5218. They were told how wicked the things they do are: they entirely withhold people from Divine truths, through which lies their way to salvation; they do not allow them to read the Word; they hear mass in the Latin language; in the mass there is nothing of doctrine; they convince people that they and their faith are living; they draw them away from the Lord to worshiping people in the world and to worshiping people whom they have made saints. They have done all of these things for the purpose of having dominion over souls, from self-love. And they strive to possess the earth as well with various tricks, for which wicked purposes the holy things of the church are employed, which is profane. Therefore these are the Babel, and the Babylon, and the beast spoken about in Revelation
[17].
5218. They were told how great is the wickedness they commit. They altogether keep man back from the divine truths by means of which they have the way to salvation; for they do not permit them to read the Word. They [the people] hear masses in the Latin language; and there is nothing of doctrine in the masses. They persuade them to believe as they do, and to live by their faith. They draw them away from the Lord to worshipping men in the world, and to worshipping men whom they have made saints. And they do all these things, to the end that they themselves may rule over souls, from self-love; and they also strive, by various arts, to possess the earth. To promote these abominable ends, they employ holy means, which belong to the Church - which is profanation. Wherefore, they are Babel, and Babylon, and "the beast" mentioned in the Apocalypse. 1
Footnotes:
1. The "beast" here alluded to is the "scarlet-beast" on which sat the "great whore," by whom the Roman Catholic religion is represented (chapter 17). The two other beasts, mentioned in chapter 13, both refer to Protestantism. See the explanation of these particulars in the Apocalypse Revealed.
5218. Dictum illis quantum nefas committunt, prorsus detinent hominem a veris Divinis, per quae illis via est ad salutem, non enim permittunt illis legere Verbum, missas sermone latino audiunt, in missis nihil doctrinae, persuadent quod credant quod illi, et quod eorum fide vivant, abstrahunt a Domino, ad colendos homines in mundo, et ad colendos homines, quos fecerunt sanctos, haec omnia propter finem ut dominentur super animabus, ex amore sui, et quoque allaborant variis artibus possidere terram, ad quos fines nefandos utuntur mediis sanctis, quae sunt Ecclesiae, quod est prophanum: quare illi sunt Babel, et Babylonia, ac bestia de qua in Apocalypsi [XVII].