Bibelkommentare

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

I saw another angel — Some excellent and worthy man (saith Mr Brightman), such a one as should come suddenly before he be looked for, as those things do that slip down from heaven.

Having great power — εξουσιαν , or authority; as having in hand a great business, viz. the denouncing of Rome’s utter ruin.

And the earth was lighted — He delivered himself clearly and expressly, so as that all men may well understand his meaning. Ribera the Jesuit gives this note upon this text, that the judgment of Rome’s desolation shall be (not kept secret, but) made manifest to all men.

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And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

And he cried mightily — So to awaken Babylon, that slept no less securely than that old Babylon, whose king Shesach was feasting and carousing in the bowls of the sanctuary, when the city was taken the same night. The people also did so little fear it, that it was three days after the city was taken by Cyrus ere some of them heard what was befallen them. (Herodot. Arist. Pol.)

Is fallen, is fallen — Certo, cito, penitus, or, with a double fall. They have fallen culpably, and shall fall penally. This was also long since foretold by Sibylla in the eighth book of her oracles:

" Και συ θριαμβος εση κοσμω, και αοιδος απαντων ".

" Tota eris in cineres quasi nunquam Roma fuisses. "

Rome (during the Roman felicity) was never taken but by the Gauls; but since it became pontifical, it hath been made a prey to all barbarous nations, and never besieged by any that took it not. There yet stands, near at hand, a second Babylon (saith Petrarch), cito itidem casura, si essetis viri. This would soon be down, if you would but stand up as men.

The habitation of devils — Which, by a sweet providence of God, for the good of mankind, are banished (as likewise fierce and wild beasts are) to deserts and unpopulated places. See Matthew 12:43 . (It is an allusion to Isaiah 13:20 ; Isaiah 14:23 ; Jeremiah 50:39 ) Yet not so, but that, by Divine permission, they haunt and pester the greatest throngs of people, yea, the holiest assemblies. Some take the words in another sense, thus, it is become a habitation of devils, that is, of idols; and this hath wrought her ruin. In the year 610, Boniface IV instituted the feast of All Saints, after that he had begged of the emperor the Pantheon of Rome, which he consecrated to the honour of All Saints, and set up the Virgin Mary in the place of Cybele, the mother of the gods. (Alsted. Chron.)

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For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

For all nations — All Roman Catholics.

The merchants of the earth — καπηλευειν . The Popish emissaries that huckster the word and make merchandise of men’s souls, 2 Peter 2:3 , after they have taken them prisoners, and made prizes of them, 2 Timothy 3:6 , αιχμαλωτιζοντες .

Through the abundance of her delicacies — στρηνους , or, of her insolencies. Proh pudor! haec res est tote notissima caelo, sang Petrarch 200 years since, speaking of the luxury and insolency of the court of Rome.

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And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Another voice — This was Christ’s voice, whether mediate or immediate it appears not. SeeJeremiah 51:45; Jeremiah 51:45 .

My people — A people Christ had, and still hath, where Antichrist most prevaileth. There are thought to be no less than 20,000 Protestants in Seville itself, a chief city of Spain. Even in Italy there are full 4000 professed Protestants; but their paucity and obscurity (saith Sir Edw. Sands) shall enclose them in a cipher.

Partakers of her sins — Esto procul Roma qui cupis esse pius. Roma, vale, vidi, satis est vidisse, … John Knox refused the bishopric offered him by King Edward VI, as having aliquid commune cum Antichristo, something in common with the Antichrist. Adam Damlip, martyr, had been a great Papist, and chaplain to Fisher, bishop of Rochester; after whose death he travelled to Rome, where he thought to have found all godliness and sincere religion. In the end he found there, as he said, such blaspheming of God, contempt of true religion, looseness of life, and abundance of all abominations, that he abhorred any longer there to abide; although he was greatly requested by Cardinal Pole there to continue, and to read three lectures a week in his house; for the which he offered him great entertainment. (Acts and Mon.) The like is recorded of Mr Rough, martyr, that being before Bonner, he affirmed that he had been twice at Rome, and there had seen plainly with his eyes that the pope was the very Antichrist; for there he saw him carried on men’s shoulders, and the falsely named sacrament borne before him; yet was there more reverence given to him than to that which they counted their God. Mr Ascham (schoolmaster to Queen Elizabeth) was wont to thank God that he was but nine days in Italy, wherein he saw in that one city of Venice more liberty to sin, than in London he ever heard of in nine years. (Mr Fuller’s Holy State, f. 159.)

And that ye receive not of her plagues — Muscult ruinis imminentibus proemigrant, et aranei cum telis primi cadunt, saith Pliny: Mice will haste out of a house that is ready to drop on their heads, and spiders with their webs will fall before the house falleth. Cerinthus the heretic coming into the bath where St John was washing, the apostle εξηλατο του βαλανειου , sprang or leapt out of the bath, saith Eusebius (lib. iv. 14); as fearing, lest being found in his company he should partake of his plagues. It is dangerous conversing with wicked men, 1. For infection of sin; 2. For infliction of punishment. Ambrose, closing up the story of Ahab and Jezebel’s fearful end, fitly saith thus: Fuge ergo, dives, huiusmodi exitum, sed fugies huiusmodi exitum, si fugeris huiusmodi flagitium: Flee therefore, O rich man, such an end as Ahab had, by shunning such evils as Ahab did. (Amb. de Nab. Jezreel, c. xi.)

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For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

For her sins have reached — Gr. ηκολουθησαν , have followed thick or been thwacked one upon another, thick and threefold, as they say: there hath been a concatenation, or a continued series of them, εκολληθησαν . Others read, Her sins are glued and soldered together; or they cleave and are glued to heaven. Matthew Paris speaking of the court of Rome, saith, Huius foetor usque ad nubes fumum teterrimum exhalabat: Her filthiness hath sent up a most noisome stench to the very clouds of heaven, as Sodom’s did; therefore shall Babel (the glory of kingdoms) be as the destruction of God in Sodom and Gomorrha,Isaiah 13:19; Isaiah 13:19 .

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Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

Double unto her double — This is spoken to the good kings that shall sack Rome, that they do the Lord’s work thoroughly, not sparing Agag, as Saul did to the loss of his kingdom, nor dismissing Benhadad, as Ahab did to the loss of his own life.

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How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

She hath glorified herself — As mother of Churches, queen of nations. Steuchus (one of her parasites) saith, That kings have but the use and administration of their kingdoms; the right and property belongs to her. Pope Boniface wrote thus to Philip the Fair, king of France: Volumus te scire te in temporali et spirituali nobis subiacere, … Contra sentientes pro insanis habemus: We would ye should know, that ye are to be subject unto us both in temporals and spirituals; and that none that are in their right minds can be otherwise minded. The king thus answered him again, Sciat tua maxima fatuitas, …, I would your singular foolishness should know that I acknowledge no such subjection, … (Alsted. Chron.) It was tartly and trimly replied by one Leonard to Rustandus the pope’s envoy, claiming all the churches here in England to be the pope’s, Omnes Ecclesias Papae esse, tuitione non fruitione, defensione non dissipatione; That if the pope had such right to all the churches, it was to defend them, not to devour them. (Jac. Rev. de Vit. Pontif., p. 178.)

So much torment, … — Thus the sinner’s cup of honey endeth in the dregs of gall; as Herodotus writeth of the river Hypanis, that the first day’s journey from the fountain and head of it the water is sweet and wholesome; but after that, exceeding bitter. Pleasure and pain are tied together with chains of adamant. Oh, how short is the wicked man’s Hilary term! a

a humorous. to keep Hilary term: to maintain hilarity, be cheerful or merry. Obs. ŒD

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Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

Therefore shall her plagues — Security ushereth in destruction, God shall shoot at such with an arrow suddenly, and fetch them off, as he did the rich fool, Luke 12:16-21

Come in one day — To confute their fond conceit of an eternal empire. See the like, Isaiah 48:9 . When the war began in Germany, A. D. 1619, it was reported, that a great brass image of the Apostle Peter (that had Tu es Petrus, …, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church, engraven about it) standing in St Peter’s church at Rome, there was a great and massive stone fell down upon it, and so shattered it to pieces, that not a letter of that sentence was left legible, save these words, Aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, I will build my Church. This was ominous to that tottering title of Rome, and might have taught the popelings, that God is about to build his Church upon the ruins of their worm eaten title. The Lord thereby seemed to say the same unto them, that once he did to Israel by Ezekiel, "An end is come, the end is come, it watcheth for this, behold it is come," Ezekiel 7:6 . Sed surdis fabulam. This hath been long and loud rung in their ears, but they will not be warned.

Death — That is, war, that deadly evil, called an evil, κατ αντονομασιαν , Isaiah 45:7 ; "I make peace, and create evil," that is, war: a woeful evil that hews its way through a wood of men, in a minute of time, from the mouth of a murderingpiece, and causeth thousands to exhale their breath without so much as "Lord, have mercy upon us." Hence the poet:

" Omega nostrorum mors est, Mars Alpha malorum. "

And mourning — πενθος . For the loss of dead friends.

And famine — The usual concomitant of war, in sieges especially. See Trapp on " Revelation 6:5 "

For strong is the Lord — Full able to effect it, seem it to Babel’s brats never so improbable or impossible.

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