It is but to read and obey God's word in the light of what is called the literal rule of interpretation. No other rule would ever have been thought of, if the Devil had let the minds of men alone. By this rule the true Sabbath would always have been maintained a perfect safeguard against idolatry in the earth; the law would have held its place as a perfect, immutable, and eternal rule of conduct, a safeguard against the antinomianism of all ages and the Spiritualism of to-day; the view that the dead remain unconscious in the grave till the resurrection, would always have Page 142 been held, and then there could have been no purgatory, no masses for the dead, no Mariolatry, no saint worship -- in short, no Roman Catholicism, and no Universalism, nor Spiritualism; the true nature of the coming and kingdom of Christ would not have been lost sight of, and the peace and safety fable of a temporal millennium never could have existed.
To say nothing of other errors that would be corrected, suppose all Christendom stood together on these four simple truths, how much division could there have been in the Christian world? A second denomination could not have existed. And what would have been the condition of things? --As different from the present condition as one can well imagine -- no paganism, no Roman Catholicism, no Protestantism, no multiplied sects, no Spiritualism, -- but Christianity, broad, united, free, and glorious. Some are taking their stand on these truths, and so will be shielded from the delusions of these last days, for which the way, by ages of superstition and error, has been so artfully prepared. Every one must stand upon them who is governed by the literal rule of interpretation; for they are read in so many words out of the sacred volume itself. But the churches generally reject them, often with bitterness, scorn, and contempt, and some even with persecution.
And this is why Babylon has fallen.
That organization, called in Rev. 17: 5: "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots Abominations of the Earth," has been very generally applied by Protestants to the Roman Catholic Page 143 Church; but if that church is the mother, who are the daughters? This question has been asked for many years. Alexander Campbell said: -- "The worshiping establishments now in operation throughout Christendom, incased and cemented by their voluminous confessions of faith, and their ecclesiastical constitutions, are not churches of Jesus Christ, but the legitimate daughters of that mother of harlots -- the Church of Rome." Loreuzo Dow said: -- "We read not only of Babylon, but of the whore of Babylon, styled the mother of harlots, which is supposed to mean the Romish church.
If she be a mother, who are her daughters? It must be the corrupt national established churches that came out of her." The great sin charged against Babylon, is unlawful connection with the kings of the earth. The church should be entirely free from the state.
But now the churches of America, which have for long years borne so noble a part, are clamoring for a union with the state, calling for a recognition of God's name in the Constitution, and God's law in the courts, and that the government be run on Christian lines. Old, antiquated laws which they find upon the statute books of various States, they are beginning to use to persecute those who differ in belief with them; and they seek for the enactment of more stringent Sunday laws for the same purpose. And when they shall succeed in getting full control of the state, they will have severed the last link that has held them to their high estate, show themselves true members of the Babylonian family, Page 144 and sink in spirit and practice to the level of the elder Rome.
Rev. 14: 8 was fulfilled in 1844. [2] Since then the churches have been going down in spirituality and godliness, catering more and more to the world, indulging in carnal amusements, festivals, wife auctions, and kissing bees, to the very border line of decency, but especially filling up with the influences mentioned in Rev. 18: 2, till the leaven of Spiritualism is fast penetrating the whole mass. Yet there are a multitude of God's people connected with these churches, who deplore the situation, and for whom a crisis is approaching. The cry is again to be raised, "Babylon is fallen, come out of her my people." We verily believe the time has come when that call should be made and heeded; for a little further progress in the evil path upon which we have entered, will surely provoke the just judgments of heaven. Verses 4, 5.
