Chapter 21
A Warning Rejected
IN preaching the doctrine of the second
advent, William Miller and his associates had labored with the sole purpose of arousing
men to a preparation for the judgment. They had sought to awaken professors of religion to
the true hope of the church and to their need of a deeper Christian experience, and they
labored also to awaken the unconverted to the duty of immediate repentance and conversion
to God. "They made no attempt to convert men to a sect or party in religion. Hence
they labored among all parties and sects, without interfering with their organization or
discipline."
"In all my labors,"
said Miller, "I never had the desire or thought to establish any separate interest
from that of existing denominations, or to benefit one at the expense of another. I
thought to benefit all. Supposing that all Christians would rejoice in the prospect of
Christ's coming, and that those who could not see as I did would not love any the less
those who should embrace this doctrine, I did not conceive there would ever be any
necessity for separate meetings. My whole object was a desire to convert souls to God, to
notify the world of a coming judgment, and to induce my fellow men to make that
preparation of heart which will enable them to meet their God in peace. The great majority
of those who were converted under my labors united with the various existing
churches."--Bliss, page 328.
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As his work tended to build up
the churches, it was for a time regarded with favor. But as ministers and religious
leaders decided against the advent doctrine and desired to suppress all agitation of the
subject, they do not only opposed it from the pulpit, but denied their members the
privilege of attending preaching upon the second advent, or even of speaking of their hope
in the social meetings of the church. Thus the believers found themselves in a position of
great trial and perplexity. They loved their churches and were loath to separate from
them; but as they saw the testimony of God's word suppressed and their right to
investigate the prophecies denied they felt that loyalty to God forbade them to submit.
Those who sought to shut out the testimony of God's word they could not regard as
constituting the church of Christ, "the pillar and ground of the truth." Hence
they felt themselves justified in separating from their former connection. In the summer
of 1844 about fifty thousand withdrew from the churches.
About this time a marked
change was apparent in most of the churches throughout the United States. There had been
for many years a gradual but steadily increasing conformity to worldly practices and
customs, and a corresponding decline in real spiritual life; but in that year there were
evidences of a sudden and marked declension in nearly all the churches of the land. While
none seemed able to suggest the cause, the fact itself was widely noted and commented upon
by both the press and the pulpit.
At a meeting of the presbytery
of Philadelphia, Mr. Barnes, author of a commentary widely used and pastor of one of the
leading churches in that city, "stated that he had been in the ministry for twenty
years, and never, till the last Communion, had he administered the ordinance without
receiving more or less into the church. But now there are no awakenings, no conversions,
not much apparent growth in grace in professors, and none come to his study to converse
about the salvation of their souls. With the increase of
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business, and the brightening
prospects of commerce and manufacture, there is an increase of worldly-mindedness. Thus it
is with all the denominations." -- Congregational Journal, May 23, 1844.
In the month of February of
the same year, Professor Finney of Oberlin College said: "We have had the fact before
our minds, that, in general, the Protestant churches of our country, as such, were either
apathetic or hostile to nearly all the moral reforms of the age. There are partial
exceptions, yet not enough to render the fact otherwise than general. We have also another
corroborated fact: the almost universal absence of revival influence in the churches. The
spiritual apathy is almost all-pervading, and is fearfully deep; so the religious press of
the whole land testifies. . . . Very extensively, church members are becoming devotees of
fashion, --join hands with the ungodly in parties of pleasure, in dancing, in festivities,
etc. . . . But we need not expand this painful subject. Suffice it that the evidence
thickens and rolls heavily upon us, to show that the churches generally are becoming sadly
degenerate. They have gone very far from the Lord, and He has withdrawn Himself from
them."
And a writer in the
Religious
Telescope testified: "We have never witnessed such a general declension of religion
as at the present. Truly, the church should awake, and search into the cause of this
affliction; for as an affliction everyone that loves Zion must view it. When we call to
mind how 'few and far between' cases of true conversion are, and the almost unparalleled
impertinence and hardness of sinners, we almost involuntarily exclaim, 'Has God forgotten
to be gracious? or, Is the door of mercy closed?'"
Such a condition never exists
without cause in the church itself. The spiritual darkness which falls upon nations, upon
churches and individuals, is due, not to an arbitrary withdrawal of the succors of divine
grace on the part of God, but to neglect or rejection of divine light on the part of men.
A
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striking illustration of this truth is presented in the history of the Jewish people
in the time of Christ. By their devotion to the world and forgetfulness of God and His
word, their understanding had become darkened, their hearts earthly and sensual. Thus they
were in ignorance concerning Messiah's advent, and in their pride and unbelief they
rejected the Redeemer. God did not even then cut off the Jewish nation from a knowledge
of, or a participation in, the blessings of salvation. But those who rejected the truth
lost all desire for the gift of Heaven. They had "put darkness for light, and light
for darkness," until the light which was in them became darkness; and how great was
that darkness!
It suits the policy of Satan
that men should retain the forms of religion if but the spirit of vital godliness is
lacking. After their rejection of the gospel, the Jews continued zealously to maintain
their ancient rites, they rigorously preserved their national exclusiveness, while they
themselves could not but admit that the presence of God was no longer manifest among them.
The prophecy of Daniel pointed so unmistakably to the time of Messiah's coming, and so
directly foretold His death, that they discouraged its study, and finally the rabbis
pronounced a curse on all who should attempt a computation of the time. In blindness and
impenitence the people of Israel during succeeding centuries have stood, indifferent to
the gracious offers of salvation, unmindful of the blessings of the gospel, a solemn and
fearful warning of the danger of rejecting light from heaven.
Wherever the cause exists, the
same results will follow. He who deliberately stifles his convictions of duty because it
interferes with his inclinations will finally lose the power to distinguish between truth
and error. The understanding becomes darkened, the conscience callous, the heart hardened,
and the soul is separated from God. Where the message of divine truth is spurned or
slighted, there the church will be enshrouded in darkness; faith and love grow cold,
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and
estrangement and dissension enter. Church members center their interests and energies in
worldly pursuits, and sinners become hardened in their impenitence.
The first angel's message of
Revelation 14, announcing the hour of God's judgment and calling upon men to fear and
worship Him, was designed to separate the professed people of God from the corrupting
influences of the world and to arouse them to see their true condition of worldliness and
backsliding. In this message, God has sent to the church a warning, which, had it been
accepted, would have corrected the evils that were shutting them away from Him. Had they
received the message from heaven, humbling their hearts before the Lord and seeking in
sincerity a preparation to stand in His presence, the Spirit and power of God would have
been manifested among them. The church would again have reached that blessed state of
unity, faith, and love which existed in apostolic days, when the believers "were of
one heart and of one soul," and "spake the word of God with boldness," when
"the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." Acts 4:32, 31;
2:47.
If God's professed people
would receive the light as it shines upon them from His word, they would reach that unity
for which Christ prayed, that which the apostle describes, "the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace." "There is," he says, " one body, and one
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one
baptism." Ephesians 4:3-5.
Such were the blessed results
experienced by those who accepted the advent message. They came from different
denominations, and their denominational barriers were hurled to the ground; conflicting
creeds were shivered to atoms; the unscriptural hope of a temporal millennium was
abandoned, false views of the second advent were corrected, pride and conformity to the
world were swept away; wrongs were made right; hearts were united in the sweetest
fellowship, and love and joy reigned supreme. If this doctrine did this
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for the few who
did receive it, it would have done the same for all if all had received it.
But the churches generally did
not accept the warning. Their ministers, who, as watchmen "unto the house of
Israel," should have been the first to discern the tokens of Jesus' coming, had
failed to learn the truth either from the testimony of the prophets or from the signs of
the times. As worldly hopes and ambitions filled the heart, love for God and faith in His
word had grown cold; and when the advent doctrine was presented, it only aroused their
prejudice and unbelief. The fact that the message was, to a great extent, preached by
laymen, was urged as an instrument against it. As of old, the plain testimony of God's
word was met with the inquiry: "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees
believed?" And finding how difficult a task it was to refute the arguments drawn from
the prophetic periods, many discouraged the study of the prophecies, teaching that the
prophetic books were sealed and were not to be understood. Multitudes, trusting implicitly
to their pastors, refused to listen to the warning; and others, though convinced of the
truth, dared not confess it, lest they should be "put out of the synagogue." The
message which God had sent for the testing and purification of the church revealed all too
surely how great was the number who had set their affections on this world rather than
upon Christ. The ties which bound them to earth were stronger than the attractions
heavenward. They chose to listen to the voice of worldly wisdom and turned away from the
heart-searching message of truth.
In refusing the warning of the
first angel, they rejected the means which Heaven had provided for their restoration. They
spurned the gracious messenger that would have corrected the evils which separated them
from God, and with greater eagerness they turned to seek the friendship of the world. Here
was the cause of that fearful condition of worldliness, backsliding, and spiritual death
which existed in the churches in 1844.
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In Revelation 14 the first
angel is followed by a second proclaiming: "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great
city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication." Revelation 14:8. The term "Babylon" is derived from
"Babel," and signifies confusion. It is employed in Scripture to designate the
various forms of false or apostate religion. In Revelation 17 Babylon is represented as a
woman --a figure which is used in the Bible as the symbol of a church, a virtuous woman
representing a pure church, a vile woman an apostate church.
In the Bible the sacred and
enduring character of the relation that exists between Christ and His church is
represented by the union of marriage. The Lord has joined His people to Himself by a
solemn covenant, He promising to be their God, and they pledging themselves to be His and
His alone. He declares: "I will betroth thee unto Me forever; yea, I will betroth
thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in
mercies." Hosea 2:19. And, again: "I am married unto you." Jeremiah 3:14.
And Paul employs the same figure in the New Testament when he says: "I have espoused
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 2
Corinthians 11:2.
The unfaithfulness of the
church to Christ in permitting her confidence and affection to be turned from Him, and
allowing the love of worldly things to occupy the soul, is likened to the violation of the
marriage vow. The sin of Israel in departing from the Lord is presented under this figure;
and the wonderful love of God which they thus despised is touchingly portrayed: "I
sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou
becamest Mine." "And thou wast exceeding beautiful and thou didst prosper into a
kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect
through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee. . . . But thou didst trust in thine own
beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown." "As a wife treacherously
departeth from her
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husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,
saith the Lord;" "as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers
instead of her husband!" Ezekiel 16:8, 13-15, 32; Jeremiah 3:20.
In the New Testament, language
very similar is addressed to professed Christians who seek the friendship of the world
above the favor of God. Says the apostle James: "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know
ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God."
The woman (Babylon) of
Revelation 17 is described as "arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with
gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations
and filthiness:...and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great,
the mother of harlots." Says the prophet: "I saw the woman drunk with the blood
of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." Babylon is further
declared to be "that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."
Revelation 17:4-6, 18. The power that for so many centuries maintained despotic sway over
the monarchs of Christendom is Rome. The purple and scarlet color, the gold and precious
stones and pearls, vividly picture the magnificence and more than kingly pomp affected by
the haughty see of Rome. And no other power could be so truly declared "drunken with
the blood of the saints" as that church which has so cruelly persecuted the followers
of Christ. Babylon is also charged with the sin of unlawful connection with "the
kings of the earth." It was by departure from the Lord, and alliance with the
heathen, that the Jewish church became a harlot; and Rome, corrupting herself in like
manner by seeking the support of worldly powers, receives a like condemnation.
Babylon is said to be
"the mother of harlots." By her daughters must be symbolized churches that cling
to her doctrines and traditions, and follow her example of sacrificing
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the truth and the
approval of God, in order to form an unlawful alliance with the world. The message of
Revelation 14, announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to religious bodies that were
once pure and have become corrupt. Since this message follows the warning of the judgment,
it must be given in the last days; therefore it cannot refer to the Roman Church alone,
for that church has been in a fallen condition for many centuries. Furthermore, in the
eighteenth chapter of the Revelation the people of God are called upon to come out of
Babylon. According to this scripture, many of God's people must still be in Babylon. And
in what religious bodies are the greater part of the followers of Christ now to be found?
Without doubt, in the various churches professing the Protestant faith. At the time of
their rise these churches took a noble stand for God and the truth, and His blessing was
with them. Even the unbelieving world was constrained to acknowledge the beneficent
results that followed an acceptance of the principles of the gospel. In the words of the
prophet to Israel: "Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it
was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God."
But they fell by the same desire which was the curse and ruin of Israel--the desire of
imitating the practices and courting the friendship of the ungodly. "Thou didst trust
in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown." Ezekiel 16:14,
15.
Many of the Protestant
churches are following Rome's example of iniquitous connection with "the kings of the
earth"--the state churches, by their relation to secular governments; and other
denominations, by seeking the favor of the world. And the term "Babylon"
--confusion-- may be appropriately applied to these bodies, all professing to derive their
doctrines from the Bible, yet divided into almost innumerable sects, with widely
conflicting creeds and theories.
Besides a sinful union with the world, the churches that
separated from Rome present other of her characteristics.
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A Roman Catholic work argues
that "if the Church of Rome were ever guilty of idolatry in relation to the saints,
her daughter, the Church of England, stands guilty of the same, which has ten churches
dedicated to Mary for one dedicated to Christ."--Richard Challoner, The Catholic
Christian Instructed, Preface, pages 21, 22.
And Dr. Hopkins, in "A
Treatise on the Millennium," declares: "There is no reason to consider the
antichristian spirit and practices to be confined to that which is now called the Church
of Rome. The Protestant churches have much of antichrist in them, and are far from being
wholly reformed from . . . corruptions and wickedness."--Samuel Hopkins, Works, vol.
2, p. 328.
Concerning the separation of
the Presbyterian Church from Rome, Dr. Guthrie writes: "Three hundred years ago, our
church, with an open Bible on her banner, and this motto, 'Search the Scriptures,' on her
scroll, marched out from the gates of Rome." Then he asks the significant question:
"Did they come clean out of Babylon?"--Thomas Guthrie, The Gospel in Ezekiel,
page 237.
"The Church of
England," says Spurgeon, "seems to be eaten through and through with
sacramentarianism; but nonconformity appears to be almost as badly riddled with
philosophical infidelity. Those of whom we thought better things are turning aside one by
one from the fundamentals of the faith. Through and through, I believe, the very heart of
England is honeycombed with a damnable infidelity which dares still go into the pulpit and
call itself Christian."
What was the origin of the
great apostasy? How did the church first depart from the simplicity of the gospel? By
conforming to the practices of paganism, to facilitate the acceptance of Christianity by
the heathen. The apostle Paul declared, even in his day, "The mystery of iniquity
doth already work." 2 Thessalonians 2:7. During the lives of the apostles the church
remained comparatively pure. But "toward the latter end of the second century most of
the churches assumed a new form; the first simplicity
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disappeared, and insensibly, as the
old disciples retired to their graves, their children, along with new converts, . . . came
forward and new-modeled the cause."--Robert Robinson, Ecclesiastical Researches, ch.
6, par. 17, p. 51. To secure converts, the exalted standard of the Christian faith was
lowered, and as the result "a pagan flood, flowing into the church, carried with it
its customs, practices, and idols." --Gavazzi, Lectures, page 278. As the Christian
religion secured the favor and support of secular rulers, it was nominally accepted by
multitudes; but while in appearance Christians, many "remained in substance pagans,
especially worshiping in secret their idols."-- Ibid., page 278.
Has not the same process been
repeated in nearly every church calling itself Protestant? As the founders, those who
possessed the true spirit of reform, pass away, their descendants come forward and
"new-model the cause." While blindly clinging to the creed of their fathers and
refusing to accept any truth in advance of what they saw, the children of the reformers
depart widely from their example of humility, self-denial, and renunciation of the world.
Thus "the first simplicity disappears." A worldly flood, flowing into the
church, carries "with it its customs, practices, and idols."
Alas, to what a fearful extent
is that friendship of the world which is "enmity with God," now cherished among
the professed followers of Christ! How widely have the popular churches throughout
Christendom departed from the Bible standard of humility, self-denial, simplicity, and
godliness! Said John Wesley, in speaking of the right use of money: "Do not waste any
part of so precious a talent, merely in gratifying the desire of the eye, by superfluous
or expensive apparel, or by needless ornaments. Waste no part of it in curiously adorning
your houses; in superfluous or expensive furniture; in costly pictures, painting, gilding.
. . . Lay out nothing to gratify the pride of life, to gain the admiration or praise of
men. . . . 'So long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee.' So long
as thou art 'clothed in purple and fine linen,' and farest 'sumptuously
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every day,' no
doubt many will applaud thy elegance of taste, thy generosity and hospitality. But do not
buy their applause so dear. Rather be content with the honor that cometh from
God."--Wesley, Works, Sermon 50, "The Use of Money." But in many churches
of our time such teaching is disregarded.
A profession of religion has
become popular with the world. Rulers, politicians, lawyers, doctors, merchants, join the
church as a means of securing the respect and confidence of society, and advancing their
own worldly interests. Thus they seek to cover all their unrighteous transactions under a
profession of Christianity. The various religious bodies, re-enforced by the wealth and
influence of these baptized worldlings, make a still higher bid for popularity and
patronage. Splendid churches, embellished in the most extravagant manner, are erected on
popular avenues. The worshipers array themselves in costly and fashionable attire. A high
salary is paid for a talented minister to entertain and attract the people. His sermons
must not touch popular sins, but be made smooth and pleasing for fashionable ears. Thus
fashionable sinners are enrolled on the church records, and fashionable sins are concealed
under a pretense of godliness.
Commenting on the present
attitude of professed Christians toward the world, a leading secular journal says:
"Insensibly the church has yielded to the spirit of the age, and adapted its forms of
worship to modern wants." "All things, indeed, that help to make religion
attractive, the church now employs as its instruments." And a writer in the New York
Independent speaks thus concerning Methodism as it is: "The line of separation
between the godly and the irreligious fades out into a kind of penumbra, and zealous men
on both sides are toiling to obliterate all difference between their modes of action and
enjoyment." "The popularity of religion tends vastly to increase the number of
those who would secure its benefits without squarely meeting its duties."
Page 387
Says Howard Crosby: "It
is a matter of deep concern that we find Christ's church so little fulfilling the designs
of its Lord. Just as the ancient Jews let a familiar intercourse with the idolatrous
nations steal away their hearts from God, . . . so the church of Jesus now is, by its
false partnerships with an unbelieving world, giving up the divine methods of its true
life, and yielding itself to the pernicious, though often plausible, habits of a
Christless society, using the arguments and reaching the conclusions which are foreign to
the revelation of God, and directly antagonistic to all growth in grace."-- The
Healthy Christian: An Appeal to the Church, pages 141, 142.
In this tide of worldliness
and pleasure seeking, self-denial and self-sacrifice for Christ's sake are almost wholly
lost. "Some of the men and women now in active life in our churches were educated,
when children, to make sacrifices in order to be able to give or do something for
Christ." But "if funds are wanted now, . . . nobody must be called on to give.
Oh, no! have a fair, tableau, mock trial, antiquarian supper, or something to
eat--anything to amuse the people."
Governor Washburn of Wisconsin
in his annual message, January 9, 1873, declared: "Some law seems to be required to
break up the schools where gamblers are made. These are everywhere. Even the church
(unwittingly, no doubt) is sometimes found doing the work of the devil. Gift concerts,
gift enterprises and raffles, sometimes in aid of religious or charitable objects, but
often for less worthy purposes, lotteries, prize packages, etc., are all devices to obtain
money without value received. Nothing is so demoralizing or intoxicating, particularly to
the young, as the acquisition of money or property without labor. Respectable people
engaging in these change enterprises, and easing their consciences with the reflection
that the money is to go to a good object, it is not strange that the youth of the state
should so often fall into the habits which the excitement of games of hazard is almost
certain to engender."
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The spirit of worldly
conformity in invading the churches throughout Christendom. Robert Atkins, in a sermon
preached in London, draws a dark picture of the spiritual declension that prevails in
England: "The truly righteous are diminished from the earth, and no man layeth it to
heart. The professors of religion of the present day, in every church, are lovers of the
world, conformers to the world, lovers of creature comfort, and aspirers after
respectability. They are called to suffer with Christ, but they shrink from even
reproach.... Apostasy, apostasy, apostasy, is engraven on the very front of every church;
and did they know it, and did they feel it, there might be hope; but, alas! they cry, 'We
are rich, and increased in goods, and stand in need of nothing.'" --Second Advent
Library, tract No. 39.
The great sin charged against
Babylon is that she "made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication." This cup of intoxication which she presents to the world represents the
false doctrines that she has accepted as the result of her unlawful connection with the
great ones of the earth. Friendship with the world corrupts her faith, and in her turn she
exerts a corrupting influence upon the world by teaching doctrines which are opposed to
the plainest statements of Holy Writ.
Rome withheld the Bible from
the people and required all men to accept her teachings in its place. It was the work of
the Reformation to restore to men the word of God; but is it not too true that in the
churches of our time men are taught to rest their faith upon their creed and the teachings
of their church rather than on the Scriptures? Said Charles Beecher, speaking of the
Protestant churches: "They shrink from any rude word against creeds with the same
sensitiveness with which those holy fathers would have shrunk from a rude word against the
rising veneration of saints and martyrs which they were fostering. . . . The Protestant
evangelical denominations have so tied up one another's hands, and their own, that,
between them all, a man cannot become a preacher at all, anywhere, without accepting some
book besides the
Page 389
Bible.... There is nothing imaginary in the statement that the creed
power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible as really as Rome did, though in a subtler
way."--Sermon on "The Bible a Sufficient Creed," delivered at Fort Wayne,
Indiana, Feb. 22, 1846.
When faithful teachers expound
the word of God, there arise men of learning, ministers professing to understand the
Scriptures, who denounce sound doctrine as heresy, and thus turn away inquirers after
truth. Were it not that the world is hopelessly intoxicated with the wine of Babylon,
multitudes would be convicted and converted by the plain, cutting truths of the word of
God. But religious faith appears so confused and discordant that the people know not what
to believe as truth. The sin of the world's impenitence lies at the door of the church.
The second angel's message of
Revelation 14 was first preached in the summer of 1844, and it then had a more direct
application to the churches of the United States, where the warning of the judgment had
been most widely proclaimed and most generally rejected, and where the declension in the
churches had been most rapid. But the message of the second angel did not reach its
complete fulfillment in 1844. The churches then experienced a moral fall, in consequence
of their refusal of the light of the advent message; but that fall was not complete. As
they have continued to reject the special truths for this time they have fallen lower and
lower. Not yet, however, can it be said that "Babylon is fallen,... because she made
all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." She has not yet made
all nations do this. The spirit of world conforming and indifference to the testing truths
for our time exists and has been gaining ground in churches of the Protestant faith in all
the countries of Christendom; and these churches are included in the solemn and terrible
denunciation of the second angel. But the work of apostasy has not yet reached its
culmination.
The Bible declares that before
the coming of the Lord, Satan will work "with all power and signs and lying wonders,
Page 390
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness;" and they that "received not
the love of the truth, that they might be saved," will be left to receive
"strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11. Not
until this condition shall be reached, and the union of the church with the world shall be
fully accomplished throughout Christendom, will the fall of Babylon be complete. The
change is a progressive one, and the perfect fulfillment of Revelation 14:8 is yet future.
Notwithstanding the spiritual
darkness and alienation from God that exist in the churches which constitute Babylon, the
great body of Christ's true followers are still to be found in their communion. There are
many of these who have never seen the special truths for this time. Not a few are
dissatisfied with their present condition and are longing for clearer light. They look in
vain for the image of Christ in the churches with which they are connected. As these
bodies depart further and further from the truth, and ally themselves more closely with
the world, the difference between the two classes will widen, and it will finally result
in separation. The time will come when those who love God supremely can no longer remain
in connection with such as are "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a
form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."
Revelation 18 points to the
time when, as the result of rejecting the threefold warning of Revelation 14:6-12, the
church will have fully reached the condition foretold by the second angel, and the people
of God still in Babylon will be called upon to separate from her communion. This message
is the last that will ever be given to the world; and it will accomplish its work. When
those that "believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2
Thessalonians 2:12), shall be left to receive strong delusion and to believe a lie, then
the light of truth will shine upon all whose hearts are open to receive it, and all the
children of the Lord that remain in Babylon will heed the call: "Come out of her, My
people" (Revelation 18:4).
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