| 939 all the prevailing religions of the day, we have thought that a few ideas of our own, and a few extracts of what some of the sects think of themselves, might throw some light upon the dark subject. Our caption is a description of what one of the seven angels showed to John the Revelator, and in all reason and wisdom, is about as near the truth, as to the name of all the religions, which have agitated and devastated the earth since Nimrod commenced the system of climbing up to heaven some other way, as any that can be found, except the pure.
There are many very peculiar sayings about Babel, Babylon, the beast, mother of harlots, and abominations upon the earth, which, when rightly understood by the Saints, according to revelation, means the church, or kingdom of the devil: for revelation saith there are but two: the church of God and the church of Satan. How shall we discern between the two?-"By their fruits ye shall know them, Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"
To commence the matter fairly, then, we will let John tell the story. He says,
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters;
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wiiderness [wilderness]: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
And the woman was 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 of her fornication.
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
And the angel said unto me, wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, (whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world,) when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."
It will readily be perceived in the foregoing extract, that John had no more reference to the Roman Catholic, and Protestant churches, who had a form of godliness, denying the power, than he had to all Babylon from Nimrod down. The old woman, Satan's wife, was "drunken with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" and the account actually includes all, whose "names were not written in the book of life, from the foundation of the world."
They, then, that killed the Saints in Egypt; they that tormented Israel; cast them into the fire of the furnace; into lion's dens, and boiled them in pans, are included in what John saw. Besides the plainness of this scripture, other prophets have said many things of Babylon: Isaiah holds this remarkable language:
"That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre [scepter] of the rulers.
He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord.
I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts."
Again we read in Jeremiah that, "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad."
Babylon, literally understood, is the gay world; spiritual wickedness, the golden city, and the glory of the world, The priests of Egypt, who received a portion gratis from Pharaoh; the priests of Baal, and the Pharisees, and Sadducees, with their "long robes," among the Jews, are equally included in their mother's family, with the Roman Catholics, Protestants, and all that have not had the keys of the kingdom and power thereof, according to the ordinances of God.
In all these things there is, according to what John saw, "mystery." Among the various denominations, that have endeavored to guide the destinies of souls on earth, many, very many, gracious men, with seeming goodness have filled the pulpit with solemn awe;
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