V. 19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, (the Sinaitic manuscript has city, in the singular as if referring to Rome alone, yet the plural is perfectly consistent with the view we maintain, for the empire had many cities) and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." Now it ought to be perfectly plain to what end all this intricate story has been leading, namely to the overthrow of Rome, here called Babylon, because she was the second great persecutor of the Christian church. Plain as this is now, it will be still more evident when we pass in examination the two chapters of this section which are to follow. The last two verses of this chapter need no special comment; they are just vividly descriptive statements or rather symbols of the great judgment that has fallen. But the saddest note that is struck is that men blasphemed God because of their judgments, instead of repenting; which shows what incorrigible sinners they were. We are thus brought, at the end of this chapter, to the judgment on Rome, here called Babylon; the enemy of God and the persecutor of his people. We have seen how Rome as the beast, and the agent of the dragon, the Devil, through the agency of the false prophet, persecuted the woman and her seed, which represented the church, and how God has brought her to judgment for it. The next two chapters will bring out some more details and make increasingly clear the identity of the characters that have moved in these scenes. In the meantime we are to remember that the spiritual lessons are just as applicable to us today as they were to old Rome. If she could not sin with impunity neither can we. If her opposition to God met with terrible and awful retribution in the fire and brimstone whose smoke ascendeth forever and ever, we may be sure that all sin, unrepented and unforgiven, will meet with retribution, and that the wages of sin is death.