15 And he saith unto me, | nations, and tongues.

The waters which thou sawest, 16 And the ten horns which where the whore sitteth, are thou sawest upon the beast, peoples, and multitudes, and these shall hate the whore, and

verse. The woman (Rome) was said, in the first place, to sit upon the scarlet-colored beast, ver. 3, because she was sustained by the empire; and she was the directing power, and one of the chief glories of that empire. But she was said to sit on "many waters," ver. 1, because she was sus. tained by immense multitudes of people. Persons from all parts of the then known world flocked to her; and hence, as the revelator has said, in explaining his own metaphor, "The waters are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."

16. And the ten horns shall hate.— These ten horns are mentioned in ver, 3 of this chapter, where it is said, the scarlet-colored beast had seven heads and ten horns. Beyond

&c. It was said in verse 1, that the woman sat "upon many waters." This is the metaphor now to be explained. She sat upon many waters, and she also sat upon the beast. The beast, as we have shown, denoted the secular power of the empire, by which the strength and grandeur of the city of Rome were sustained. By the waters are intended " peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." In the language of the prophets "waters" denote a great multitude of people. See Isaiah viii. 7, 8: "Now, therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over his banks. And he shall pass through Judah; he shall over-all doubt this is the same beast menflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel." These waters undoubtedly represented the forces of the king of Assyria. Once more. Jer. li. 12, 13: "Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness." Babylon, like Rome, is said to dwell upon many waters, i. e., to be sustained by great multitudes of people. Beyond all doubt, the author of the Apocalypse was well instructed in the style of the sacred prophets. Jesus described the commotions among the people at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by "the sea and the waves roaring." This, then, is the understanding we are to form of this

In

tioned in xiii. 1, and he is there said to have had "seven heads and ten horns." These ten horns represented ten kings; xvii. 12; and hence we are told that upon each horn there was a crown, the sign of royalty; xiii. 1. These ten were heathen kings, and hence they made war with the Lamb. But it could not be supposed that Rome could always maintain her power over these subordinate kingdoms, without difficulty. process of time, therefore, they begun to hate her; they begun to be suspicious of the influence of the city; and it is a well-known matter of fact, that afterwards the capital was removed almost to the bounds of Asia. The subordinate kings for some time hated the city of Rome; and we must therefore regard this verse as a prediction of the calamities that would soon befall Rome. Her glory would depart. She would be burned with fire; she would become comparatively a miserable and desolate place; xviii. 2; the imperial countenance and protec

CHAPTER XVIII.

18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city,

which reigneth over the kings A

of the earth.

power to the beast, "until the words of God shall be fulfilled," i. e., the words of God in regard to the reign of the beast. He was to continue only for a time, signified by the "forty and two months." When this time was fulfilled, then the kings would withdraw their support from the empire, and hate the woman or city of Rome, and its downfall would come.

18. The woman is that great city. The woman is the city-the great city; and Rome was then the mistress of the world. She reigned over the kings of the earth, as has been shown; for they acknowledged for a time her supremacy, although afterward they hated her.

The revelator having thus been shown that the destruction of Rome was at hand, we shall find that in the next chapter the fall of that great city is more particularly described.

CHAPTER XVIII.

ND after these things I saw another angel come down

17th chapter. In the 18th is contained an account of the judgment of the woman, promised in xvii. 1.

The plan of this chapter seems to be as follows:

1. The time for the judgment of Rome is represented as being come; verses 1, 2.

2. Reasons for it are given; ver. 3. 3. The Christians are called upon to come out of her, to avoid the impending calamities; verses 4-8.

4. The lamentation over the city in the next place occurs, viz., 1st, of the friendly kings; verses 9, 10; 2d, of the merchants; verses 11-16; 3d, of the seamen; verses 17-19.

5. Heaven is called on to rejoice, with all the holy apostles and prophets, for that which the worldly-minded mourn to see; ver. 20.

6. The judgment comes, as described, verses 21-24.

1. Another angel come down from heaven. One angel having described the woman and the beast, another -Preliminary Remarks. In the last angel is introduced, in the arrangechapter we saw the city of Rome ment of the scene, to describe the described under the metaphor of a judgment. For aught that appears woman, sitting upon a scarlet-colored the revelator is still under the guidbeast. She appeared in great mag-ance of "one of the seven angels," nificence. She was arrayed in purple mentioned xvii. 1, who, after showing and scarlet, the imperial colors; and him the woman and the beast, shows was decked with gold, and precious him, in the next place, another mighty stones, and pearls. "The woman angel coming down from heaven, to which thou sawest (said the angel to declare and carry forward the judgthe revelator) is that great city, which ments. Such was probably the plan reigneth over the kings of the earth;" of the revelator's imagery. The chap. xvii., last verse. The 18th angel came down from heaven; he chapter forms a part of the vision was a messenger from God, and was promised to the revelator, xvii. 1: clothed with power to fulfil the divine "Come hither; I will show unto thee will. ¶ Lightened with his glory. the judgment of the great whore." The He was all glorious too; the earth woman is first seen riding on the was lightened with his glory. This beast; xvii. 3. The beast is described is a sublime metaphor the earth as representing the empire, and the made radiant with the glory of the woman as representing the city. So angel's presence. But it is no flight much of the description occupies the of the revelator's fancy, for he him.

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from heaven, having power; and the lightened with his glory.

great | the great is fallen, is fallen, earth was and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon self probably copied the figure from Ezekiel. See Ezk. xliii. 2: "And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like a noise of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory."

2. He cried mightily with a loud voice. It is the intent of these words to give great effect to the proclamation. It was a proclamation of great importance, and it was needful that it should arrest the attention of men. The angel is clothed with power corresponding to his dignity as a heavenly messenger. His voice commanded great attention. He had come from the presence of God, from the place whence God himself looked down upon the earth. And now let us listen to what the angel said. ¶ Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen; as if he had said, what was predicted in Rev. xiv. 8 is now to be fulfilled. This language respects Rome, although the name Babylon is used. We have shown repeatedly, that it was the custom of the sacred writers to call one city by the name of another, on account of some similarity either in its character, or its fate. Babylon, of old, had been given up to destruction; and Rome being given up to destruction, is called Babylon. The proverb, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen," is of prophetic origin, and not original with the revelator. See Isa. xxi. 9: "And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.' And Jer. li. 8: "Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed." The revelator's description in all respects is evidently taken from the prophetical

account of the fall of Babylon. Its inhabitants are supposed to have been exterminated, or to have fled. ¶ The habitation of devils. - Demons were supposed to dwell in desolate and gloomy places. This was the prevailing notion among the Jews; and the imagery therefore is built upon it. The unclean spirit, mentioned Matt. xii. 43, wandered through dry or desolate places. The demoniac described in Mark v. roamed among the tombs. The object of the revelator, therefore, in saying that Rome should be the habitation of devils, satyrs, or demons, was to show that it should become very desolate, com. pared with its former grandeur. Those animals that flee from the haunts of men shall come and dwell in the place where the city once stood in magnificence. This is exactly the idea expressed by Isaiah, in describing the fall of Babylon. "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is nearly come, and her days shall not be prolonged;" Isa. xiii. 19-22. How frequently does the revelator draw his metaphors, and almost his very language, from the prophets. The application of prophetical language to the fall of Rome, we shall

3 For all nations have drunk | chants of the earth are waxed of the wine of the wrath of her rich through the abundance of fornication, and the kings of her delicacies. the earth have committed fornication with her, and the mer