--- title: Times and Seasons description: Issues of 1842 to 1843. authors: - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints editors: - Ebenezer Robinson - Don Carlos Smith - Smith, Joseph, Jr. - Taylor, John collections: - periodicals tags: - newspaper - times-and-seasons - nauvoo - nineteenth-century periodical: Times and Seasons volume: 4 number: 20 published: 1843-09-01 publisher: E. Robinson and D. C. Smith; later John Taylor publisher_place: Commerce and Nauvoo, Illinois language: en type: article reference: "“What Is Babylon,” *Times and Seasons* 4, no. 20 (September 1, 1843): 314–316." printed_title: WHAT IS BABYLON. source: url: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1843-09-01_4_20 transcription: Text from the Centerplace.org transcription (https://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v4n20.htm), with its page breaks; this Internet Archive scan is the reference copy (its OCR was used only as a witness for OCR repair) identifier: per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1843-09-01_4_20 start_page: 314 end_page: 316 curator_note: A Mormon newspaper published by the church in Nauvoo; included for historical study. Inclusion does not imply endorsement. rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1843 (Nauvoo, Illinois); published before 1931, so public domain in the United States source: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1843-09-01_4_20 publication_year: 1843 --- # What Is Babylon Ancient Babylon was a large city, in the land of Chaldea, which was destroyed, or left desolate, because of its pride and wickedness.-To this land the Israelites were taken captive, and for their sins, the Lord required of them that they should put their necks under the yoke of the King of Babylon, which took place about five hundred and ninety-seven years before Christ-a very few years after Lehi left Jerusalem, at the command of God, to go to the land of America; and it was partly to escape this that he was directed to go out. Jeremiah first prophesied of Israel's captivity there; and while Israel were there, he prophesied of the overthrow of Babylon, in the fiftieth and fifty-first chapters in particular, as well as Isaiah and others; but these two chapters he wrote and sent Seraiah with it to Babylon-told him to read it in the city, and then tie a stone to the writing or roll, and cast it into Euphrates, saying "thus shall Babylon sin, and shall not rise again from the evil that I will bring upon her:" and in about seventy-four years, according to his story, drinking wine in the golden and silver vessels which had been taken out of the house of the Lord, and put in the house of his gods, a hand-writing appeared on the wall, and struck him with horror, which the prophet Daniel interpreted thus: "Thou are weighed in the balance, and found wanting; * * * * thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." The king was slain, and all the judgments pronounced against the city were duly fulfilled; but it is plain that this Babylon was a type of something else. Of this anti-type, John the Revelator speaks in the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters. There are also many references to the same in Jeremiah, which any one, who carefully compares the prophecies together, will readily see; and this Babylon John calls Mystery, Babylon the great, the Mother of Harlots, &c., the Whore of all the earth A whore is one who has been espoused to some one, and another has committed adultery with her; and a harlot is one who has not been espoused, but has been committed adultery or fornication with. These terms will apply only to the female sex. Now we see that Paul spoke of the church in this manner: "I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." In another place, he says:-"The law was dead, so that she (the church) might be now married unto another, even to Christ." And again in the nineteenth chapter of Revelations, "The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." And again: "She (the church) is called the Bride, the Lamb's wife" and in Revelations chapter twelve; "There appeared a wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the Sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron." See also the second Psalm. This woman is evidently the church of Jesus Christ, in her purity, and beauty and strength; and as the bride is expected to be adorned, so also was the church. 1st Corinthians, 12c: 8v.-Her ornaments were wisdom, knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, miracles, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues; with a band of guards, or a foundation of apostles and prophets, which were to guide and direct her as the high council of her Lord, until he should return, by which means she was beautified with charity, and all the graces of the spirit of her lord and master, to be the light of the world, and in whom God himself always dwells through the spirit, that all who should come into her bosom might find delight, and joy, and peace; until the Lord should return-yea, that she might be, and exhibit the fullness of him that filleth all in all: and as the faithful wife has a right to act in her husband's name, and whatever she does, her husband must be accountable for. She has the key of his house, and has access to his treasuries, so whatever she (the church) bound on earth, was acknowledged in heaven, and bound there; what she loosed on earth, was loosed in heaven, and whatever she did in the name of her lord, was the same as though he himself had done it-but only while she walked according to the rule and order of her lord's house, and kept herself pure, and did not forsake her first love. She had also the power to add to her household, by adopting into the family all those that were willing to come. This she did by begetting them anew, by their being born again, of the pure element of water, and then laying her hands upon them in the name of her lord, that they might receive her spirit; thus she was to be fruitful and increase, until his return, when the marriage should take place; as in Revelations 19c and 7v-also Matthew 25c, 1 &c.,-for hitherto she had been as Mary was with Joseph-espoused, but they had not come together, although the contract or covenant was confirmed. But in the 17th of Revelations, we have a different character set forth, although evidently the same person. She is there called "the great Whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication; sitting on a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy." Would John have called her a whore, if she had been innocent and pure? No! Then if she were really worthy of that appellation, she must have left her first love, and taken other lovers. And who had she taken? the world: and she was the whore of all the earth-then had she not broken her covenant with her lord? Certainly; and she became so adulterous and base that she, like all such characters, could not endure the company of the virtuous, but put them to death, until she was drunk with their blood. While she stood in the covenant, the world hated and persecuted her, as did Nero, Maximus, and others, and thousands of the true saints proved their fidelity to their lord by losing their lives by the hands of the wicked; but she, by degrees, became corrupt: she took into her house those that were not honest, and so the mystery of iniquity soon began to work-and the Lord suffered the wicked to oppress, and to destroy them; and just when she was almost worn down, partly by her own corruption, and partly by persecution from the world, Satan, to effect their overthrow, steps forward, as he did to the Savior, with the world in his hand. All, at once, turned a friend, in the person of Constantine, presented her with a gorgeous robe of purple and scarlet color, decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, and a golden cup to put into her hand. She is not required to give up her power or authority, but to retain her form as before. This was like setting a bait, to catch a fish; and a large fish the world caught at that time-even the gain of the priesthood, which has been very extensive. This bait she (the church) takes, and at once rests from her toils and persecution, and receives therefor [therefore] robes and honor: but some of her children, still true to their lord and to the covenant, protested against her conduct. This at once brought upon them, her sore displeasure; but her anger only shewed [showed] them more plainly her corrupt and fallen state; and they could not but exclaim against it. There was no way left but either to return to their first love, or to get rid of those that would expose her corruptions; and as she approved of her new lord, and the treasures and honors he conferred upon her, that she could not give them up, she had learned from her new lord, before her espousals to him, the art of martyring, and soon had recourse to the same expedient to get rid of those she could not reconcile to their lot. The rack was again out in operation by her authority and direction;-the inquisition, the bastile, and the dungeon, were again occupied by the firm remaining, faithful saints of God. Their blood again drenched the ground, but by different hands-even those of their mother, who, as soon as she found the sweetness of power, became arbitrary in her measures; and was soon drunk with the blood of the saints, and her virtuous daughters were looked upon as a virtuous woman is by a whore; and she no longer admitted them to her polluted bosom-and now as she had left her first love, and had broken the covenant with him, she no longer has her name upon her, the Church of Christ, the Bride, the Body of Christ; but in legible characters her name is written on her forehead, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth; and a golden cup is in her hand, full of abominations." Instead of the ornaments of wisdom, knowledge, faith, and the gifts of the spirit, as healing, tongues, miracles, and the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, she now sits upon a scarlet colored beast, full of name of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns, and she is arrayed in purple and scarlet colors, and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls. In these she shines-of these she glories; she begins to trade in these things, and in "silks, and all manner of vessels, of ivory, of most precious wood, and of iron, and marble, and brass, and cinnamon, and wine, and flour, and beasts, and sheep, and bodies and souls of men." Any thing by which she might obtain her beloved mammon, she still acts in the name of her lord, her first love; but she does not acknowledge her authority-her children may lie as did Ananias and Sapphira; they attempt to purchase the gift of God with money, as did Simon Magus: others can put forth their hands to the priesthood, as did Uzza; man can murmur against her authority, as did Korah and his company; or find fault, as did Miriam. They could curse their priests, and their priests could curse the people; or bless the wicked, and it was all one. There was no manifestation of wrath or of blessing. She administered the ordinances of adoption, though in a different manner. She laid on her hands, on the pure, or on the impure, alike in vain.-There was no spirit of adoption, no unction of the Holy One, go guide her sons into the truth: but war and confusion ensued, instead of peace and unity-the works of the flesh, instead of the fruits of the spirit. In process of time, some who could not sanction her wickedness, left her pale, and endeavored to build up a fabric of their own; but with no other authority than what they had received from her, under the broken covenant; thus have many done, but as they rose to influence, they have trod in the steps of their mother-thus "the laws are transgressed, the ordinances changed, and the covenant broken:" and thus from the days of our fathers we have gone away from his ordinances, and have not kept them, saying, what profit is it to keep them? But the Lord is about to return, and there must be a bride prepared; and he has therefore renewed the covenant-he is taking to himself a new spouse-is adorning her with all the beauty and glory of the former covenant, or his first spouse-wisdom, knowledge, and all, according to the former manner. The new bride is shining forth in the dress and ornaments of the first: and no sooner does the old mother behold her, than she is provoked at the sight. She tries to make good her claim to the house and property of her first love. She would fain have it that she has not broken the covenant; but she fails in the attempt. The more pure the new spouse, and the more she demonstrates her claim to the house and the honors of her lord, so much the more is the old lady alarmed and vexed-and thus will she continue to be, until by surprise she is taken, as was ancient Babylon, and a mighty angel shall cast a mill-stone into the sea, and say: "Thus shall Babylon fall, and rise no more at all!" JOSEPH FEILDING.