17. is come to naught--Greek, "is desolated."
shipmaster--Greek, "steersman," or "pilot."
all the company in ships--A, C, Vulgate, and
Syriac read, "Every one who saileth to a place" (B has
". . . to the place"), every voyager. Vessels
were freighted with pilgrims to various shrines, so that in one month
(A.D. 1300) two hundred thousand pilgrims were
counted in Rome [D'AAUBIGNE, Histoire de la
Reformation]: a source of gain, not only to the Papal see, but to
shipmasters, merchants, pilots, &c. These latter, however, are
not restricted to those literally "shipmasters," &c., but mainly refer,
in the mystical sense, to all who share in the spiritual traffic of
apostate Christendom.
JFB.
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