CHAPTER XV. BABYLON IS FALLEN

Following the first message of Revelation 14 (verses 6, 7) is another, containing a simple brief statement. It is not framed like a warning; it declares no particular duty. It is only the statement of a fact, but important to be considered, as are all the declarations of the word of God. It is as follows:—FEE 188.1

“And there followed another angel, saying, 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.FEE 188.2

There are two things that are often taken for granted, both of which must be noticed, namely: 1. That Babylon is the Catholic, or Roman, Church and that only. 2. That her fall means her overthrow, or destruction. The first of these propositions is not altogether true, as will be seen in due time; the last is altogether wrong. Nobody supposes that Babylon, whatever it means, will be entirely destroyed and the world move on as it did before. That will be a grand catastrophe which will affect the whole world, as may be seen in Revelation 18. In that chapter is another announcement of the fall of Babylon, showing its connection with other facts and events, as follows: 1. An angel announces that Babylon is fallen, the same as Revelation 14:8. 2. He announces also that she has become the habitation of demons, and the hold of foul spirits, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. This is additional to the statement of Revelation 14:8. 3. Another voice says: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” 4. It is said that in one day shall her plagues come—death, and mourning, and famine—and she shall be utterly burned with fire. Reversing these events, we find that when this announcement is made Babylon is yet to be destroyed. And before her destruction, God’s people are called out of her. And before they are called out of her, she becomes the habitation of demons. And before she becomes the habitation of demons, her fall takes place. Thus it is positively shown that her fall is before her destruction; doubtless it leads to her destruction finally. We are therefore forced to the conclusion that the fall referred to in Revelation 14:8, is a moral fall; it has reference to a change of condition in the sight of Heaven.FEE 188.3

For the immediate cause of her fall we are left to draw our conclusion from the context. Her connection with the world is stated; also that, instead of being the light of the world, she has been guilty of misleading the world. Through her the world has been led to lightly regard its responsibility to God, and to indulge a false hope. But, doubtless, that which has led to this fatal state was the rejection of the proclamation of the everlasting gospel, as made known in the preaching of the hour of judgment come. This message being the gospel, to reject it must bring the frown of God, as certainly as did the rejection of the gospel in the days of Christ. Or if not, why not? Is not that always of importance which the word of God calls the everlasting gospel?FEE 189.1

But the question may be raised, This message being founded on time could the people surely know that the time had arrived when it should be given? To answer this we must return to the prophecy of Daniel, where the time is revealed.FEE 189.2

Between the years of 1832 and 1840, the minds of many Bible students, in different countries, mainly in Europe and America, became deeply impressed with the prophecy of Daniel, as furnishing the evidence that we are in the last days, and that the coming of the Lord is drawing near. Their attention was directed to the declaration of Daniel 8:14, that the sanctuary was to be cleansed after two thousand three hundred days, or years. In chapter 8 there is no explanation of this time—no starting point from which to count; but there is in chapter 9. In chapter 8:16, Gabriel was ordered to make Daniel understand the vision. This he proceeded to do, as far as the beasts and kingdoms were concerned; but of the time he said nothing, and Daniel said (verse 27) that it was not understood.FEE 189.3

In chapter 9, Daniel makes a most earnest confession and prayer for his people, and in behalf of the city of Jerusalem, then in ruins. While he was praying Gabriel appeared unto him again, and told him to consider the vision, for he had come to give him understanding. And as he had explained all but the time in chapter 8, he spoke of nothing but the time in chapter 9. Gabriel said to him (verses 24, 25), that seventy weeks were determined (literally, cut off) upon his people, and that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince, should be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks; that is, sixty-nine of the seventy weeks should reach to Messiah the Prince. We reckon this to the time when he was made known to Israel as the Messiah, by John the Baptist, which was in a. d. 27.FEE 190.1

It is universally agreed that these weeks are weeks of years—seven years to a week. In sixty-nine sevens are four hundred and eighty-three years; counting from the time when John announced Jesus as the Lamb of God, we find that a. d. 26 taken from 483, leaves 457 b. c., which was the year in which the commandment went forth to restore and build Jerusalem—which was the beginning of the two thousand three hundred years of Daniel 8:14. In Ezra 7:11-26, is found the decree of Artaxerxes the king of Persia for the restoration of the temple and its service, and for the complete government of Jerusalem according to the ordinances of God. This decree was given to Ezra 457 years before Christ. Both Cyrus and Darius had given decrees of like import before this, but the work was not completed until the time of Artaxerxes. And in Ezra 6:14, it is said that the work of restoration was done under the decree (singular) of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes. Thus what these three kings did was counted but one and the same decree, which was not completed until the days of Artaxerxes. And this date, 457 b. c., is the only one that agrees with the manifestation of Messiah the Prince. The Messiah came to establish the new covenant, and Daniel 9:27 says that he shall confirm the covenant with many of Daniel’s people (see verse 24) for one week, that is, the last of the seventy. In the midst of the week, or in the middle of the last week of years, he should cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, which he did when he was cut off, for then all the sacrifices of the Levitical law met their antitype, and were of no further use. It is wonderful how accurately every item of this prophecy was fulfilled. The ministry of Christ was just three and a half years—half a prophetic week, or week of years. After his resurrection, he told his apostles still to begin their work at Jerusalem, for the seventy weeks in which the covenant was to be confirmed to Judah and Israel were not yet ended.FEE 190.2

Now it is always counted great hardness of heart on the part of the Jews to deny that Jesus was the Messiah, when the very time of his crucifixion was so definitely foretold by one of their own prophets. But the prophecies were for all times and all peoples, and let us see that we do not bring ourselves under the same censure that falls upon them. The same period—the seventy weeks—that fixes the time of the crucifixion, fixes the date of the two thousand three hundred years, the time for the cleansing of the sanctuary, the closing work of our High Priest for the judgment of his people. The seventy weeks point out the time when our Messiah should make his sacrifice and begin his priestly work. The two thousand three hundred years point out the time when he should enter upon the closing work of his priesthood. When Jesus began his ministry he said, “The time is fulfilled.” Mark 1:14, 15. In like manner it is shown by the prophecy that it must be proclaimed to the world, “The hour of his judgment is come.” Revelation 14:6, 7. The explanation of the seventy weeks is the explanation of the vision of the time given in Daniel 8. And this time reaches to the beginning of the judgment.FEE 191.1

Beginning the two thousand three hundred years with the decree of Artaxerxes, we can readily see where they end. This decree was b. c. 457. Subtracting 457 b. c. from 2300 leaves a. d. 1843—the very time when this message of Revelation 14:6, 7 was being so extensively preached to the nations of the earth. If this time were not made sure, how could the message of the judgment ever be given? How could men declare the hour is come unless the time were fixed by prophecy? Every word of the Scriptures must be fulfilled. As the seventy weeks prove that Jesus was the Messiah, so do they fix the two thousand three hundred years, beginning at the same point, and clearly show us the time for the cleansing of the sanctuary above, where our great High Priest is presenting his precious blood for us.FEE 191.2

Here it is necessary to say a few words in regard to the numbering of the year at which the two thousand three hundred years end. At the time when the prophecy was written, they did not begin the year in midwinter, as is now generally done, but in the spring. Therefore while the figures in the above computation always bring a. d. 1843 as the result, the years really ended in 1844 of our year, as theirs began and ended about three months later than ours. But that is a point of little consequence in the settlement of the main fact.FEE 192.1

Now we see, not only the importance of the message, as being the gospel, but the certainty of the time of its fulfillment. And we cannot discover any possible reason why professed Christians, with all the light of Bible truth we have in these days, should not incur the displeasure of God if they reject or neglect this gospel proclamation, even as they did who rejected the gospel in the days of the apostles. The Jews as a nation became a fallen people when they rejected Jesus as the Messiah. They did not fall so that they could not find salvation, for thousands of them repented and accepted the Saviour, and that is their privilege to this day. But they fell from the high position of being the special people of God.FEE 192.2

Now it is our solemn conviction that a change equally great has taken place with the religious bodies of this day, who have rejected the gospel proclamation of the judgment come, and who slight the message of the near coming of our blessed Lord. This change is plainly to be seen among the churches of both continents. In America there is a very visible decline of vital piety, and a great increase of those things which indicate an unhallowed alliance with the world—a leaning towards worldliness in all their methods. For the support of the church an appeal is made to the passions and the love of folly of all classes. They who are not acquainted with the facts cannot imagine to what an extent these things are, not so much eating out the vitality and spirituality of the churches, as proving that vital piety does not exist. Church buildings are fitted up with kitchens, where suppers are served, where plays are enacted, and even petty gambling is resorted to, in the form of raffles and lotteries, to raise money for the cause of Christ. This state of things is often lamented by the few who realize the nature and the tendency of such practices; but they confess that the tide is so strong in the direction of folly in the churches, that it cannot be turned.FEE 192.3

To show that we do not overestimate the evil which is afflicting the churches in that direction, we notice a few facts.FEE 193.1

A few years since the grand jury in an important city of America, notified the churches of that city that their methods of raising money for religious uses were in violation of the statutes against gambling, and that they would be presented in court if they did not desist. The jury did not make any presentment, because the evil was so general that they did not like to present one to the exclusion of the others.FEE 193.2

In two States of the American Union, the governors called the attention of the legislatures to this subject. One of them said that, while the existing laws against gambling were quite sufficient for general purposes, special legislation would be in place to suppress certain practices prevalent in the churches, which were clearly of the nature of gambling. A minister, writing for a certain religious paper, said:—FEE 193.3

“I hide my face in shame, when I hear of a governor of a State being compelled to call upon the law-making department of his State to pass laws to counteract the swindling carried on under the auspices of the church, under the name of church fairs, festivals, and other forms of ‘pious’ church gambling.”FEE 193.4

This is only one direction in which the popular tendency is manifested. The extent of the demoralization produced by these things is thus pictured by another religious paper:—FEE 193.5

“The selling of indulgences was no more misleading, no more a perversion of the gospel, than are Protestant church fairs, where petty gambling is carried on under the wicked pretense of supporting the religion of Christ.”FEE 194.1

It must not be supposed, from this reference to “Protestant church fairs,” that such things are done only in the Protestant churches, as some of the very worst that have ever been carried on in America were under the auspices of high dignitaries of the Catholic Church.FEE 194.2

Crossing the Atlantic, what state of things is found in Europe? An important commemoration meeting was held in Manchester, England, in the latter part of the year 1888. Of the present and prospective condition of religion in England, let the speakers of that meeting inform us. The published report says that, in moving a resolution, Lord Montague made the following remarks:—FEE 194.3

“He was afraid they saw a great deal of popery, or a great want of Protestantism, in the upper classes of this country.... Ritualism was the Trojan horse of popery. The pope had built up the system of ritualism, and he had put inside of it a number of Jesuits, armed to the teeth. They had dragged this great horse of ritualism inside their church, and these Jesuits, armed to the teeth with their theology, had sprung out, and now the Church and State were in the greatest danger.”FEE 194.4

Another well-known minister said that—FEE 194.5

“The revolution of 1688 placed Protestantism on the throne of this country. It had been on the throne two hundred years, and they asked if it now was what it was two hundred years ago. They must answer that it is not. A change had come over it, and a crisis was impending. The Protestantism of England was seriously menaced and undermined. Three thousand ritualistic clergymen were now laboring night and day in the English church, to restore to this country the false doctrines and superstitions abolished by the Reformation.”FEE 194.6

The words of these speakers fail to give us a just idea of the extent of the defection from the faith that is taking place in England. We cannot realize what three thousand ritualistic ministers may accomplish in the Established Church, working without rebuke from those who are set up to guard the interests of religion in the State. The emblems of popery are
[Graphic Of SOME OF THE REFORMERS.] erected in the first churches in England, and the protests of those who still have regard for the Protestant faith are not heeded. Had not the principles of the Reformation lost their value in the eyes and the hearts of the people, it would not be possible for the Jesuits to control the professed Protestant church as they do. And a state of things equally deplorable exists in the Independent or Nonconformist churches. Men of high standing openly deny the inspiration of the Scriptures, and declare that its histories are fables. Others, by preaching a future probation, rob the judgment of its terrors.FEE 194.7

The following will show to what extent folly has taken hold of the churches in England, and to what professed Christians in that land will resort to unite the church and the world. The first notice is copied from the Sword and Trowel, a paper which, however, does not approve of such unseemly doings:—FEE 195.1

“Another specimen of the doings of worldly religion is from a handbill bearing the name of Howard, Stanford: ‘A dance and entertainment will be held in the school-room, Collyweston, on Friday, November 16, 1888. Dancing to commence at 7:30 p. m. A good quadrille band will be in attendance. Refreshments will be provided. Tickets may be obtained from the rectory, Miss Ridlington, and Mr. R. H. Close. Price, 6d. each. The proceeds for new church lamps.”FEE 195.2

A minister, speaking of the prevalence of such things, well says:—FEE 195.3

“Entertainments, concerts, tableaux, and such like, are playing havoc with the work of God. In the name of religion our children are being trained for the theater, and under the shadow of the name of Christ young people are being introduced to the ‘world.’”FEE 195.4

A party of High Church clergymen at Croyden made an exhibition of their own folly in what they called an exhibition of “The Conversion of England.” It is thus announced by a secular paper:—FEE 195.5

“clergymen on the stage at croyden. ‘the conversion of england.’FEE 195.6

“What, clergymen of the Church of England acting in a veritable drama on the stage, with bare feet, and painted faces, wigs, and theatrical paraphernalia? Yes, indeed, all this was to be seen at Croyden on Saturday afternoon and evening, and will be again this evening. One of our reporters went down and witnessed the play, and talked with some of the performers. The large public hall, George Street, Croyden, is within a few minutes’ walk of the East and New Croyden railway stations. There is a capital stage in the hall, admirably adapted for amateur and even more ambitious performances. But it may well be doubted whether amateurs were ever more ambitious than the clerical party from Vauxhall, who on Saturday enacted the historical drama in the ten tableaux of ‘The Conversion of England.’”FEE 195.7

But the real conversion of England may be considered postponed indefinitely under the ministrations of such clergymen as the church furnishes, of which these giddy theatrical imitators are too nearly a sample.FEE 196.1

How is it on the Continent, in the home of the Reformation? Are the children of the Reformers holding fast those principles of religious liberty bequeathed to them? They certainly are not. While the Catholic Church does not fail to revile the name and work of Luther in Germany, Protestant ministers are not permitted to speak in disrespectful terms of the pope and his church and its institutions. There is not a minister to-day in Germany, who, if he has regard for his own personal safety, would dare to nail to a church door such theses as Luther nailed to the church door in Wittenberg, three centuries ago. Should any minister at this time attempt to restore to Germany the Reformation as it was given to her by Luther, Melancthon, and their noble co-workers, he would not find a “Christian prince” in all the wide domain who would rise up to defend him from the general indignation that his actions would raise. It is a truth that cannot be denied, that the religion of the established churches on the Continent is a religion of worldliness and formality, destitute of that power that attended the preaching of the word of God three centuries ago.FEE 196.2

The misfortune attending Protestantism in Europe was, that almost as soon as it was born it was nationalized. It was adopted by certain powers and converted into a State system, the heads of these governments determining what should and what should not be considered Christian faith and practice in those kingdoms. But as a national religion, it made all its conquests in the century in which it arose; it has not taken a single advance step in that direction in the three centuries that have followed. Chambers’ Cyclopedia gives the following truthful view of the real object of the Reformation, and of the mistake that was made in nationalizing Protestantism:—FEE 196.3

“The symbols or confessions of the Protestant churches were not intended as rules of faith for all time, but as expressions of what was then believed to be the sense of Scripture. When, at a later time, it was sought to erect them into unchangeable standards of true doctrine, this was a renunciation of the first principle of Protestantism, and a return to the Catholic principle; for, in making the sense put upon Scripture by the Reformers the standard of truth, all further investigation of the Scripture is arrested, the authority of the Reformers is set above that of the Bible, and a new tradition of dogmas and interpretation is erected, which differs from the Catholic only in beginning with Luther and Calvin, instead of with the apostolic Fathers.” Article Reformation.FEE 197.1

When Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36), he effectually shut out his gospel from becoming the authoritative religion of the kingdoms of this world. It was never intended that the things of God should be placed in the hands and under the power of Cæsar (Matthew 22:21), or that the fear of God should be taught by the precept of men. Isaiah 29:13, 14. The object of the Reformation was hid, and its power was neutralized by religion being made subject to human authority, and the fear of God is taught, not by what the Scriptures teach, but by what a king or parliament may decide that they teach; and too often, by what they would be pleased to have them teach.FEE 197.2

The error of setting up Protestantism as a national religion—of modeling it after the Church of Rome as organized by Constantine—has borne its fruit, as might have been expected. It has tried to live on its nationality, and has failed. In 1842, Alexander Vinet gave the following view of its condition:—FEE 197.3

“Three centuries of external life should not deceive Protestantism. It is now living on the first and vigorous impulse which it received in the sixteenth century. It lives on its political antecedents. It lives on the elements of nationality. But this impulse is exhausted. The beams of the frame-work are disjoined. The edifice is creaking on all sides. The accessory and auxiliary forces are leaving it. Protestantism remains alone and disorganized. No institution can exist in a disorganized state; no institution can long suffer an organization foreign to its principles. Protestants there are, but Protestantism is no more.”FEE 197.4

Arresting the investigation of Scripture by making religion subject to government control, binding the consciences of Christians by civil law, could not fail to turn it into a lifeless system of formalism. When Constantine took it upon him to reorganize the Christian church, he acted simply as a politician, anxious to preserve and strengthen the unity of his empire. Accordingly he took the general supervision of the church into his own hands. The Council of Nice was called by him to unite the various parties which were growing up among the churches, created by the efforts which were made to amalgamate the discordant philosophy of the heathen with the doctrines of Christianity. The decisions of the council became of authority only by the approval of the emperor. For centuries the emperor was considered the actual head of the church. The bishop of Rome, the chief in dignity of all the bishops, was elected under his direct notice, and was not ordained without his consent. The Council of Chalcedon was called by the Emperor Maurice, and its decisions were for a time much disputed, which caused the emperor to make the following proclamation:—FEE 198.1

“He does injury to the judgment of the holy synod, who shall discuss or dispute the articles which were there rightly judged and disposed of; since those matters appointed by the bishops assembled at Chalcedon, concerning the Christian faith, were ordained by us, or were decided by our commandment; and those who despise this law shall be punished.”FEE 198.2

Thus it appears that the will and commandment of the emperor became the law of Christian faith in all the realm. The Christian conscience became subject to the State. Nothing could be more foreign to the will of the divine Head of the church, as laid down in the Holy Scriptures. But such of necessity is the nature, and such are the results, of national religion; and Protestantism was wrecked by following this example.FEE 198.3

The true object and foundation of the Reformation is thus stated by the cyclopedia in the article from which we quoted:—FEE 198.4

“That the authority of the Bible is supreme, and above that of councils and bishops; that the Bible is not to be interpreted and used according to tradition, or use and wont, but to be explained by means of itself—its own language and connection; ... the doctrine that the Bible, explained independently of all external tradition, is the sole authority in all matters of faith and discipline, is really the foundation-stone of the Reformation.”FEE 198.5

The real, the only triumph of Protestantism was in giving the Bible to the people as the inspired word of God; as the sole and supreme authority in all matters of faith and life. But it is a fact to which we cannot close our eyes, that this foundation-stone has been removed. At this time, in the schools, in the ministry, in the religious journals, the idea of inspiration of the Bible is rejected and openly opposed. The following is the testimony of Edward Stapfer, author of a new French translation of the New Testament, and Professor of Theology in the Protestant College of Paris:—FEE 199.1

“It has been said for a long time, and is perhaps said still, that the Reformation of the sixteenth century rested on two principles: justification by faith, and the authority of the Holy Scriptures. We think that justification by faith should alone be mentioned now.... We must acknowledge in all frankness—the belief in a direct inspiration of Revelation, making it of authority, has passed its time, and is no more held.”FEE 199.2

But what power can faith have, when the inspiration of the Scriptures is denied? Dr. Felix Kuhn, Lutheran minister, author of a “Life of Luther,” for many years editor of the French Lutheran organ, Le Temoignage, said:—FEE 199.3

“During the hundred years that we have been struggling with Rationalism, trying to mould the old gospel to the fashion of the day, we have, alas! succeeded in diminishing all things, curtailing everything. The old ideas do not correspond to the claims of our science, the new ones are as soon dead as born, and we stand to-day in the painful position of a large spiritual body which has only contradictory answers to give to a world seeking salvation.”FEE 199.4

Dr. Zahn, of Germany, wrote a book (which it has not been our privilege to see) which called forth the following words from Mr. C. Appia, a Lutheran pastor, in a review:—FEE 199.5

“If, after surveying, with the author, the realms of politics, of theology, and of Christian life among the Protestants of our time, we again ask ourselves the question, ‘What is the Protestantism of to-day lacking?’ the answer, distinct and cutting, like the book itself, and which seems to arise from its perusal, is, that Protestantism is lacking everything. It has particularly shaken the faith in the word of God, and abandoned the true doctrine of justification by faith, without being able to substitute anything for the two solid foundations which it has tried to demolish.”FEE 199.6

On the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Reformation, November 5, 1882, M. Chautre, a minister in Geneva, made the following remarks:—FEE 200.1

“By an irresistible current the doctrines which our spiritual ancestors proclaimed in the sixteenth century as the truth, the absolute truth, the divine truth, are leaving us to-day.... The fact is general. Everywhere with more or less frankness, with more or less distinctness, the great doctrines of the Reformation are abandoned among the Protestant churches.... While the minority in the Protestant world, in England, in Germany, and elsewhere, is in many respects drawing near to the Catholic principles, the great majority of the Reformed Christians (both orthodox and liberal), modify, transform, abandon, and even oppose, the old faith of Protestant orthodoxy.”FEE 200.2

We know that on anniversary occasions people are not apt to make the cause with which they are allied, worse than it really is. Mr. E. Faucher, member of the Consistory of Marseilles, and of the synods of 1872 and 1879, in a pamphlet published in 1889, the object of which was “to awaken the most serious attention of our churches of all denominations,” to the present danger to the truth and to Christian life, says:—FEE 200.3

“But to-day, strange to say, it is no more against the adversaries of Christ that we have to defend our old Bible; it is against those who confess with us his divine personality, and who accept, as we do, his work of salvation. And, more strange still, this Bible, to which they confess themselves to be indebted for all their knowledge of Christ and his work, and which is still, in their opinion, the ‘sovereign’ document of Christian faith, ‘above which we cannot put our own thoughts when in the presence of Christ,’—it is this Bible of which they endeavor—while our old adversaries shout with joy and applause—to spread out in the full light of day, the stains, the imperfections, the errors, both material and moral.”FEE 200.4

This calls to mind the saying of Count Gasparin, that “pious rationalism makes ravages that impious rationalism has never made.”FEE 200.5

An influential religious weekly, while expressing regret for the publication of this pamphlet, because of the influence it must have throughout the land, yet justifies that which the author condemns, declaring that the ministers have gradually repudiated—with almost all the new theological generation of all Protestant countries of both the Old World and the New—the old traditional ideas of the mode of revelation, which means that they have repudiated the ideas of the inspiration of the Scriptures, and the receiving them as of complete authority, for the paper itself openly opposes those ideas.FEE 200.6

The testimonies here given are from representative sources, and to these we might add largely, but one more must suffice. It is from the celebrated historian of the Reformation, Merle D’Aubigné. In the preface to the English edition of the “History of the Reformation,” he says:—FEE 201.1

“But modern Protestantism, like old Catholicism, is, in itself, a thing from which nothing can be hoped, a thing quite powerless. Something very different is necessary to restore to men of our day the energy that saves. A something is requisite which is not of man, but of God.”FEE 201.2

Such is the Protestantism of Europe to-day. If it were a change from the faith of the Reformers in the understanding of the teachings of the sacred word, no one could complain, for the Reformers had not a perfect understanding of the Bible. If, with diligent study of the Bible, new and larger views of its teachings were presented, new truths were unfolded with the fulfilling of the prophetic word, it would be cause for rejoicing. But it is not this; it is nothing less than an effort to entirely destroy the authority of the Bible, by a general denial of its inspiration. And it is not confined to the State churches. The free churches are moving in the same direction. In England there is a sharp controversy in the nonconformist churches on the subject of the inspiration of the Bible, with an evident majority with those who deny.FEE 201.3

And the present deplorable state of things has not come without warning. From time to time faithful men have risen up and sounded the alarm, but their words have not been heeded. In 1860, Count Gasparin said that Protestantism would collapse if it did not change its course in regard to the Bible. Referring to the claims that Protestantism is doing evangelical work in the world, he said:—FEE 201.4

“We have prayer-meetings, but we are not concerned about the assaults made against the Bible; we count with joy the numbers of the orthodox party, but we do not ask ourselves what the word orthodoxy is coming to mean.... Under our progress, under our orthodoxy, under our works of piety, under our missions, under our evangelization, under our revivals, an abyss is enlarging, and everything will fall into it, and that shortly, if we leave this subterranean work to go on which is undermining the faith in the Scriptures.”FEE 201.5

Under existing circumstances, one thing is very suggestive. With the almost universal denial of the inspiration of the Bible, there is a quite universal movement in favor of more rigid laws for the observance of Sunday! This is quite in keeping; as the authority of the Bible is denied, the favorite child of tradition, “the venerable day of the sun,” is fast rising in public favor. This is the case all over the world—both in Europe and America. Observance of Sunday, in some form, is coming to be regarded as the highest type of Christian character, sufficient to atone for all other short-comings.FEE 202.1

In the United States, among the leading Protestant churches, there is also an extensive and very decided leaning towards Romanism. The Catholics make no advances; all the overtures for union are on the part of the Protestants. And so in England. The Catholics remain as intensely Romanist as they are in any part of Italy. All the ground that is yielded is yielded by professed Protestants. And so in Germany. While it is officially declared that with the passing of three centuries, or since the time of Luther, great changes have been wrought in public sentiment and public feeling, all the change is with the Protestants; Catholicism has not yielded a particle in its principles or its professions.FEE 202.2

About the time of the Papal Jubilee, a certain writer of Switzerland made the following striking remark: “Protestants there are, but Protestantism is dead.” This is only too true. In view of all these things it cannot be difficult to locate the message of Revelation 14:8, “Babylon is fallen.” The name Babylon signifies “confusion.” This is found in the discordant fables which pass for religious truth in the churches of this day. In Revelation 17:1-6, is shown a woman—a woman being the symbol of a church—who has a name written: “Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” Now the Reformers and many commentators have strongly insisted that this referred to the Romish Church; but if they were correct, then it is very evident that she has daughters, who must also bear the name of Babylon. And is it not a fact that the great body of Protestants have allied themselves to the kings of the earth as closely as the Romish Church ever did? Constantine corrupted Christianity by binding it to his throne, and from that day to this, the leading bodies of professed Christians, Protestants and Catholics alike, have fled for their refuge to the kings of this world. By this means their religion has become worldly. And if we are asked to point to a church or to churches that have become fallen in the present age, churches which have lost their first love, and have declined from the purity of Bible godliness, we could not point to the Romish Church, for surely she has not suffered a moral decline for centuries past. She fell too long ago to be a fulfillment of this prophecy. We should be compelled to point to the Protestant churches, which are sleeping on the eve of mightier events than have ever transpired since the foundation of the world. The Lord has sent solemn messages to this generation, but their ears are closed to his words. He has had it proclaimed to the world that “the hour of his judgment is come,” and that soon will his priestly work be ended, and he will come again to redeem his faithful ones, and to cut off the idle, the slothful, the unfaithful, but they refuse to listen to the warnings written by his prophets. Instead of being the light of the world, they lull the world to the sleep of carnal security when destruction is impending. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3.FEE 202.3

But a scene still more sad will open to our views. Another mighty cry will be heard: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit.” We have examined Revelation 13, where the works of Spiritualism are described, and Revelation 16:15, which says these wonders are wrought by the spirits of devils working miracles, by which the kings of the earth are gathered to the battle of the great day of the Lord. These wonder-workings are being accepted by the people of all countries, high and low, from the monarch to the peasant. Whole churches are believers, and when these fallen churches have fully indorsed these spirits, then will this final cry be sounded. Then will be proclaimed, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” There is but one way to escape the destruction that is coming on the earth, and that is to heed all the words of the Scriptures, for the Lord has promised to look to him that trembleth at his word. Isaiah 66:1, 2.FEE 203.1