16.  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

V. 16.—­What a surprising change! yet how natural! (2 Sam. xiii. 15.) The punishment is that which was adjudged in the case of a priest’s daughter. (Lev. xxi. 9.)—­The “ten horns,” here, are to be understood generally, not universally, (ch. xviii. 9; xix. 19.) Some of those princes that have contributed most to the aggrandizement of the Romish church, and been most devoted to her religion, as the ruler of France, “the eldest son of the church,” their “catholic majesties” of Austria, Spain, Portugal,—­may be among the first in executing divine judgments on Babylon.—­“Make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh;” that is, withdraw the lands, endowments, etc., which enriched her monasteries and fattened her bishops, priests, etc.

17.  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

V. 17.—­Here we are led into the secret cause of the wonderful change in the policy of the horns:  “God hath put into their hearts.”  They just do to the “great whore, whatsoever God’s hand and counsel determined before to be done.” (Acts iv. 28.  See also Exod. vii. 3; Gen. xiv. 8; l. 20; Ps. cv. 25.)

18.  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

V. 18.—­This “woman is the great city;” not literally the city of Rome; but the imperial ecclesiastical jurisdiction, to whose authority intoxicated kings and their subjects bowed in slavish submission; and whose bloody decrees they had executed for 1260 years upon many of their best subjects and fellow-creatures.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1.  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened, with his glory.

2.  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

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

Vs. 1-3.—­After the apostle had described Babylon in the preceding chapter, he “saw another angel.”  This seems to be the Lord Christ, the same as in ch. x. 1.  He “confirmeth the word of his servants,” (ch. xiv. 8;) that “Babylon the great has fallen,” and is adequately punished for her crimes, which are enumerated, v. 3.

4.  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.