(3) So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. (4) And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: (5) And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (6) And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Let the Reader recollect, that John beheld all this in vision, similar to Ezekiel, who, while he was at Chebar, his mind was led to Jerusalem, Ezekiel 8:3. So John was in Patmos, and he talks of being carried away in the spirit into the wilderness. All the characters here given of this woman, are descriptive of Rome and the Pope, and impossible to be applied to any other. The scarlet-colored beast, implies the regal power. The names full of blasphemy, are those by which the Pope is known. Such as his holiness, who is a sinner, the vicar of Christ, and the Head of the Church. His dress decked with gold, and precious stones and pearls. But more especially the names in his forehead. And if it be true, as is said that the Popes, until the time of Julius the Third, always wore the word mystery on their forehead, and that he dropped it, when he found this portion of the scripture was applied to him, and his wearing the word considered a confirmation of it, all these circumstances, are unanswerably decisive to whom they belong. And if to these be added, the hierarchy of cardinals, archbishops, monks, and abbots, their traffic in the sale of indulgencies, holy water, penance, and absolutions, and the nefarious trade, carried on under the color of religion, it should seem, that the title of mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth, cannot be withheld for a moment, either from the place of Rome, or the person of the Pope. And though John, it appears, was astonished at what he beheld, marvelling perhaps, that there should be such characters upon earth, and at the long - suffering and patience of God, in bearing with them; yet, such is the awful depravity of human nature, when void of God's grace, that nothing of atrocity can be too bad, for the corrupt heart to follow. Reader, such views, shocking as they are, are yet profitable. Oh! how loudly do they preach to us, the blessed doctrine of distinguishing grace; and which is the sole cause, wherefore one man differs from another.