2.  Kings  .  .  .  inhabitants  of  the
earth — ^Tiie  former  have  committed
fornication,  the  latter  more  deeply
have  been  made  drunk  with  tiie
ixrine  of  her  fornication.  Sucii  was
not  a  true  picture  of  the  relation  of
Rome  to  the  kings  and  peoples  of  tlie
world.  She  conquered  them  by  force,
and  ruled  them  by  equitable  civilizing
force,  save  wh6n  her  own  domination
required  injustice.  In  religious  mat-
ters she  stood  aloof,  and  allowed  each
nation  its  own  national  superstition.
She  was  no  seducer  or  fornicator.
These  qualities  belong  to  a  later  than
pagan  Rome.
3.  Carried  me  away — From  the
visional  Jerusalem  temple,  where  were
the  throne,  the  living  four,  and  the
twenty-four  elders.  These  are  resumed
again  at  xviii,  I,  as  appears  at  xix,  4.
Into  the  wilderness  —  Where  she
has  been  driven  by  the  downfall  and
desolation  of  her  capital,  Babylon.
That  this  wilderness,  or  desert,  is  a
typical  image  of  a  condition  of  depri-
vation or  desolation  is  indicated  by
the  fact  that  the  same  Greek  word,
in  verb  form,  is  used  in  verse  16  for
desolate.  Desolate  now  by  the  loss
of  her  capital,  the  nations  will  yet
make  her  both  desolate  and,  richly
arrayed  though  now  she  be,  naked.
Having  lost  the  real  organic  power
of  deapotiam  and  persecution,  she  still


fornication.  3  So  he  carried  me
away  in  the  spirit  «^ into  the  wilder-
ness: and  I  saw  a  woman  sit  '•up-
on a  scarlet  coloured  beast,  full  of
•names  of  blasphemy,  ^  having  sev-

j7  Chapter  12.  6,  U A  Chapter  12.  3.
i  Chapter  13.  I. k  Verse  i».
