The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 385

_aainta and prophets; "-J.n BUCh t.erms is the antipathy to an righteomml!SII decland. 3. Occasion of all evil, seen in the corruption of life. the deceitfuln- of iniquity; the •loiie of the blessings of righteouanesa, degradation in Bin, to which the "peoples. and -multitudes, and nations, and tongues" are reduced " where the harlot sitteth ; ' and the . judgulenta and consequent sufferings in which they are involved. 4. The widespread, universal character of the desolation caused. In every aspect this vitlion is "greaf; and marvellous." Jt m " Babylon the great." The harlot "sitteth upon many waters," which waiers are "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." •• And the woman is the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth ; •• •• by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen." " What city ill like the great city," with whose "sorcery were all the nations deceived"? "In her was founa the blood of all that have been slain upon the earth." This is the universal kingdom of evil, whose "sins reached unto heaven." Again and again bas it seemed as though these worda of widespread import found their fulfilment; but no complete idea am be _formed that shuts out any part of the one all-pervasive kingdom of wickedness. This great kingdom shall come to an end. Such is the ever-recurring ,promise of this book. II. ITS DESTRUCTION IS ooMPLBTE. The "harlot" is made "desolate and naked;" hated by all over whom she sat as a queen; they shall "eat her flesh, and bum her utterly with fire." '' Woe, woe!" is pronounced against the great city, Babylon; "for in one hour is thyjudgment come." - "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great." " In Qne day ah.all her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine : and she shall be utterly burned with fire~ for strong is the Lord God whioli judgeth her." "The Lamb shall overcome," and thus shall they also overcome that are witl) him. " And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone, and east it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be east down, and shall be found no more at all." Then shall the kings of the earth that committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth who were made rich by her, and eyery shipmaster and mariner, and all that were mrufo rich by her, weep and mourn and latnent; while to heaven a sweet song o(joy and thankfulness shall rise from them who •with the Lamb have overcome-who are '' called, and chosen, and faithful."-R. G. Vel'L l-6.-" The great whure:" a oon'tlpt <Jkristianity. "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show umo thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters," etc. What a strange woman loomed in John's vision here I He calls her "the great whore (harlot]." He saw her seated- upon a "scarlet-coloured beaat, ••• decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup full of abomina- tions: ••• and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great. the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Eartli. And she was drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" (vers. 3---6). A-strange ~reation this, truly, but scarcely stranger or more grotesque than many of the objects that have entered and still do enter into human dreams. We must ask Protestant interpreters to say who this woman is, for they know all about her. They, forsooth, are certain that she is pagan or papal RorM. I cannot say who she is; nor dON it matter. I shall make use of her to illustrate corrupt OhritJtianity; and this includes :Protestantism as well as popery. Conventional Christianity is as truly corrupt as papal, and, in some respects, it is even WOTee,1 The description here given of this harlot suggests and ill111trates three great evils ever conspicuowi in corrupt Christianity Here is- . L POLITICAL SUBSBRVIENOY. "Come hither.; I ~ll show unto thee the judgment of the great whore (har:lot] that sitteth upon many watel'll [or,• many natiOILS '],. (ver. 1). This woman, clothed in "purple and scarlet," and gorgeously adorned, yielded herself up to the desires and lusts of worldly authorities; empty voluptuaries "drest in a little brief authority." "With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornica- tion" (ver. 2). . The ~ of genui~e Ch~nity is spwitWJI ~ and in~n- ea:w. IQWf'dgnty _ . tJia princekta, kingkts, and ffllJJffiWB of the world, 1R all tha uiu... a., ,oell a, gr«1t, temporalilks qf life. "Essentially Christianity is the absolute queen of 1 See "Oonventional Ohriatianity, Uie Great Hindnnoe 1G flle Exteuloll of flle Ohria,. tiani.$7 of Ohriai," in' Septem in Uno." p. 837.  m.-xvri.1-18.] THE. REVELATION OJ' ST. JOHN 'l'HE DIVINE. 427