William Miller and his associates had sought to awaken professors of religion to the true hope of the church and their need of a deeper Christian experience. They labored also to awaken the unconverted to repentance and conversion. “They made no attempt to convert men to a sect. They labored among all parties and sects.” Said Miller, “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 less those who should embrace this doctrine, I did not conceive there would ever be any necessity for separate meetings.... The great majority of those who were converted under my labors united with the various existing churches.”
(HF 233.1)
But as religious leaders decided against the advent doctrine, they denied their members the privilege of attending preaching upon the second advent or even speaking of their hope in the church. The believers loved their churches. But as they saw their right to investigate the prophecies denied, they felt that loyalty to God forbade them to submit. Hence they felt justified in separating. In the summer of 1844 about fifty thousand withdrew from the churches.
(HF 233.2)
In most of the churches, there had been for years a gradual but steadily increasing conformity to worldly practices and a corresponding decline in spiritual life. But in that year there were evidences of a marked declension in nearly all the churches of the land. The fact was widely commented on by both the press and the pulpit.
(HF 233.3)
Mr. Barnes, author of a commentary and pastor of one of the leading churches in Philadelphia, “stated that ... 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.... There is an increase of worldly-mindedness. Thus it is with all the denominations.”
(HF 234.1)
In the month of February of the same year, Professor Finney of Oberlin College said: “In general, the Protestant churches of our country, as such, were either apathetic or hostile to nearly all the moral reforms of the age.... 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.... The churches generally are becoming sadly degenerate. They have gone very far from the Lord and He has withdrawn Himself from them.”
(HF 234.2)
Spiritual darkness is due, not to arbitrary withdrawal of divine grace on the part of God, but to rejection of light on the part of men. The Jewish people, by devotion to the world and forgetfulness of God, were in ignorance concerning Messiah’s advent. In their unbelief they rejected the Redeemer. God did not cut off the Jewish nation from the blessings of salvation. Those who rejected the truth had “put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” Isaiah 5:20.
(HF 234.3)
After their rejection of the gospel the Jews continued to maintain their ancient rites, while they admitted that the presence of God was no longer among them. The prophecy of Daniel pointed unmistakably to the time of Messiah’s coming and directly foretold His death. So they discouraged its study, and finally the rabbis pronounced a curse on all who should attempt to compute 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.
(HF 234.4)
He who stifles conviction of duty because it interferes with his inclinations will finally lose the power to distinguish between truth and error. The soul is separated from God. Where divine truth is spurned, the church will be in darkness, faith and love grow cold, and dissension enters. Church members center their interests in worldly pursuits, and sinners become hardened in their impenitence.
(HF 235.1)
The first angel’s message of Revelation 14 was designed to separate the professed people of God from corrupting influences. In this message, God 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, humbling their hearts and seeking a preparation to stand in His presence, the Spirit of God would have been manifested. The church would again have reached that unity, faith, and love of apostolic days, when the believers “were of one heart and of one soul,” and when “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Acts 4:32; 2:47.
(HF 235.2)
If God’s people would receive light from His Word, they would reach that unity 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.
(HF 235.3)
Those who accepted the advent message came from different denominations, and their denominational barriers were hurled to the ground. Conflicting creeds were shivered to atoms. False views of the second advent were corrected. Wrongs were made right, hearts united in sweet fellowship. Love reigned supreme. This doctrine would have done the same for all, if all had received it.
(HF 235.4)
Ministers, who as watchmen should have been the first to discern the tokens of Jesus’ coming, had failed to learn the truth from the prophets or from the signs of the times. Love for God and faith in His Word had grown cold, and the advent doctrine only aroused their unbelief. As of old the testimony of God’s Word was met with the inquiry: “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed?” John 7:48. Many discouraged the study of the prophecies, teaching that the prophetic books were sealed and were not to be understood. Multitudes, trusting their pastors, refused to listen; and others, though convinced of the truth, dared not confess it lest they should be “put out of the synagogue.” John 9:22. The message God sent for testing the church revealed how great was the number who had set their affections on this world rather than on Christ.
(HF 236.1)
Refusing the warning of the first angel was the cause of that fearful condition of worldliness, backsliding, and spiritual death which existed in the churches in 1844.
(HF 236.2)
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. In Scripture it designates various forms of false or apostate religion. In Revelation 17 Babylon is represented as a woman—a figure used in the Bible as the symbol of the church, a virtuous woman representing a pure church; a vile woman, an apostate church.
(HF 236.3)
In the Bible the relation between Christ and His church is represented by marriage. The Lord declares: “I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness.”“I am married unto you.” And Paul says: “I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Hosea 2:19; Jeremiah 3:14; 2 Corinthians 11:2.
(HF 236.4)
Unfaithfulness of the church to Christ in allowing worldly things to occupy the soul is likened to violation of the marriage vow. The sin of Israel in departing from the Lord is presented under this figure. “As a wife treacherously departeth from her 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!” Jeremiah 3:20; Ezekiel 16:32.
(HF 237.1)
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.” James 4:4.
(HF 237.2)
The woman (Babylon) is “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 drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” Babylon is “that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Revelation 17:4-6, 18.
(HF 237.3)
The power that for centuries maintained sway over the monarchs of Christendom is Rome. The purple, scarlet color, gold, precious stones, and pearls, picture the magnificence affected by the haughty see of Rome. No other power could be so truly declared “drunken with the blood of the saints” as that church which so cruelly persecuted the followers of Christ.
(HF 237.4)
Babylon is also charged with unlawful connection with the “kings of the earth.” By departure from the Lord and alliance with the heathen the Jewish church became a harlot, and Rome, seeking the support of worldly powers, receives a like condemnation.
(HF 237.5)
Babylon is “the mother of harlots.” Her daughters must be churches that cling to her doctrines and follow her example of sacrificing truth in order to form an alliance with the world. The message 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 centuries.
(HF 238.1)
Furthermore, the people of God are called 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? In churches professing the Protestant faith. At the time of their rise these churches took a noble stand for truth, and God’s blessing was with them. But they fell by the same desire which was the ruin of Israel—imitating the practices and courting the friendship of the ungodly.
(HF 238.2)
Many Protestant churches have followed Rome’s example of connection with “the kings of the earth”—the state churches, by their relation to secular governments; and other denominations, by seeking favor of the world. The term “Babylon”—confusion—may be applied to these bodies professing to derive their doctrine from the Bible, yet divided into almost innumerable sects with conflicting creeds.
(HF 238.3)
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.”
(HF 238.4)
And Dr. Hopkins 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.”
(HF 239.1)
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?”
(HF 239.2)
How did the church first depart from the simplicity of the gospel? By conforming to paganism, to facilitate acceptance of Christianity by the heathen. “Toward the latter end of the second century most of the churches assumed a new form.... As the old disciples retired to their graves, their children, along with new converts, ... came forward and new-modeled the cause.”“A pagan flood, flowing into the church, carried with it its customs, practices, and idols.” The Christian religion secured the favor and support of secular rulers. It was nominally accepted by multitudes. But many “remained in substance pagans, especially worshiping in secret their idols.”7
(HF 239.3)
Has not the same process been repeated in nearly every church calling itself Protestant? As the founders who possessed the true spirit of reform pass away, their descendants “new-model the cause.” Blindly refusing to accept any truth in advance of what their fathers saw, the children of the reformers depart from their example of self-denial and renunciation of the world.
(HF 239.4)
Alas, how widely have popular churches departed from the Bible standard! Said John Wesley, speaking of money: “Do not waste any part of so precious a talent, ... 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.... So long as thou art ‘clothed in purple and fine linen,’ and farest ‘sumptuously every day,’ no doubt many will applaud thy elegance of taste, thy generosity and hospitality. But rather be content with the honor that cometh from God.”
(HF 239.5)
Rulers, politicians, lawyers, doctors, merchants, join the church as a means of advancing their worldly interests. The religious bodies, reenforced by the wealth of these baptized worldlings, make a still higher bid for popularity. Splendid, extravagant churches are erected. A high salary is paid for a talented minister to entertain the people. His sermons must be smooth and pleasing for fashionable ears. Thus fashionable sins are concealed under a pretense of godliness.
(HF 240.1)
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.”
(HF 240.2)
In this tide of pleasure-seeking, self-sacrifice for Christ’s sake is almost wholly lost. “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.”
(HF 240.3)
Robert Atkins draws a picture of spiritual declension in England: “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.’”
(HF 240.4)
The great sin charged against Babylon is that she “made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” This cup represents false doctrines that she has accepted as the result of her friendship with the world. In turn she exerts a corrupting influence upon the world by teaching doctrines opposed to the plain statements of the Bible.
(HF 240.5)
Were it not that the world is intoxicated with the wine of Babylon, multitudes would be convicted and converted by the plain truths of the Word of God. But religious faith appears so confused and discordant that people know not what to believe. The sin of the world’s impenitence lies at the door of the church.
(HF 241.1)
The message of the second angel did not reach its complete fulfillment in 1844. The churches then experienced a moral fall in 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.” Protestant churches are included in the solemn denunciation of the second angel. But the work of apostasy has not yet reached its culmination.
(HF 241.2)
Before the coming of the Lord, Satan will work “with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness;” and they that “receive 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 the union of the church with the world shall be fully accomplished will the fall of Babylon be complete. The change is progressive and the perfect fulfillment of Revelation 14:8 is yet future.
(HF 241.3)
Notwithstanding the spiritual darkness in the churches which constitute Babylon, the great body of Christ’s true followers are still to be found in their communion. Many have never seen the special truths for this time. Not a few long for clearer light. They look in vain for the image of Christ in the churches with which they are connected.
(HF 241.4)
Revelation 18 points to the time when the people of God still in Babylon will be called upon to separate from her communion. This message, the last ever given to the world, will accomplish its work. The light of truth will shine upon all whose hearts are open to receive it, and all the children of the Lord in Babylon will heed the call: “Come out of her, my people.” Revelation 18:4.
(HF 241.5)