σε ἦσαν οἱ μεγιςνες τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἐν τῇ φαρμακεία σε ἐπλανήθησαν πάλα 24 τὰ ἔθνη. Καὶ ἐν · αὐτῇ αἱμαία προ φητῶν καὶ ἁγίων εὑρέθη, καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐσφαγμένων ἐπὶ Tis yus.

"shall the sound of a
"millstone be ever

"heard in thee more;
23" And the light of a

lamp shall never "shine in thee more; "And the voice of "bridegroom and "bride shall never be "heard in thee more: "for thy merchants "were the great men "of the earth: for by "thy sorcery were all "the nations led a24" stray; And in her "the blood of pro66 phets and of saints

Ver. 1. After these things.] The angel of the Vials having fulfilled the purpose for which he had taken the Prophet apart into the wilderness; to shew him "the harlot," the mystical Babylon, whose fall had been denounced in ch. xiv. 8. xv. 19; the same scenery is renewed, which had attended the exhibiHeaven is again tion of the warnings and Vials. restored to view, and the angels descend to perform the parts allotted them. The prophecy now to be produced, is connected with ch. xiv. 8, where the same words are used by the angel, who proclaims. the fall of Babylon. That which is there said in few words,

446

APOCALYPSE.

[Pt. VI. § 4.

words, is now particularly described. It is a sequel also to the seventeenth chapter, in which the angel proposed to shew, not only Babylon, the great harlot, but also her judgment; which is now pronounced. It is connected also with the seventh Vial; for it is here, that "Babylon is remembered," as was promised under that Vial; her plagues are come, and she is finally destroyed by fire, as, in ch. xvii, it was said she shall be.

Ver. 2. An habitation of Dæmons.] The mystical Babylon, like the ancient and literal one its type, is to be utterly destroyed. And when the utter destruction of a city is denounced in Scripture, the site of that city is commonly described as becoming the haunt and habitation of wild beasts, and of such loathsome reptiles, as are found in the forsaken ruins of a city. (See for examples, Isa. xiii. 20-22; xxxiv. 10-16. Jer. ix. 11; li. 37.) On one of these passages it is observed by Bishop Lowth, that Hebrew words expressive of such animals are translated in the Septuagint by the word Avia, which is Δαιμονια, used here t.

Ver. 3. Because all the nations-&c.] The cause of her judgment and fall is assigned. She who, as a Church of Christ, should have been the teacher and preserver of pure Religion and morality, had become the seducer and corrupter of the nations and their kings; and had set the example of that insolent luxury, disposing to irreligion, which it was her duty to oppose. It will be seen clearly from this verse, as well as from other passages of this chapter, that the great harlot of the seventeenth chapter, there called

* Ch. xvi. 19.

+ Bp. Lowth on Is. xxxiv. 14.

↑ Sce Schleusner or Parkhurst in voc. spavos.

Babylon,

Babylon, and the Babylon whose judgment is here pronounced, are the same. The same intoxicating cup, the same nations and kings are repeated as the causes of the Divine judgments upon her.

"As the destruction of Rome is here compared "to the destruction of Tyre, we easily see how proper it was, to describe the sins of Rome, by figures "taken from the sins of Tyre. The profit of trade "created a commerce between that city, then the "chief mart of the world, and all nations; so that Tyre spread her luxury and superstition, far and wide, with her trade. Rome, in like manner, corrupted distant and remote nations, by rewarding her votaries with considerable wealth, encouraging their ambition and luxury; and thus, like Tyre of old, she made her corruptions general, and "almost universal *.

66

"If," says Bishop Newton, "this fall of Baby"lon was effected by Totilas, king of the Ostrogoths, as Grotius affirms, or by Alaric, king of "the Visigoths, as the Bishop of Meaux contends; "how can Rome be said, ever since, to have been the "habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul 'spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful "bird; unless they will allow the Popes and Cardi"nals to merit these appellations †?"

Ver. 4. Come out of her, my people.] The same commanding call is to be seen in Jer. li. 6, which is again repeated after the fall of the literal Babylon ‡. Of this injunction, great use was made by the Reformers. The sentence of retaliation is to be seen

Lowman on the Revelation, p. 219. + Dissert. on Proph. iii. 312.

2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.

also

also in the ancient Prophets. To God alone, “Vengeance belongeth;" he is to reward according to their doings; yet man may be employed to execute vengeance and the kings of the western world seem designed for this work †.

Ver. 7. I am seated as a Queen.] The same imagery is used in Isaiah xlvii; which prophecy contains the divine judgment on the literal Babylon.

Ver. 8. With fire shall she be utterly burned.] This sentence imports utter destruction: for, where fire has holden its complete course, no particles of the former mode of existence remain.

Ver. 9. The kings of the earth.] It is remarkable, that the kings are described, in chap. xvii, as the instruments of destruction to the spiritual Babylon; yet here they are represented as mourning her fall. The event will shew the completion of both prophecies. It is far from improbable, that they who from envy, and an avaricious desire of her spoils, delight to destroy Babylon, may afterwards lament the fall of her who supported their own power.-But we must not prophesy.

Ver. 10. Alas! alas!] The use of the Greek word 81, 82, alas! alas! or woe! woe! in this passage, has suggested to some commentators, that under this part of the prophecy is contained the third woe, whose period and character are not clearly described. This notion has been entertained on a very false foundation. It has no other ground or colour of support, than these two adverbial interjections, which occur, as they must occur, in many other passages. The three woes, coming under the Trumpets,

* Psalm cxxxvii. Jer. 1. 15-17, 29; li. 24. 49.

+ Ch. xvii. 16.

are