This scarlet-attired woman is that miserable attempt made in every age to counterfeit the true Church of the living God. Man does not hike the religion of the cross, of faith, of self-denial, and each age has witnessed some false system from which. all these objectionable elements are eliminated. Surely a meretricious system has revealed itself successively in Babylon, Jerusalem, Rome, London, New York, and other great centers. Fashion smiles on it, wealth bedizens it, human power unites with it, and in every age it has been drunken with the blood of martyrs.

Between this miserable travesty of the Church and the Church herself there has been perpetual conflict. But the ultimate victory has always remained with the Lamb, and if only we side with him, as the called, chosen, and faithful of v. 14, we also shall be more than conquerors. Human prestige and power shall not ultimately avail in the conflict against the all-conquering Saviour. And ° finally the very world-powers shall turn against the apostate and adulterous Church, v. 16. Come out from her and be separate!

Revelation 18:1-13, We have seen that the scarlet woman represents the false religion of human wit and fashion. It is found in every age. There is not a city, town, or village where it does not seek to allure men from Christ. The mischief is that so many really godly people are misled by it. In this they resemble Obadiah, who hid the prophets in a eave and fed them but was hand and glove with Ahab. To all such, who are endeavoring to keep in touch with the true Bride and with the apostate Church, the summons of v. 4 has a very profound significance.

It was the unanimous verdict of the reformers that the great city here described, v. 10, was intended to represent Rome, as the seat of the great apostasy. If that be

the case, the merchandise described here does not refer to literal commerce, but to the carnal delights which are often permitted and fostered by false religious systems to win the adhesion of the worldly and unclean.