879. Saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen. That this signifies the damnation and destruction of those who have transferred to themselves the Lord's Divine power, is evident from the signification of is fallen, is fallen, as denoting the being condemned and altogether destroyed; and from the signification of Babylon, as denoting those who have transferred to themselves the Lord's Divine power. It is said, "is fallen, is fallen," because it is said of Babylon as a city. But when by Babylon are meant those who have transferred to themselves the Lord's Divine power, and by a great city, all things of their doctrine, then by falling is signified to be destroyed. "To fall" is thus changed into "to be destroyed," according to the meaning of the subject.
What is signified by Babylon in general and particular will be explained in chapters xvii. and xviii., where Babylon and its destruction are treated of.
The subject treated of in this verse is Babylon; and in the four following, the beast of the dragon; and afterwards, to the end of this chapter, the devastation of the church in general. The reason why Babylon and the beast of the dragon are here treated of is, that the devastation of the church, first in general, and afterwards specifically, and finally the Last Judgment, are treated of in the verses that follow.
[2] But concerning the devastation of the church these things must be stated. Every church in its beginning is in the love of doing goods, and in the love of knowing truths; but in process of time it is devastated as to goods and as to truths, because good and truth exist no longer in the church. It is devastated, first, by the love of ruling, by means of holy things, successively over men's souls, and at length over heaven and over the Lord Himself. And this is described in the Apocalypse by Babylon, and by the whore sitting upon the scarlet beast. It is devastated, secondly, by faith separated from charity, thus from the goods of life; and at length by faith alone, in which there is nothing of truth. This is described in the Apocalypse by the dragon and by his two beasts.
[3] These are the two things into which the primitive loves of the church, which, as was said, were the love of doing goods and the love of knowing truths, decline; and when this comes to pass, the church is devastated. The love of doing goods is successively changed into the love of doing evils, which are then called goods; and the love of knowing truths into the love of knowing falsities, which are then called truths. In the case of those who are described by Babylon, every good of the church is adulterated, and hence, also, every truth thereof, the one being a result of the other. But with those who are described by the dragon, every truth of the church is falsified, and hence, too, every good thereof, the one being a result of the other. And this happens among the Reformed, who have adopted faith alone as the essential of the church; but the former occurs among the Papists, who have made dominion over the holy things of heaven the essential of the church. But how faith alone has devastated the church, has been shown above, where the dragon and his two beasts are treated of; and how the dominion over the holy things of heaven has devastated the church, will be shown in the explanation of chapters xvii. and xviii.
From these things it is now evident whence it is that Babylon is treated of in this verse, the beast of the dragon in the four following, and thence to the end of the chapter the devastation of the church in general; and afterwards, in chapters xv. and xvi., the devastation of the church in particular.
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