The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 398

lliai;(«fom i& • greai ■tumbling,.b•ck to both reason an<}; faith, •Will n • noi &11 miumi0unt&ble one. Bui were it not f0r the truth we are COllll:lidering ao•,. that all this acc&raed Al.let of evil. shall one day be ''no more,"' we do not tee. bMr faiih in God ellitkl ave-. Fu, tlat f&itit necessita~ as its corollary· that. evil· .-.ould termiliaie and be" no more." Reasl)n reiterates her conviction that if God be, evil mut one da7: be •no more." - _, . :. ;vu. AccioHKISHED BY CaRIST. II Fo, tlii.pu.rpoae the Son of God was manifested."' fJ,Ji 1aw,• ha: says," Satan a.s lightning fall from bea-ven." "•TIM prince of this world is jMged.II . There was .that, howenr :imperfeotly wa may undecstand it, in .the lifa; death, and l881lffeotion of our Lord Jesus Obrist, whioh effected tJi.e virt-ual overtlu-ow ohm. Sat.an received his death-stroke ; he ie no longer, waat he- was. We bow and O()llf88!J that in IOl!lB aapectll of life it eeeililll, very h&rd to belliwe thi& But when we eonsidel' what tile power of our bleased Lord and. Master hu already done ; how file might of his meekness, the }Qve of his. saorifioe, tlle attractioa of his crosa, have alreecij, l!lhiaed so many hearts and triumphell ov.er llO mauy ~-then faith revi'Vt!S, and · we can beliave thil.t, as he said," the prinoe of this world i&judged.~· Lord, we believe; but l\elp Olli' unbelief.-8. 0. · Vera. t-8.-TMfall of c<Yl'nlf}t society. "And after tbcll8 things. Isaw another angel come down from heav&n," etc. Rega.rdittg-t ·as I do, this book oa & reool'll of '!lisiona which its author had in Patmos, at a period when tb.e most stupendo118- eftlltl were occurring around him~ the 011ly practical use that can be made of them ia lo illuswate and impreBB t"hoti& moral principle, lhat· ar" 1'1"116 w man. aa maa; t1i6 1110rld <nJ6'r and the ages thrO'Ugh. It appears absOJJd and tJBeless, and an utter WSl!te of labour1 ti> atbemp~ (which most expositors have do~e and a.re doing) all interpretation of ll drel\Rl containing, as it generally does, objects. teat are grotesque, unnatural, aeq. monstrous. Albeit it is mos11 rational and practically valuable to employ it to set fiorili and impress the eternal NaUties of the apirit-wof'ld. Our 1ubjeot is the final/all of C<Yl"rUpt society. « Babylon is fallen, is fallen" (ver. 2). Babylon here represents ,ocidy, It is a city. It is- not the- private residence of an indhiduaL, isolated from all others, \ufi congeries of- houses for the dwelling of a community. Because_man is a gregarious animal and sympathetic, he lives, for the most pa.rt, in communities. A community may be as smaH as a family, as vas1>· as a city, or as wide as an empire. It may be barbaric or civilized, civil or religion!!, or a combination of. both. But Babylon not only represents society, but cor.rupt society. The moral· character of the population was an ontmge (>n a.U. the laws of ,rue morality and goouine religion. Humaa 110Ciety was 11ot only corruP,t in Babylon, but it is con-upt in all its sections throughout, the world. What an old Hebrew writer says of the, J ~wish nation, is true, moie oz, lellS,c of all socirty " From tbe sole of the foot to tla, e~wn of'. the head there is no IIOUlldness, , •• hut wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores." MlYrall,y, all society is Babyloniariized. In this Babylon-this. cor-rupt society even aa. it e:aislls heoo in Christendom-we have all the evils and the vice:; that were found in pagan, Bome. The. distinction between pagan Rome and papal Rome is purely fictitious. ·What cardinal sins find you,-in the former that were not embodied in the history of the latter? "Is fallen, is fallen:• what in the history of Divine truth will be in faoi apd form~ millions of ages hence it lOW in BI_>irit and reality, Hence "Babylon i& fiiUen.'' 'I'he following- temarks are ,qgges~ ooocerning the .fall of Babylon, thHJ fa.ll otcom1pt society. L IT- IS· DIVINELY PROOLATMED. Who proclaims it?· A Divine angel, a minister from the Eternal. "After these things l saw another angel come [coming] down from [out of] heaven, having g,eat pow8l' ~authority);, and the earth was lightened with his glory" (ver. 1), "After these thiJ?,gs, After the stupendous events recorded. in former visions, this mighty angel, clad with authority and oorruscating in spleiidoar, comes down from the eternal heavens of reality, and .proclaims with a loud vuice thia fall of moral Babylon. The ultimate fall of all tha-t is morolly corrupt in human com• munilies is not a matter of speculation nnd mere probability; it is. abs"olutely inwitabls. Wrong cannot stand for ever; though, like the colossal image. in Daniel, it may be constructed of gold, and silver, and bms~, and iron, and be associated with the splendoun of empire, yet its "feet are of clay," and it .must aooner- ·or later tumble to pieces. Head of gold, but feet of clay I lt i11 not a :fiud. star irl. the iwmeasurabLl_ e,;pan11e of 4-4t TBZ BBVBLATION OJ' BT• .JOHN TBB DIVINB. {aa. nm. l-16.