How much she hath glorified herself
And acted the proud and haughty part in exalting herself above
all emperors, kings, and princes, above all kingdoms and states,
and also above all churches, assuming arrogant titles, and even
blasphemous names; see ( Revelation
13:1 Revelation
13:5 )
and lived deliciously:
in a very luxuriant manner, as the popes, cardinals, archbishops,
bishops, priests, monks, and friars have done; some being clothed
in purple and scarlet, and in gold and silver, and all living
upon the fat of the land, and in rioting and drunkenness, in
chambering and wantonness:
so much torment and sorrow give her:
by pulling down her pride, which goes before a fall, than which
nothing could more torment and afflict her; by stripping her of
her fine clothes and rich apparel; and by taking away her fat
benefices from her, which will cut her to the heart; and by
burning her with fire, which will be very excruciating:
for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen;
a lady of kingdoms, as in ( Isaiah 47:5 ) to which
the reference is; having a temporal power and authority over the
kings of the earth, and a spiritual jurisdiction over all
churches, apostate ones, being the mother of harlots; and her
"sitting" as such, as it well agrees with the whore on many
waters, and the woman on the scarlet coloured beast and seven
mountains, who are all the same, and is very suitable to
antichrist, who pretends to sit in Peter's chair, and does sit in
the temple of God, as if he was God; so it is expressive of her
empire and government over nations and churches, and of the
continuance of it, as she imagines, see ( Isaiah 46:7 ) and so
the Ethiopic version renders it, "I shall reign always": to which
she adds,
and am no widow;
nor never shall be, as she flatters herself, see ( Isaiah 47:8 ) . Were
she the true spouse of Christ, as she boasts herself, she indeed
would be no widow, for Christ is an everlasting and never dying
husband; but she is the whore of the kings of the earth, and
though she fancies she shall be no widow, that is, bereft of
people and power, see ( Lamentations
1:1 ) because she now sits on many waters, people,
multitudes, and nations and tongues; yet ere long, like old
Babylon, she will have no men in her, but will be inhabited by
devils, foul spirits, and hateful birds:
and shall see no sorrow;
through loss of children, power, and authority; see ( Isaiah 47:8 ) but in
this also she will be mistaken; her children will be killed with
death, as is threatened to Jezebel, ( Revelation
2:23 ) and her plagues shall come upon her at once: now these
words may be considered either as spoken by her when in the
height of her power and glory, as she was about three or four
hundred years ago; or just before her destruction, which seems to
be the case, and looks as if she would regain her power, and be
in her former state before her utter ruin; (See Gill on
Revelation 11:2).