785. [verse 16] 'And saying, Woe, woe, that great city, clothed with fine linen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold, precious stone and pearls, for in one hour so many riches have been devastated' signifies a grievous lamentation that their magnificent things and gains have been destroyed so suddenly and so clearly. By 'woe, woe' is signified a grievous lamentation, as above (n. 769). By 'that great city' is signified the Roman Catholic form of religion because it is said 'clothed with fine linen and purple' and 'decked with gold', which cannot be said of a city but can of a form of religion. By 'clothed with fine linen, purple and scarlet, and decked with gold, precious stone and pearls' are signified things similar to those above (n. 725-727) where the same words are, in general things magnificent in external form. By 'for in one hour so many riches have been devastated' is signified that their gains have been destroyed so suddenly and so clearly. By 'in one hour' is signified suddenly and clearly, as above (n. 769), because by time and all things of time states are signified (n. 476). It is plain from these things that by those words are signified the things that have been set forth above. Very similar things are said in Jeremiah concerning the devastation of Babel:-