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 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 .
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