rev. xi. 8. xiv. 8. xvi. 19 bis. xvii. 5. 18. xviii. 2. 16.

18, 19. 21.

§ Rev. xi. 8.

|| Rev. xi. 8.

** Vitringa's remarks (p. 477) are conclusive on this point.

III. This is also clear from the following considerations.

The Apocalypse abounds in contrasts.

To notice one. The Lamb, Who is called 'Auvòç, and never 'Apviov, in St. John's Gospel, is called 'Apvíov, and never 'Auvòs, in St. John's Apocalypse, in which 'Apriov occurs twenty-nine times. And wherefore does ὁ ̓Αμνός here become τὸ ̓Αρνίον ? To contrast Him more strongly with rò Onpiov; that is, to mark the opposition between the LAMB and the BEAST.

A second most striking contrast-one of a cognate character, and that with which we are now concerned, is the following:

In the Visions of the Apocalypse, on the one side, we behold a Woman *, clothed with the Sun, Which is Christ; and treading on the Moon, that is, surviving all the changes and chances of this lower world; and having her brows encircled with twelve stars-the diadem of Apostolic faith. She is a Mother; and her child is caught up to heaven.

On the other side, we see another Woman, arrayed

Roma dicitur Babylon causâ idololatriæ, dicitur Ægyptus (xi. 8) ob tyrannidem in populum Dei, dicitur Sodoma (xi. 8) causâ corruptionis morum; sed et spiritualiter dicitur Hierosolyma (xi. 8) quippe in quâ Dominus mysticè dici queat crucifixus esse (id est, in membris suis). Ex quo facile colligimus Romam hic intelligi non Paganam sed Pseudo-Christianam, quia neutiquam probabile est Spiritum Sanctum Romam Paganam comparaturum esse cum Hierosolymis.

*Rev. xii. 1. See above, Lecture IX. p. 255.

in worldly splendour, enthroned on many waters, and having on her forehead* the Name Mystery; Mother of Abominations of the Earth.

Again: On the one side, we see the former Woman driven into the wilderness, and persecuted by the red Dragon.

On the other side, we see the second Woman, enthroned on seven hills, persecuting, and sitting on the Beast, who receives his power from the red Dragon. The former Woman is the faithful Church.

What is the latter Woman, who is contrasted with her, and is called the Harlot?

Is she not a faithless Church?

Let us pursue the contrast.

The former Woman appears again, after her pilgrimage in the wilderness of this world is over. Her sufferings have ceased. Look upward. Her glory is revealed in the close of the Apocalypse. The Woman in the Wilderness has now become the Bride in Heaven. She is Christ's Church glorified; His spouse purified. She is arrayed in fine linen, pure and white. She is called the Holy City, the new Jerusalem +.

Now look below at the Harlot. She is arrayed in scarlet, and pearls, and jewels, and gold. She is called Babylon, the Great City ‡.

* The words, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, inscribed on the Harlot's forehead, appear to be a contrast to the words, HOLINESS to the LORD, written on the forefront of the Mitre of the High Priest. (Exod. xxviii. 36-38.)

Rev. xix. 7, 8. xxi. 2. 9, 10.

Rev. xvii. 4, 5.

C C