The Two Babylons - Free Grace Resources

The Two Babylons
by Alexander Hislop [pic] The Two Babylons
or The Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod
and His Wife
By the Late Rev. Alexander Hislop
First published as a pamphlet in 1853--greatly expanded in 1858 [pic] Contents
Contents 2
Introduction 3
Chapter I Distinctive Character of the Two Systems 4
Chapter II Objects of Worship 13
Section I Trinity in Unity 13
Section II The Mother and Child, and the Original of the Child 20
Sub-Section I The Child in Assyria 23
Sub-Section II The Child In Egypt 40
Sub-Section III The Child in Greece 46
Sub-Section IV The Death of the Child 54
Sub-Section V The Deification of the Child 57
Section III The Mother of the Child 72
Chapter III Festivals 91
Section I. Christmas and Lady-day 91
Section II Easter 101
Section III The Nativity of St. John 111
Section IV The Feast of the Assumption 121
Chapter IV Doctrine and Discipline 124
Section I Baptismal Regeneration 124
Section II Justification by Works 136
Section III The Sacrifice of the Mass 146
Section IV Extreme Unction 152
Section V Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead 154
Chapter V Rites and Ceremonies 156
Section I Idol Processions 156
Section II Relic Worship 160
Section III The Clothing and Crowning of Images 164
Section IV The Rosary and the Worship of the Sacred Heart 169
Section V Lamps and Wax-Candles 172
Section VI The Sign of the Cross 177
Chapter VI Religious Orders 183
Section I The Sovereign Pontiff 183
Section II Priests, Monks, and Nuns 194
Chapter VII The Two Developments Historically and Prophetically Considered
199
Section I The Great Red Dragon 199
Section II The Beast from the Sea 218
Section III The Beast from the Earth 229
Section IV The Image of the Beast 235
Section V The Name of the Beast, the Number of His Name-- The Invisible
Head of the Papacy 242
Conclusion 254 Introduction "And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE
MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."-Revelation 17:5 There is this great difference between the works of men and the works of
God, that the same minute and searching investigation, which displays the
defects and imperfections of the one, brings out also the beauties of the
other. If the most finely polished needle on which the art of man has been
expended be subjected to a microscope, many inequalities, much roughness
and clumsiness, will be seen. But if the microscope be brought to bear on
the flowers of the field, no such result appears. Instead of their beauty
diminishing, new beauties and still more delicate, that have escaped the
naked eye, are forthwith discovered; beauties that make us appreciate, in a
way which otherwise we could have had little conception of, the full force
of the Lord's saying, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even
Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." The same law
appears also in comparing the Word of God and the most finished productions
of men. There are spots and blemishes in the most admired productions of
human genius. But the more the Scriptures are searched, the more minutely
they are studied, the more their perfection appears; new beauties are
brought into light every day; and the discoveries of science, the
researches of the learned, and the labours of infidels, all alike conspire
to illustrate the wonderful harmony of all the parts, and the Divine beauty
that clothes the whole. If this be the case with Scripture in general, it is especially the case
with prophetic Scripture. As every spoke in the wheel of Providence
revolves, the prophetic symbols start into still more bold and beautiful
relief. This is very strikingly the case with the prophetic language that
forms the groundwork and corner-stone of the present work. There never has
been any difficulty in the mind of any enlightened Protestant in
identifying the woman "sitting on seven mountains," and having on her
forehead the name written, "Mystery, Babylon the Great," with the Roman
apostacy. "No other city in the world has ever been celebrated, as the city
of Rome has, for its situation on seven hills. Pagan poets and orators, who
had not thought of elucidating prophecy, have alike characterised it as
'the seven hilled city.'" Thus Virgil refers to it: "Rome has both become
the most beautiful (city) in the world, and alone has surrounded for
herself seven heights with a wall." Propertius, in the same strain, speaks
of it (only adding another trait, which completes the Apocalyptic picture)
as "The lofty city on seven hills, which governs the whole world." Its
"governing the whole world" is just the counterpart of the Divine statement-
-"which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (Rev 17:18). To call Rome the
city "of the seven hills" was by its citizens held to be as descriptive as
to call it by its own proper name. Hence Horace speaks of it by reference
to its seven hills alone, when he addresses, "The gods who have set their
affections on the seven hills." Martial, in like manner, speaks of "The
seven dominating mountains." In times long subsequent, the same kind of
language was in current use; for when Symmachus, the prefect of the city,
and the last acting Pagan Pontifex Maximus, as the Imperial substitute,
introduces by letter one friend of his to another, he calls him "De septem
montibus virum"--"a man from the seven mountains," meaning thereby, as the
commentators interpret it, "Civem Romanum, "A Roman Citizen." Now, while
this characteristic of Rome has ever been well marked and defined, it has
always been easy to show, that the Church which has its seat and
headquarters on the seven hills of Rome might most appropriately be called
"Babylon," inasmuch as it is the chief seat of idolatry under the New
Testament, as the ancient Babylon was the chief seat of idolatry under the
Old. But recent discoveries in Assyria, taken in connection with the
previously well-known but ill-understood history and mythology of the
ancient world, demonstrate that there is a vast deal more significance in
the name Babylon the Great than this. It has been known all along that
Popery was baptised Paganism; but God is now making it manifest, that the
Paganism which Rome has baptised is, in all its essential elements, the
very Paganism which prevailed in the ancient literal Babylon, when Jehovah
opened before Cyrus the two-leaved gates of brass, and cut in sunder the
bars of iron. That new and unexpected light, in some way or other, should be cast, about
this very period, on the Church of the grand Apostacy, the very language
and symbols of the Apocalypse might have prepared us to anticipate. In the
Apocalyptic visions, it is just before the judgment upon her that, for the
first time, John sees the Apostate Church with the name Babylon the Great
"written upon her forehead" (Rev 17:5). What means the writing of that name
"on the forehead"? Does it not naturally indicate that, just before
judgment overtakes her, her real character was to be so thoroughly
developed, that everyone who has eyes to see, who has the least spiritual
discernment, would be compelled, as it were, on ocular demonstration, to
recognise the wonderful fitness of the title which the Spirit of God had
affixed to her. Her judgment is now evidently hastening on; and just as it
approaches, the Providence of God, conspiring with the Word of God, by
light pouring in from all quarters, makes it more and more evident that
Rome is in very deed the Babylon of the Apocalypse; that the essential
character of her system, the grand objects of her worship, her festivals,
her doctrine and discipline, her rites and ceremonies, her priesthood and
their orders, have all been derived from ancient Babylon; and, finally,
that the Pope himself is truly and properly the lineal representative of
Belshazzar. In the warfare that has been waged against the domineering
pretensions of Rome, it has too often been counted enough merely to meet
and set aside her presumptuous boast, that she is the mother and mistress
of all churches--the one Catholic Church, out of whose pale there is no
salvation. If ever there was excuse for such a mode of dealing with her,
that excuse will hold no longer. If the position I have laid down can be
maintained, she must be stripped of the name of a Christian Church
altogether; for if it was a Church of Christ that was convened on that
night, when the pontiff-king of Babylon, in the midst of his thousand
lords, "praised the gods of gold, and of silver, and of wood, and of stone"
(Dan 5:4), then the Church of Rome is entitled to the name of a Christian
Church; but not otherwise. This to some, no doubt, will appear a very
startling position; but it is one which it is the object of this work to
establish; and let the reader judge for himself, whether I do not bring
ample evidence to substantiate my position. [pic] Chapter I
Distinctive Character of the