Then we inquire, has Babylon, or the nominal churches, fallen? The answer is, Yes. No fact can be plainer. Their own testimonies establish it. What period does this fall date from? Answer: the year 1844. This is as evident as the fact that the churches are fallen. It is also a startling fact, that since 1844 has been the period for the rise of foul spirits. Here we do not have to refer the reader to volumes of history to show the fulfillment of prophecy relative to Babylon, but to well-known facts under his observation in his own State, town and neighborhood. What a tremendous sign that the day of God hasteth greatly! Will you not believe?
Let it here be understood that we speak of the church as a body. That God has ministers and people in Babylon who are striving for heaven amid the moral darkness that envelopes her, we fully believe. This is evident from the fact that after the angel [Rev. xviii, 1–3] proclaims the fall of Babylon, and that she has become a hold of foul spirits, &c., the voice from heaven [verse 4] says: "Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
What a moment of extreme interest is the present. The pouring out of the vials of God's wrath is the great event before us. A little space is left God's people to flee out of Babylon, and thereby "be not partakers of her sins," (the most prominent of which are modern witchcraft and necromancy,) and "receive not of her plagues." The tenderest feelings of the heart go out after God's people now sitting in darkness: our spirit yearns over them. O God send out light and truth, and save them speedily! O, blessed Saviour, bring the sheep and lambs to thy fold before the wolves devour them!