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 favour 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 . 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 ."
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