1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Revelation of John 14:8 | And another Angel followed, saying: *She is fallen, she is fallen, that great Babylon, which made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Isaias 21:9.; Jeremias 51:8. | Another Angel,...saying:...She is fallen, she is fallen, that great Babylon. By Babylon, as observed before, may very probably be signified all the wicked world in general, whom God will punish and destroy after the short time of this mortal life: or may be signified every great city, and perhaps Rome returned to idolatry in the time of antichrist, a little before the end of the world, or may be signified the idolatry of heathen Rome, in the fourth age[century], when the Christian religion, under Constantine and his successors, began to triumph over paganism, that is according to those interpreters followed by Alcazar, Bossuet, P. Alleman, etc. which exposition Dr. Hammond thus expresseth: "the whole impure city of heathen Rome, under the title of Babylon, that old idolatrous city that had lain so heavy upon the people of God....should speedily be destroyed, for advancing the heathen worship." (Witham) --- It is probable that here by the great Babylon is meant the city of the devil; that is, the universal society of the wicked: as Jerusalem is taken for the city and the Church of God. (Challoner) |