"Formerly every Methodist attended class and gave testimony of experimental religion. Now the class-meeting is attended by very few, and in many churches abandoned. Seldom the stewards, trustees and elders of the church attend class. Formerly nearly every Methodist prayed, testified or exhorted in prayer-meeting. Now but very few are heard. Formerly shouts and praises were heard; now such demostrations of holy enthusiasm and joy are regarded as fanaticism.
"Worldly socials, and fairs, festivals, concerts and such like have taken the place of religious gatherings, revival meetings, class and prayer meetings of earlier days. How true that the Methodist discipline is a dead letter! Its rules forbid the wearing of gold or pearls or costly array; yet no one ever thinks of disciplining its members for violating them. They forbid the reading of such books and the taking of such diversions as do not minister to godliness, yet the church itself goes to frolics and festivals and fairs, which destroy the spiritual life of the young, as well as the old. The extent to which this is now carried on is appalling. The spiritual death it carries in its train will only be known when the millions it has swept into hell shall stand before the judgment.
"The early Methodist ministers went forth to sacrifice and to suffer for Christ. They sought not places of ease and affluence, but of privation and suffering. They gloried not in their big salaries, fine parsonages, and refined congregations, but in the souls that had been won for Jesus. Oh, how changed! A hireling ministry will be a feeble, a timid, a truckling, a timeserving ministry, without faith, endurance, and holy power. Methodism formerly dealt in the great central truth. Now the pulpits deal largely in the generalities and in popular lectures. The glorious doctrine of entire sanctification is rarely heard and seldom witnessed in the pulpits."
This lengthy quotation shows clearly the spiritual condition of Methodism, and certainly she is no worse than the rest. God is calling his people out of "all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Ezek. 34:12. Those who refuse to walk in the light will go into darkness. God help people to "flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul."
9. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
11. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
12. The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
13. And cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
14. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
15. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16. And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
17. For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18. And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
19. And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
In this description we have a continuation of the judgments of Babylon already introduced. It must be borne in mind, however, that this is the spiritual judgments following her moral fall, and not her final and everlasting literal destruction. The latter is described under another symbol a little further on in this series of prophecy.
The symbol here is that of a great city, the grand metropolis of the world, the mart of earth's commerce; a superb city, their [sic] being no end to its luxuries and magnificence. In it everything that can minister to the appetite, gratify the taste, and feed the pride of the human soul is to be found in profusion, being described at length. This great city is suddenly afire, and her merchants and the great men of the world who sustain her are overwhelmed with sorrow at the sight of all their wealth disappearing. Thus is great sect Babylon represented. She is a mighty city extending not only over the Apocalyptic earth, but, as symbolized by the ship-masters, sailors, and foreign traders, over the whole world. Suddenly she is set on fire by heaven's truth and her spiritual magnificence destroyed. The apostle Paul describes the great apostasy as a system that the "Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 2 Thes. 2:8. That spiritual consumption is now taking place in accordance with the symbols of this chapter, but the entire literal destruction of old Babylon will take place coincident "with the brightness of his coming," as described in the following chapter.
That sectarians are greatly alarmed over the sad condition of their fallen churches is clearly shown by the many quotations already given from Protestant writers. They may not be aware that it is a judgment from heaven upon man-made organizations; but such we know it to be in the light of eternal truth. Not only are they bewailing the loss of spiritual life and the desolating famine in sectdom, as was Bishop Foster and others, but they are beginning to tremble for their own safety and to wonder what the final outcome of it all will be. Wherever the gospel truth has been preached in all its purity, the sectarian denominations have been left destitute of spiritual life; for the children of God have heard his call, "Come out of her, my people," and have made their escape to Zion. Hence the ministers of Babylon cry out continually, "Stop! you are tearing our churches down," "You are taking our best members away from us," etc. But we can not withhold the truth; for the time has come when God is gathering his people together out of all the "places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day" (Ezek. 34:12) into the one church that Jesus built. "Babylon is fallen, is fallen."
20. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
This verse is so clear that it requires no special explanation. God's people are delivered from sect Babylon; and while the judgments of eternal truth are being poured out upon her, all heaven and earth is called upon to rejoice and to give glory to God.